The Beckoning Lady

Book excerpt: Murder darkens the bright days of summer in an idyllic Suffolk village, in an Albert Campion mystery that is simply “unforgettable” (A.S. Byatt). Private detective Albert Campion’s glorious summer in Pontisbright is blighted by death. Amidst the preparations for Minnie and Tonker Cassand’s fabulous summer party, a murder is discovered—and it falls to Campion to unravel the intricate web of motives, suspicion and deception. Danger is hardly unknown in this idyllic rural village, but it is a less romantic peril than Campion faced on his first visit, more than twenty years ago . . . “My very favourite of the four Queens of Crime is Allingham.” —J. K. Rowling “Margery Allingham has precious few peers and no superiors.” —The Sunday Times “Allingham has that rare gift in a novelist, the creation of characters so rich and so real that they stay with the reader forever.” —Sara Paretsky