Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York: Manor, 1976
Description
The slashing of a valuable painting at the renowned Ivory Gallery in London, followed by the murder of the proprietor's son-in-law, Robert, sets the stage for another finely tuned Allingham mystery. The proprietor's mother, 90-year-old Gabrielle Ivory, holds the key to the web of intrigue and danger that permeates the gallery.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jillmwo
This stand-alone mystery was originally published in 1940. Not surprisingly, the behaviors and attitudes of some of the characters are decidedly foreign to modern sensibilities. That said, you get a classic Golden-Age British mystery. The murder of an upper-crust gallery owner horrifies the Ivory
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family associated with that gallery. Gabrielle Ivory, a Victorian matriarch, dominates the action although her granddaughter, Frances, is the ingenue love interest that we follow. Multiple bodies and a spot of blackmail add additional interest. Lightweight, but certainly well-done! Show Less
LibraryThing member cmbohn
The action centers around the Ivory's art gallery, where a series of malicious pranks are causing problems. When a valuable painting is slashed right before an opening, things really come to a head.
There's a pretend engagement, a man come back from the dead, an unscrupulous business manager, and
There's a pretend engagement, a man come back from the dead, an unscrupulous business manager, and
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finally, a murder. The ending is very exciting. My only complaints are that the policeman in charge of the case is more of a characture that a real person and that the identity of the weapon is not as much of a secret to the reader as it is to the police. Show Less
LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
While the director of the Ivory Art Gallery has been out of the country, someone has been vanadalizing the gallery. As if that weren't enough, someone's gone and killed the acting director, Mr. Robert Madrigal, the director's son-in-law. With a long list of suspects, the police certainly have their
The book seemed to drone on and on -- Allingham is very into her characters and she seems to have done them to death here. Her characterization of Phillida (the wife of the dead assistant art gallery director) as a blithering ninny had me wanting to reach into the pages and slap her. And I couldn't believe her characterization of the police inspector from Scotland was nothing but a major stereotype and cariacture. I put this book down several times, and returned to it only because I just couldn't leave it unfinished. By the time I got to the end of this one, I just didn't care. In short, it wasn't one of my Allingham favorites.
This one I would very guardedly recommend to those who are fans of Margery Allingham; it's not a Campion novel but a standalone. Maybe readers of British mystery would like it, but I didn't care for it all that much.
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hands full, especially when another dead body turns up. The book seemed to drone on and on -- Allingham is very into her characters and she seems to have done them to death here. Her characterization of Phillida (the wife of the dead assistant art gallery director) as a blithering ninny had me wanting to reach into the pages and slap her. And I couldn't believe her characterization of the police inspector from Scotland was nothing but a major stereotype and cariacture. I put this book down several times, and returned to it only because I just couldn't leave it unfinished. By the time I got to the end of this one, I just didn't care. In short, it wasn't one of my Allingham favorites.
This one I would very guardedly recommend to those who are fans of Margery Allingham; it's not a Campion novel but a standalone. Maybe readers of British mystery would like it, but I didn't care for it all that much.
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LibraryThing member BonnieJune54
It's different from most mysteries in that the main character is just worrying about the murder not trying to solve it. Didn't find the characters that interesting or likable. I want one or the other.
The cover of my bantam edition incorrectly describes it as a Albert Campion mystery. He's not
The cover of my bantam edition incorrectly describes it as a Albert Campion mystery. He's not
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mentioned in the book at all. I kept wondering if he would show up at the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member MyopicBookworm
I enjoyed this much more than my previous encounter with Allingham. There are some splendidly drawn (if larger-than-life) characters, including the geriatric Gabrielle, the scheming underling Lucar, the slightly feckless artist David, and the explorer Godolphin; also some notable descriptive
MB 4-iii-2014
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passages. Having disposed of her first victim, the author does a fairly neat line in misdirecting the reader towards different suspects. Only once did I spot a possible misstep, as Frances announced to David that the police are interested in him after he has already implied pretty directly that he knows this and is trying to hide incriminating circumstances (his injured hand). This one is not going on the Out pile.MB 4-iii-2014
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
My first non-Campion Allingham!
I am tempted to give this a higher rating because I did get a considerable amount of enjoyment from reading it. However, I did figure out both the who and the how; Allingham did manage to keep me second-guessing my choice but I thought that the guilty person was
I am tempted to give this a higher rating because I did get a considerable amount of enjoyment from reading it. However, I did figure out both the who and the how; Allingham did manage to keep me second-guessing my choice but I thought that the guilty person was
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pretty obvious. Show Less
LibraryThing member thornton37814
Things aren't quite right at the Ivory household as we are introduced to Frances Ivory. Soon Robert is found dead and stuffed into a cupboard. A soft-spoken detective is the lead investigator into the affair, and soon a second corpse turns up. The solution is pretty obvious although one of her red I did not like the post-investigation wrap-up in which the family members all discussed how they already knew who the murderer was. If they knew, why didn't they turn him in? It really makes no sense. I listened to the audio of this. It was okay but not outstanding.
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herrings had me second-guessing for a bit. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheGalaxyGirl
I love classic British mysteries (Christie, Marsh (yes, I know Marsh is from NZ)) but Allingham is hit or miss with me. Her characters are always verging on caricatures. This one isn't bad, some good red herrings and occasional really nice narrative passages. Typical 'murder in a mansion' but I
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enjoyed one of the characters so much, the elderly Gabrielle Ivory (who I kept imagining as Maggie Smith), that it kept me interested in the somewhat hackneyed plot. Show Less
LibraryThing member EricCostello
Not, I'm afraid, one of the stronger Allingham stories. The plot revolves around a fine-arts gallery in London. It starts off with some nasty incidents involving the destruction of valuable property, and ultimately escalates into two murders. Unfortunately, when you toss in an explorer long thought
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dead in Tibet, bigamy, an oh-so-convenient outbreak of yellow fever delaying a key person, and spooky happenings in dark houses, you venture into the kind of territory that used to give Raymond Chandler the fits. There isn't the humour (or allegations of it) of Mr. Campion to leaven it, either. Give this one a pass. Show Less
LibraryThing member nx74defiant
My second book by Margery Allingham. I really like her writing. The police detective's actions appear of scene so you don't know what he is doing. The culprit was a surprise to me.
LibraryThing member nordie
The slashing of a valuable painting at the renowned Ivory Gallery in London, followed by the murder of the proprietor's son-in-law, Robert, sets the stage for another finely tuned Allingham mystery. The proprietor's mother, 90-year-old Gabrielle Ivory, holds the key to the web of intrigue and
Downloaded from Audible, read by Francis Matthews.
This is the first non Campion book I've read/listened to. For once it's told from the point of view of one of the witnesses, which allows for noone to know what the police know, and we are not included in much of what goes on in the investigation itself.
In 1930s London, there are two adjacent houses, one house is the private residence of the Ivory family; their painting gallery business is housed next door. The story starts with Frances standing in front of her formidable grandmother Gabrielle, with the complaint that her brother-in-law, Roger (who is married to her rather unstable half sister Phillida), wants her to marry his unspeakable business partner. Lucar seems to have some unknown hold over Roger after a trip to Tibet which went horribly wrong, and which Lucar and Roger were the only survivors.
In the absence of her father, who's out in China on a long business trip, Frances fears she will be forced to marry Lucar. Getting no help from her grandmother - who is as imperious but as dotty as possible, Frances confides her fears to David Field, who immediately proposes a fake engagement so that Roger and Lucar will stop pestering her. Then Roger disappears, to be found murdered a week later. At the funeral, the third person on the Tibetan trip - whom everyone thought dead - reappears. Lucar - on his way to the US and therefore a prime candidate for the death of Roger, rapidly returns, attempts to blackmail all in the house - only to turn up dead too minutes later.
There are plenty of herrings littered about the place - red or otherwise - which makes you suspect most of the characters at some point or another. Frances - who realises that she is in fact in love with David (who painted her portrait when she was 14) - has to face the fact that he might be a killer.
So secret passages, international travel (China to England by plane taking "only" about a week!), blackmail, murder, romance, mysteries....what more could you want?
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danger that permeates the gallery.Downloaded from Audible, read by Francis Matthews.
This is the first non Campion book I've read/listened to. For once it's told from the point of view of one of the witnesses, which allows for noone to know what the police know, and we are not included in much of what goes on in the investigation itself.
In 1930s London, there are two adjacent houses, one house is the private residence of the Ivory family; their painting gallery business is housed next door. The story starts with Frances standing in front of her formidable grandmother Gabrielle, with the complaint that her brother-in-law, Roger (who is married to her rather unstable half sister Phillida), wants her to marry his unspeakable business partner. Lucar seems to have some unknown hold over Roger after a trip to Tibet which went horribly wrong, and which Lucar and Roger were the only survivors.
In the absence of her father, who's out in China on a long business trip, Frances fears she will be forced to marry Lucar. Getting no help from her grandmother - who is as imperious but as dotty as possible, Frances confides her fears to David Field, who immediately proposes a fake engagement so that Roger and Lucar will stop pestering her. Then Roger disappears, to be found murdered a week later. At the funeral, the third person on the Tibetan trip - whom everyone thought dead - reappears. Lucar - on his way to the US and therefore a prime candidate for the death of Roger, rapidly returns, attempts to blackmail all in the house - only to turn up dead too minutes later.
There are plenty of herrings littered about the place - red or otherwise - which makes you suspect most of the characters at some point or another. Frances - who realises that she is in fact in love with David (who painted her portrait when she was 14) - has to face the fact that he might be a killer.
So secret passages, international travel (China to England by plane taking "only" about a week!), blackmail, murder, romance, mysteries....what more could you want?
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1940-11
Physical description
192 p.; 19 cm