The Return of Mr Campion: Uncollected Stories by Margery Allingham

This is a slight misnomer since Mr. Campion and his creator are but a part of the stories included in this collection.

I was delighted with my first international physical ARC. I was excited to be given an opportunity to read it and this in no way effected my review, which is completely based on my reading experience. It is a small book and even as a leisurely read can be read in one sitting

Few of the chapters are words by the author and these were actually my favourite parts. I have not read any other works by the author before and therefore, not had any preconceived notions about her or her writing. I learnt a little about her and a lot of it contained a childlike exuberance in it as she spoke of her creations and writing. The author’s character analysis and humour gave me an incentive to enjoy all the other stories as well.

I read only a few collections of short stories and I usually do not list them individually, since a book is rated on the complete reading. In this case, however, I have to mention that half of them are either notes about him and a few short stories including Mr. Campion while the rest are an odd collection made more fun because of their oddities. My favourite story was one titled ‘Sweet & Low’ because in a very short time (and very few pages) I was deeply invested in the lives of the people contained within it, which included cheering as well as chuckling at the sudden ending.

I would not go so far as to say that I loved all the stories, as is bound to happen with any such collection but I enjoyed enough of them to highly recommend this book to those on the lookout for something ‘different’ to read about and will be on the lookout for some of the author’s other works.

I am glad that such a collection is being brought back to a whole new audience.