Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I couldn't get into it despite how much I wanted to read and love it.

Mike Ripley continues Margery Allingham's Albert Campion mysteries with Mr. Campion's War. At Campion's 70th birthday party, the assembled guests learn about his activities in Vichy France during World War II. Switching between 1942 and 1970 the past in gradually revealed with echoes playing forward at the party. Great wartime cloak and dagger adventure. Well worth reading.

Albert Campion has reached his seventieth birthday and is having a celebration dinner at the Dorchester Hotel. Apart from friends and family, there are a crowd of unrecognibale foreigners.
During dinner Campion decides its time to tell of his wartime experiences in Vichy France during World War II, and introduce his family to the unknown guests. People he had met during the war. This is his, and their story.
An enjoyable historical read and mystery story.

Margery Allingham wrote 18 books in her lifetime, most about Albert Campion aristocratic sleuth. She died in 1966 and her husband Philip Youngman Carter continued her writing. When he died this author took up the challenge, finishing one book and has written ( including this one ) 4 more.
This is the celebration in 1970 of Albert's 70th birthday. He and Lady Amanda have hired rooms in the Dorchester to entertain their guests. They include a few who featured during the war when Albert went undercover in southern France.. The book alternates between his wartime exploits and his birthday party.
Albert and his manservant Magersfontein Lugg are colorful characters and you can understand why people don't want the series to end. A very exciting novel, very enjoyable. Unhesitatingly recommended. See my full review on the Euro-Crime website.

Silly of me. I was worried that with the celebration of Albert Campion’s 70th birthday, he might be sidelined from his most active crime-fighting, puzzle solving activities. Instead, Mike Ripley takes us back to Campion’s war-time exploits and plunges his then middle-aged self back into the war in the Southern France and the Pyrenees. Another enjoyable novel that Allingham would be proud to claim.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Mr. Campion's War" eBook was published in 2018 (December) and was written by Mike Ripley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Ripley). Mr. Ripley has published nearly twenty-five novels. The Campion stories were originally written by Margery Allingham, then her husband Philip Youngman Carter. Mr. Ripley was engaged to complete an unfinished manuscript. Since then he has written four more Campion novels. 

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is mostly in World War II era France. The main character is Albert Campion. 

Campion is celebrating his seventieth birthday in current time and has called together several people from his past. Close friends and family know little about some of Camion's escapades when he was younger. In particular, they have no idea of his exploits in occupied France during World War II.

Campion is sent to Vichy France to make contact with Freiherr Robert von Ringer, a German intelligence officer. Ringer is no traitor but wants to stop substantial currency transfers being made to smuggle funds out of occupied Europe. Campion, though not a trained spy, must help free a Jewish banker and his family before he can get the information needed to stop the transfer of funds. Not only must he be cautious of the German secret police, but also of the French underworld gangs. 

The past comes back to haunt Campion when one of his birthday party guests is attacked.  A plot initiated in the 1940s plays out today. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the 8+ hours I spent reading this 280-page WWII thriller. I enjoyed this novel and, frankly, would like to read more in this series. While this novel has many prior books in the series, it reads well on its own. I like the cover art. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/. 

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

An addition to the Campion series entwines two plot lines that do come together, the story of what Albert doddering the war and the story of his 70th birthday party which brings several folks he dealt with during the war to London for the celebration.

While this book can't live up to the original Campion books, it has a good plot and is nicely written.

Thank you to Netgalley, Severn House Publishing and the author, Mike Ripley, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Mr Champion's War in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
I thought this book offered a good, quick read. I thought the characters were engaging and well described. The storyline was well written.

The character of Albert Campion was originally created by Margery Allingham during that wonderful time now referred to as the Golden Age of Mystery. There are many novels featuring this highly educated man who used an alias while solving crimes to keep any scandal from attaching to his highly placed family. The Allingham character uses intelligence along with a light side dish of humor to make the books positively addictive. I was highly skeptical of anyone being able to approximate the tone of the Albert Campion character but have been very pleased by the novels Mike Ripley has written. Now Ripley has decided to go where Allingham wouldn't - he has drawn aside the curtain which has hidden a mission Campion went on as an agent for the British government from August to November, 1942. You see, Albert Campion was that most honored of men, a gentleman spy.

The book alternates between an evening in May 1970 during a birthday party to celebrate Campion's 70th birthday and August to November 1942 when Campion is in France working to carry out his mission before that area is invaded by the German army. The charming aspect is that Albert is giving the birthday party for himself while the devious part is that almost everyone invited had something to do with that mission from 1942. It turns out Ripley conceived a very good plot and the switches from the past to the present are done very well. All the favorite characters from the books are present, some even bring a present.

Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House Publishing for a digital galley of this novel.

This is the fifth book in Mike Ripley's marvellous continuance of the Albert Campion novels by Margery Allingham. Set in 1970 it finds Campion and his family and friends, and some odd foreigners, gathered together for his seventieth birthday party at the distinguished Dorchester Hotel in London. There is interest amongst his family and close friends over the attendance of some of the foreigners, about whom they know very little. In typical fashion, Campion distracts attention by recounting details of his wartime experiences in Vichy France, a topic which he has never talked about before.
In smooth fashion, the story switches between 1970, told in the third person, and 1942 and Campion’s secret mission to Vichy France, told in the first person. It is an effective device with the suspense of the wartime mission carrying the 1970 storyline along at a good pace. As the details of Campion’s mission gradually unfold, the relationships between the various guests at the party becomes clearer and there is a growing suspicion that there is more to the gathering than just a birthday celebration. In Ripley’s capable hands the suspense mounts in both storylines and the book builds to a tense, reflective ending.
Central to the novel is Campion’s mission to Marseille, which is essentially a clever and surprising spy story that provides some fresh twists to the traditional wartime thriller plot. It involves a scheme to rescue a Jewish accountant who has incriminating details about some senior Nazi figures and illicit bank accounts and also involves gangsters and spies. It is an interesting concept and Ripley makes good use of the Vichy France setting to bring it alive.
As usual, Ripley’s charming narrative style and dollops of wry humour keeps the reader happily engaged throughout the book. Campion’s reflections are especially amusing, particularly those from 1970:
“The BBC, Campion was sure, was bound to be accepted sooner or later as a cultural institution, despite its diversification into television, a popular drug which really ought to be available only on prescription.”
The pacing is good and there is a nice thoughtful feel to the story, as the characters reflect on their wartime experiences and the effect of the war on them and others. Ripley also seamlessly weaves in interesting historical detail to give some flesh to the two historical periods, and does a particularly good job of capturing the small details that make his recreation of 1970 convincing, and amusing.
In all, this is a very entertaining read and is highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for a free copy of this book for review

Although I like books about World War II, this book never seemed to draw me in. It was foreshadowing everything, but it never seemed to explain anything. I just couldn't get into the book. I felt removed from the characters and didn't find any of them very engaging. I'll admit I didn't read the whole book, but it was so slow moving that I feared the plot would disappear or maybe never appear.

Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Severn House
Pub. Date: December 1, 201

“Pop has never talked about what he did in the war.” But on his 70th birthday party, the Englishman Albert Campion (Pop) entertains his guests with his account of his wartime experiences in Vichy France during WWII. The story is also very much a mystery since besides family members the guest list includes a scar-faced German (spoiler: who during the war attempted to kill his host at least twice), and other unknown guests. The English author, Mike Ripley, is known for writing comedy thrillers and can indeed write in a playful manner. But let me start off by admitting that I was grateful to be reading this tale on a Kindle where I only needed to tap on a word to learn its meaning. For example, in one paragraph you will read about the German military intelligence units such as Abwehr, Sicherheitsdients/SD, and Himmler’s SS. On the English side, there are the military agencies M15 & M16. Okay, I am obviously familiar with the last two. We all have heard of the evil SS, and who hasn’t seen a Bond movie to not know what “M” stands for.
Let me also say, that in researching this novel, I learned that the author, Margery Allingham (1904-1966), wrote a mystery series (24 novels) revolving around Mr. Albert Campion. Nor is this the first time, Ripley has taken on where Allingham left off. So for me, the protagonist is read with fresh eyes. However, it might explain why there is so much alphabet soup (military acronyms) without any previous explanations on their existence in the story.
In the book’s chapters, the story goes back and forth in time. In the present day (at the party) it is told in the third person. During the war, the tale is told in the first person with Albert Campion’s voice— a clever way to write the story as a mystery and a historical fiction tale. All chapters have a propensity for humor. As a spy in the war, our protagonist is assaulted by two men in an alley. He is just about to lose consciousness when he rescued by a policeman. But do policemen usually have silencers on their weapons? He thanks his savior stating, he was just about to teach them a lesson, “once I got my breath back.” In the present, the whole party is like a game of “Clue” complete with the question of, which guest is a current day murderer. I found the humor to be especially funny in those chapters. Campion’s wife is every bit as witty as her husband. “It’s amazing we wartime mothers survived at all, what with absentee husbands, the air raids and rationing, not to mention the ingratitude of one’s offspring.” This fun novel is stuffed with historical facts. The story could drag for those of us who were never much of a “Clue fan.” And, if I didn’t really find all the characters believable, that did not interfere with the story. Campion” is written as a tongue and cheek read.

MR. CAMPION'S WAR gives dedicated Marjorie Allingham fans the opportunity to discover lots of bits and pieces about Mr. Campion's past. The allusive details of his "service to the country" receive top billing in Mike Ripley's contemporary addition to the Campion tales.

Allingham's books are among my very favorite classic mysteries of the 30's and 40's and Ripley gives her fans the opportunity to spend some additional time with Campion and his family. As a character, the Campion of Ripley's book rings true. He and his man, Lugg, are spot on in temperament and behavior. Particularly, Lugg. Campion's speech patterns and vocabulary don't feel quite right, nor does Mr. Ripley's writing mirror Mrs. Allingham's---but that is a quibble, not a criticism. The book is an enjoyable addition to the Campion stories and it is rewarding to know that at age seventy, our beloved Alfred is still bright, engaged, and alertly solving mysteries.

Ripley's Nazi protagonist is complex, engaging, and serves as a perfect foil to Mr. Campion. The other characters who enrich the story are equally well drawn, adding to the success of the story.

Adventurer Albert Campion is celebrating his 70th birthday, surrounded by family, friends and other notable characters -many of whom have varying connections with his work during WWII. Campion decides to recount some of his wartime experiences, which proves to be perilous to one of the guests...

I've always enjoyed the mysteries featuring Albert Campion (created by Margery Allingham, one of the four 'Queens of the Golden Era' mystery writers - the others being Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh), though Allingham's stories are more adventures with a dash of crime than conventional murder mysteries. Campion has a clever way of portraying the fool to lull his adversaries into a false sense of security, only to outwit them in the end.

The story unfolds as a dual timeline narrative (the present day told in third person, and the flashbacks in first person), with historical facts interwoven into the flashback narrative. Ripley does a fine job of capturing Allingham's voice, depicting Campion has a jovial storyteller, dampened only by his war; this story answers questions raise about his activities during WWII, which resulted in a shift in his otherwise usual happy-go-lucky self.

It's a welcome addition to the Campion canon..

It is 1970 and Albert Campion's 70th birthday, which he clebrates with a party at London's prestigious Dorchester Hotel.

As his family & friends enjoy a sumptious meal, Campion recounts details of his wartime experiences in Vichy France more than twenty-five years before. A handful of his guests - from France, Spain and Germany - are unknown to most of those in attendance and those closest to him are intrigued since Campion has never talked about the war before.

The action switches between the present, at the birthday party and 1942 when Campion goes to Vichy France - the area of the country run by French collaborators who surrendered to the Germans in June 1940.

As the story unfolds, the guests discover more about two of the guests - the mysterious German, Robert von Ringer, and the enigmatic & beautiful French lawyer Madame Thibus.
It turns out that both were involved in Campion's mission, but on opposite sides!
Ringer worked for the Abwehr, Germany's intelligence network while Madame Thibus was a teenage member of the French Resistance.

Even more surprising is the revelation that Campion went to France at Ringer's request in order to free a Jewish accountant from a French concentration camp and escort him - and his pregnant French wife - over the border to Spain. There, the accountant would hand over important documents detailing major corruption involving senior Nazis, Vichy collaborators and French gangsters. In the hands of the Allies, such information could lead to death sentences for all involved. Most of the action takes place in the port of Marseille, in southern France, just as "Operation Torch" - the Allied invasion of French North Africa - is about to take place, leading the Nazis to occupy Vichy France.

But, as the past collides with the present, Campion's amazing revelations lead to deadly danger for one of his birthday party guests.

This is the 5th in the series of Campion novels written by Mike Ripley, with the approval and agreement of the Margery Allingham Society. (The crime writer Margery Allingham, who died in 1966, was the original author of more than 20 books about Albert Campion, the upper class Englishman who was involved with police investigations as well as intrigue with Britain's intelligence services). It's an old style mystery thriller laced with well researched historical facts about England and France in the 1940's, bringing those times and places vividly to life, capturing the atmosphere of Nazi-occupied Europe and the dangerous streets of wartime Marseille.

My thanks go to Severn House Publishers and Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I am thrilled that Mike Ripley has taken over writing the Campion books. Albert Campion is such a great character and I'm sure that Margery Allingham would be pleased with the new novels.