I enjoyed this book that is engaging and entertaining.
I loved the Campion's stories and was happy to discover other side of Ms Allingham.
I also loved the part where she tells how Campion was born and the description of her work as a writer.
I look forward to reading other books by this writer.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Agora Books and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Especially enjoyed the stories in which Campion participates, not so much the other stories. Particularly good were the points at which Allingham speaks directly to Campion.

I thought that this was a bit of a strange one. I liked the Campion stories in this, but the other stories left me a bit cold and a bit confused. The quite meta story about what to do with an aging detective where the author visits Campion is also quite odd. I've only ever read Allingham's detective fiction, and mostly Campion - this hasn't really made me think that I'm missing out, although as a study of an authors development and style it is interesting.

A delightful collection from Margery Allingham, first published some thirty years ago - short tales in mixed genres, some featuring the enigmatic Campion, some not but all well written and make good, entertaining and enjoyable reading.

This 2019 release of Margery Allingham's The Return of Mr. Campion contains 13 short stories and one from The Allingham Casebook. Out of the 14 total stories seven feature Albert Campion with two of those being told by Inspector Charlie Luke while he's with Campion at his club, the Platelayers' Arms. Allingham's interest for me has always been her novels because I feel the Albert Campion character needs a longer time to have his character revealed to readers. Short stories don't always give readers a sense of Campion's quirky character as well as other slightly off-kilter characters he seems to gravitate toward, with Magersfontein Lugg being a prime example. If you already know this author's work and like it, you might be more prone to enjoying this short story collection.

One example of the interesting stories included in this collection is "What To Do With An Ageing Detective". Allingham, the author, visits Campion, her character invention, to discuss what to do about his future. From there the story goes a little strange. This was a fun collection to read, but the stories which don't include Campion are just interesting, not necessarily the author's best or most enjoyable work. I'm always surprised to learn that an author can be such a favorite for me when they stay within the parameters of their series and yet not interest me much when they write outside that series. Probably this one is best for true Margery Allingham and Albert Campion fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and Agora Books for an e-Galley of this short story collection.

I'm always somewhat dubious about collections of short stories. They're tricky to get right and novelists don't always pull it off. Having said that, this was a thoroughly enjoyable collection. I was interested to see that not all the stories are about Campion and in fact, the ones I enjoyed most did not feature him. There were no bad stories though, each was enjoyable in its own right. I particularly loved the ones with a more supernatural element to them.

Shorts stories from the golden age of mysteries.This was such an entertaining read for me each story kept me turning the pages.While Mr. Campion stories were my favorites each story in the collection is fun to read.
#netgalley # agorabooks.

I should first own up to a love of Margery Allingham's Campion books .so anything containing dear old Albert is fine by me.
This is a nice collection of short stories though strangely not all of them include Campion.
All the tales are of course really well written, Allingham really was 'a shining light' as described by Agatha Christie.
The tales are of varying length, some are funny some are crime stories all are very good.. If you enjoy Allinghams stories you will enjoy this book.

This is a collection of stories, about half of which focus on Albert Campion, including a first-person account detailing Allingham's creation of his character. The stories are entertaining, but it would have been nice if more were about Campion given the book's title. Also, be aware that Allingham, writing many decades ago, sadly used racial epithets characteristic of her era. Fans of classic British mysteries and crime should enjoy this book.

As a lifelong fan of mystery novels and a librarian, I have always felt somewhat obligated to explore the Golden Age of mystery fiction. There are many authors from that era whose work translates well to the 21st century, but I’m afraid Margery Allingham isn’t one of them. The best thing about this book is the author’s description of her writing process and how Campion came to be the star of her work. The stories themselves? Full of racism, bigotry, and classism of the worst sort. Some stories should just fade into the past.

Wonderful escapism. A collection of stories from the Golden Age of detective fiction. Not all of these stories feature the enigmatic Mr Campion, but those that do are the best in the book. There is also a revealing essay from the author about the why and how she started writing crime fiction and how Campion started to intrude on her stories. Delightful.

This was quite a mixed bag, but mostly didn't work for me. I hate giving less than good ratings, and being disappointed by a book even more. I just could not get into these stories. They were either too British or dated or just not interesting to me.

I really appreciate the advanced copy for review!

This book is a mixed bag. Allingham's short stories that are mysteries and that feature Campion are delightful. Unhappily they are too few. The majority of stories in the book are not mysteries and are rather pedestrian.

The book is enlivened though by three essays. The first, an introduction, talks about Allingham's early life, and why (and how) she came to write mysteries. The other two are humorous. The first deals with how Campion came on the scene. The second is a humorous portrait of Campion and Lug done in the late 1950's.

Although I wish it had just been Campion stories, some is a real treat.

This is a good set of short stories written by a doyen of the mystery genre. I enjoyed them all although it was a shame the festive story was a repeat of one of the four released in a book as recently as last November. Some of the settings and backgrounds seem a little more dated than those of other murder and mystery writers of the past but the further into the book I got the less noticeable it seemed. There was also a tendency for the text to be less PC than would be acceptable from a new author but as this was an advanced copy that may change.

I was able to read the advanced copy of this book thanks to Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and think it would appeal to anyone who enjoys mysteries from yesteryear when life, heroes and villains were all very different to today.

I really enjoyed this book by Margery Allingham although I didn't realise it was short stories and not a novel and not all had Albert Campion in them. I also found that some of the stories I had previously read in other Margery Allingham books, not sure if this was a genuine error by the publishers or not. However I would still recommend this novel.

A rather motley selection of pieces of various lengths, a few featuring Albert Campion. They are very variable in quality. The best is "The Case is Altered", followed by "The Beauty King" which is just too long.

All of them appeared in the 1989 volume of the same title. This latest edition also has "Mystery Writer in the Box", but does not have the Introduction, Appreciation and Notes which the 1989 book contained.

My view is that the stories are very much for Allingham fans, but would not be a good starting point for new readers, as they are far from the best work by the greatest of the Queens of Crime.

Whilst I enjoy all Margery Allingham books, I prefer to read the ones that feature Mr Campion, these short stories are a bit of a mixed bag. There are a few Campion ones, some classic Allingham stories, which I suspect she enjoyed writing the best. There are some self-speak conversation with the characters and insights into the process and difficulties of writing the Campion book.