Inspiring Older Readers

posted on 17 Dec 2025

The Case of the Late Pig by Margery Allingham

I had always assumed that amongst the so-called Golden Age crime and detective fiction aficionados, Margery Allingham’s seat at the table as one of that period’s ‘four queens’ – Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh being the other three – was largely unchallenged. I’ve personally only read one of her books – The Tiger in the Smoke – which was, I thought, good enough to make me want to know and possibly read more.

Reading more widely around various book reviews and articles made me realise that, in fact, Allingham (1904 – 1966) rather splits opinion amongst within the crime fiction community. There are those who find her plots convoluted, slow and even turgid and those who take a particular dislike to her upper-crust private sleuth, Albert Campion and his sidekick, Lugg, a reformed working-class criminal. However, I should say that crime fiction does seem to engender extreme likes and dislikes and you can move from article to article finding polar opposite opinions about most of these authors.

I was intrigued enough to think I should read another example to see if my only other generally positive reading of her work was able to stand the test. I opted for the rather slight (in terms of length), The Case of the Late Pig from 1937. It wasn’t just the length that appealed to me – barely 150 pages – but the fact that this is the only one of her Campion novels in which the amateur detective himself is the narrator.

In terms of a plot, it manages the rather clever trick of being both simple and complex – a sleight of hand that’s made easier by the fact that we experience the story as narrated by Campion, who is himself perplexed for significant parts of it. The story kicks off with Albert learning from the newspaper of the death of a one-time fellow school pupil, Rowland ‘Pig’ Peters at the same time as he gets a mysterious anonymous letter that seems to refer directly to that event. Although Pig Peters was a rather unpleasant bully, Campion is intrigued enough to attend his funeral – at which there is a cast of odd mourners (most of who will be more or less significant later as the story unfolds).

Once the funeral is done, Campion heads back to his normal life and several months pass until he gets an invitation to go along to see if he can help cast any light on a death at the refined country club, Halt Knights. The request has come from a friend who just happens to be a Chief Constable of the county and, of course it involves a mysterious death. When Campion and Lugg get there and see the body they are shocked to discover the victim is ‘Pig’ Peters, now late for the second time. 

I’ll leave you to find out what’s going on.

So what to make of Allingham on this evidence. I never expect that detective fiction of this kind is going to deliver realistic characters and that’s certainly true here, But the action moves on at a decent lick, there’s some real jeopardy and emotional engagement but, ultimately, I couldn’t help but feel the way the plot was structured in order to solve the mystery was overly contrived. In the end characters behave in ways the plot demands rather than the plot evolving around the characters.

I’m not sure this has helped me resolve whether I’m a fan of Allingham or a critic – I remain agnostic on that point. But I can say that this is a perfectly pleasant but, I fear, an ultimately forgettable read. Maybe one for a journey or a short weekend break.

Paperback copies are easily and cheaply available.

 

Terry Potter

December 2025