Cargo of Eagles was finished after Margery Allingham's death by her husband Youngman Carter, who apparently completed it based on notes that Allingham left behind. Sadly, the last of the original series (if you count this one because Allingham started it) leaves a lot to be desired. I think it suffers from too many tangents leading to a bit of tedium for the reader. I found myself wanting to just get through it (which is really sad, if you think about it for a minute). The basic plot was good, but it took SO long to get to a resolution that at the end I actually didn't care about it. Brief decription, no spoilers: The small village of Saltey captures the interest of quite a few characters: a doctor who has recently inherited a house from a near stranger; an American historian who is spending a year in Britain doing research on approaches to London in the 17th and 18th centuries; several motorcycle gangs, and some unsavory characters as well. Saltey used to be home to smugglers and pirates, and at one time was "visited by a demon." Now it seems it is also home to a murderer who has a secret to keep -- but it's one that Campion must figure out to help solve his own secret mission. I would recommend it probably to people who are working on finishing the series, but likely not to others. It normally doesn't take me long to finish one of these novels, but this one was just not up to par with most of the other books in the series.
This book has been a true adventure, I picked it up knowing nothing of Margery Allingham's work - only that the character had been turned in to short run TV series bearing the name of its main character Campion. This is more of a thriller than crime story with a major part of adventure involving minor characters and the true reason for the events being revealed in the last half dozen pages of which there was absolutely no chance you could have know of. That all said I enjoyed the book - not sure it has inspired me to read more of the same series or not - we shall have to see - there are still many more books out there to read first.
What do You think about Cargo Of Eagles (1991)?
I really only got this book out of the library because I was taking out Margery Allingham's only non-fiction work about village life in the Second World War, and wanted to give myself some context by reading her more usual mystery. Unfortunately I didn't get time to read the book I intended but I enjoyed this one. It was put together posthumously so I don't know how typical it is of her work. I certainly found it refreshingly different to other mysteries, with some fascinating characters, even though I struggled to understand the plot and Campion, Allingham's famous creation.
—Jennifer
