Mr Campion’s Farewell
by Mike Ripley (Severn House, 2014); audiobook read by David Thorpe (Black Thorn, 2019)
Ripley’s Mr Campion proves a worthwhile extrapolation of Margery Allingham’s original, his agedness allowing for downbeat ruminations on his place in the world, and yet also a carefree, almost schoolboyish exuberance. The mystery itself is meandering, a narrative inverse to Campion’s piquancy.