Mystery Mile

Mystery Mile is a crime novel by Margery Allingham, first published in 1930, in the United Kingdom by Jarrolds Publishing, London, and in the United States by Doubleday, Doran, New York. Following his first, supporting appearance in The Crime at Black Dudley (1929), it is the first of many novels starring the mysterious Albert Campion, and introduces his butler/valet/bodyguard Magersfontein Lugg.

Plot introduction

Crossing the Atlantic on the luxurious liner Elephantine are an American judge, Crowdy Lobbett, and his children. A number of people around Judge Lobbett have been murdered, and he is said to be fleeing to England for safety. Apparent buffoon Albert Campion offers the family sanctuary with his friends in remote Suffolk, but a local commits suicide, the Judge vanishes, and another disappearance follows soon after. What is the Judge's mysterious secret? How was he kidnapped from a remote maze? Can Campion and his friends get to the bottom of things before it's too late?