“The optimism of a healthy mind is
indefatigable.” – Margery Allingham
Born on May 20, 1904 into a British writing family
(her mother and father were both journalists), Allingham said she probably started putting pen to paper before she could
even walk or talk. By age 10 her first poems had been published and two of her plays had been performed in nearby community theatres.
By her early 20s, Allingham had turned from poetry and theatre to crime and mystery writing, creating Detective Albert Campion in the process. Ultimately, Campion became one of the most well-known crime detective characters of the mid-20th Century after being added to her first novel – The Crime of Black Dudley – almost as an afterthought. But he was such an optimistic and interesting character that her publisher demanded more stories focusing on him.
With that encouragement and her
creative, imaginative mind, she wrote nearly 30 novels with Campion as her
centerpiece character. To try one of them out, I recommend The
Tiger in the Smoke, 14th in the series and an amazing
example of Allingham’s writing style.
Allingham died at age 62 from breast
cancer but ever the optimist, she laid out ideas for several more novels “just
in case they’re wrong and I’m not really dying,” bugging everyone around her to
keep the faith and help her keep writing.
Just a few days before her death (in
June of 1966), she wrote: “If one cannot command attention by one’s admirable
qualities, one can at least be a nuisance.”
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