An intriguing murder plot against an eccentric family- By: , 26 Oct 2000 Allingham at one of her best character-thrillers. Apron street, a throughfare stuckin an older time frame: a street not "to go up" according to the criminal fraternity. A wonderfully weird collection of people: there are Jas Bowels & Son Rowley the undertakers; & then the Palinode brothers & sisters, livingin a world of naive eccentricity, two of whom have already left this lifein mysterious circumstances. Into this world comes Albert Campion, assisting Detective Inspector Charles Luke & his team by being on the inside. Wonderfully described cameos such as Jas & Son moving an ebony-veneered coffinin the early hours of the morning. A treasure of a thriller captiviting the imagination & the intellect. A set of imaginative characters butin a real world of death & its consequences. It ends with a surreal chase through the night, police cars after a horse-drawn coffin brake. Sadly, they don't write them like this anymore.
