A historical novel about smugglers set on Mersea Island in the 17th
century inspired by a series of seances held by the Allingham family
while on holiday on Mersea.
Margery Allingham was born in Ealing, London in 1904 to a family
immersed in literature. Her first novel, Blackkerchief Dick, was
published in 1923 when she was 19. Her first work of detective fiction
was a serialized story published by the Daily Express in 1927. Entitled
The White Cottage Mystery, it contained atypical themes for a woman
writer of the era. Her breakthrough occurred in 1929 with the
publication of The Crime at Black Dudley. This introduced Albert
Campion, albeit originally as a minor character. He returned in Mystery
Mile, thanks in part to pressure from her American publishers, much
taken with the character. Campion proved so successful that Allingham
made him the centrepiece of another 17 novels and over 20 short stories,
continuing into the 1960s.