Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our June/July 2021 buddy read of The China Governess first published in 1962 (Campion's first foray in the 1960's) and the seventeenth in the series.

Timothy Kinnit is rich, handsome and well-bred. He seems to have everything. Then, on the eve of his elopement, he learns that he was adopted, and he is desperate to know who he really is. Someone seems no less keen to stop him finding out. Violence, deception and death bedevil the post-war housing estate that has grown from the ashes of the notorious Turk Street Mile, and the shadow of a long-forgotten murder hangs over it all - until Luke and Campion are finally able to dispel the darkness.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

I really enjoyed this book. The beginning I thought was somewhat gothic with the strange old lady welcoming the young girl to a old, partially ruined house in the country, and showing her a bridal room where she was expected to stay. The story behind the young woman and man wanting to marry before the girl's coming of age, seemed likely, especially as she was an heiress to a fortune. I did get a bit frustrated with the man needing to know who his true parents were, but it is hard for me to judge as I have not been in that position. I enjoyed the discoveries that were made, bringing in the chaos that London was in when war had been declared, and evacuations were underway. A lot of the characters were not there to be liked, but then that is how life is. I would agree with others that this was a darker read than the earlier Allingham books, and neither Campion nor Luke played huge parts in it, but Mrs Broome made up for that with me, as strange as she first appeared. (less)

Jill wrote: "I really enjoyed this book. The beginning I thought was somewhat gothic with the strange old lady welcoming the young girl to a old, partially ruined house in the country, and showing her a bridal ..."

Ok, I like Jill’s retelling of the book better then the original- I just don’t find the later campion books work for me. I miss Lugg, not enough campion, and the audiobook narrator gives Charlie Luke a rather loud, obnoxious cockney accent. Nothing against Cockneys, it’s just rather shrill and distracting. And I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to suspect Nanny Broome of something nefarious, she was by turns cunning and fey.

From the two disparate story lines right from the beginning - a destructive housebreaking vs. young lovers vs. the wacky nanny vs. the old family story of some murderous nanny from decades previous - ok, I guess there were actually four or five stories churning about - I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, and didn’t really care.

I did find the descriptions of the evacuation of London before the Blitz very evocative, though - I often come away feeling Allingham was a frustrated novelist. There are so many quirky, interesting characters, like the councilor and his heartbreaking story, and beautiful, descriptive writing - I feel if she chucked the detective bit and wrote the books she wanted to write, it would have been a real treat!

Susan in NC wrote: "Jill wrote: "I really enjoyed this book. The beginning I thought was somewhat gothic with the strange old lady welcoming the young girl to a old, partially ruined house in the country, and showing ..."

Yes. I have thought there was more to her than Campion

Susan in NC wrote: "From the two disparate story lines right from the beginning - a destructive housebreaking vs. young lovers vs. the wacky nanny vs. the old family story of some murderous nanny from decades previous ..."

I wonder if perhaps the story from the past being paralleled in the present day was a bit more unusual then? We have had a lot of dual timelines and mysteries with an old murder and a current one in more recent years.

I was sad that Charlie Luke is already a widower in this book - I think we only glimpsed him and Prune during their courtship and now she has died.

The whole way she died seemed rather unlikely - surely the fiercely protective Luke would be making sure someone checked on her all the time and there wouldn't be much chance of her going through labour without help.

I slightly wondered if Allingham was thinking of another future romance for Luke as she possibly built him into the main character in Campion's place?

Judy wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "From the two disparate story lines right from the beginning - a destructive housebreaking vs. young lovers vs. the wacky nanny vs. the old family story of some murderous nanny f..."

Good point, hadn’t thought about it, seems like a common trope nowadays.

Judy wrote: "I was sad that Charlie Luke is already a widower in this book - I think we only glimpsed him and Prune during their courtship and now she has died.

The whole way she died seemed rather unlikely -..."

Yes, that struck me as odd, also - and the way characters talk about not having approved of her as his wife, almost seem critical of her for dying in childbirth!

Susan in NC wrote: "Yes, that struck me as odd, also - and the way characters talk about not having approved of her as his wife, almost seem critical of her for dying in childbirth!..."

Yes, that was really odd - I never really got Campion's objection to her as a wife for Charlie in the first place. He seems to think it's a problem that she has an aristocratic background, even though he does himself.

Judy wrote: "I slightly wondered if Allingham was thinking of another future romance for Luke as she possibly built him into the main character in Campion's place?"

I am glad she didn't pursue that theme. It was something I dislike in series with a hero, who will court and marry during one book, and start the next with a dead wife, so he is free to court again!

Oh so now we know it wasn't to be in future. Still only a couple to go now.

Jill wrote: "Oh so now we know it wasn't to be in future. Still only a couple to go now."

I don't know if Luke will find love in the next couple of books - I haven't read them. But at least he wasn't being susceptible in this one!

Rosina wrote: "Jill wrote: "Oh so now we know it wasn't to be in future. Still only a couple to go now."

I don't know if Luke will find love in the next couple of books - I haven't read them. But at least he was..."

Oh sorry I thought you were talking about this series

Jill wrote: "Rosina wrote: "Jill wrote: "Oh so now we know it wasn't to be in future. Still only a couple to go now."

I don't know if Luke will find love in the next couple of books - I haven't read them. But ..."

It was particularly noticeable in action series (like Sharpe, and the large number of Napoleonic Naval sagas, like Hornblower). Wives and girlfriends being abandoned or killed just to free up the hero for more 'romance'.

Rosina wrote: "Jill wrote: "Rosina wrote: "Jill wrote: "Oh so now we know it wasn't to be in future. Still only a couple to go now."

I don't know if Luke will find love in the next couple of books - I haven't re..."

Yes It seemed Sharp was always jumping into bed with women and wanting to marry them

I actually thought that this was one of Allingham's better Campion novels-no criminal gangs, no incomprehensible in-crowd language and jokes, no more than manageable class superiority/mockery of the lower classes, and quite a good mystery. I liked the whole history of the disappearing neighbourhood and all the confusion around the time of outbreak of war/evacuations/bombings and how that was worked into the mystery, and appreciated that Tim was given a solidly lower-middle class parentage, to contrast with the nuttiness of his wealthy/aristrocratic adopted family.

I was also struck by several things around parenting/childbirth-first that Prunella would try to labour by herself for so long, to "not make a fuss" and that Tim's mother would not have told her husband that she was pregnant right up to the 9th month. Then there was some implied talk about what pregnancy/childbirth would really be like and that Nanny Broome would know quite clearly that Agnes had not had a baby (although I just checked and realized that this was published in 1963-hadn't realized it was so late-so authors might have been freer to discuss this) as part of the evidence. The whole part about Nanny Broome having recently lost a baby and therefore being so thrilled to take on young Tim, and essentially mothering him was quite a good bit and would of course fit psychologically.

I also wondered how much money the Kinnit's actually had-it was implied that they had a lot, but they were living with no servants and no cook-ordering all their meals from the local pub was quite comical!

Frances wrote: "I also wondered how much money the Kinnit's actually had-it was implied that they had a lot, but they were living with no servants and no cook-ordering all their meals from the local pub was quite comical!."

They would have been spoiled for choice these days, with all the food available through UberEats and the other providers!

Finally crawled my way to the finish line (too many distractions at home, not a judgment on the book)! It was quite dark and some of the genetics stuff was pretty dubious, but I do love Allingham’s gift for creating original characters and scenarios, as well as her sharp descriptive powers. The story was quite complex and twisty, and I enjoyed that. She has moved with the times—the story felt very early-’60s to me, right down to the young fiancée offering herself in bed to her guy, not something you’d find in earlier Campion novels! But the setting made Campion himself seem quite tired and somewhat anachronistic.

Susan in NC wrote: "Jill wrote: "I really enjoyed this book. The beginning I thought was somewhat gothic with the strange old lady welcoming the young girl to a old, partially ruined house in the country, and showing ..."

It took quite a while to see what the different storylines had to do with each other. The whole business of young lovers eloping----but he leaves her in a spooky house with his old nanny--- was difficult to follow.