Deadly Duo
Two Novellas
Two classic mystery stories from the Golden Age author who “stands out like a shining light” (Agatha Christie).
“Wanted: Someone Innocent”
At a retirement reception for their headmistress, twenty-year-old Gillie Brayton is swept away by the wealthy Rita Fayre to work for her in London. Gillie’s job is to accompany Rita’s convalescent husband, but a shocking tragedy reveals the motive behind her employment: murder.
“Last Act”
Gathered at the country residence of Madame Zoffany, an aging star of the French stage, are her ward, both grandsons who stand to inherit her fortune, and her longtime servants. And though they are all used to Zoff’s theatrics, it still comes as a surprise when the grande dame takes her final curtain call—and the spotlight of suspicion shines on them all . . .
Praise for Margery Allingham
“Margery Allingham deserves to be rediscovered.” —P. D. James, New York Times–bestselling author
“The best of mystery writers.” —The New Yorker
“Don’t start reading these books unless you are confident that you can handle addiction.” —The Independent
“One of the finest Golden-Age crime novelists.” —The Sunday Telegraph
Margery Allingham, born in 1904 to Emily and Herbert Allingham, was an esteemed English novelist, author, and editor of Christian Globe and the New London Journal. Considered one of the four “Queens of Crime” from the golden age of detective fiction, Allingham began writing stories and plays at a young age and published her first novel, Blackkerchief Dick, at 19. She later studied drama and speech training at Regent Street Polytechnic in London. Allingham is best known for her character Albert Campion, a sleuth first introduced in The Crime of Black Dudley. Campion was featured in seventeen subsequent novels, and even more short stories. Allingham continued to write until her death on June 30, 1966.
