History Literature / AlbertCampion

* RelationshipUpgrade: Campion and Amanda at the end of "The Fashion in Shrouds."
* ReplacedWithReplica: One of Campion's plans to protect the Gyrth Chalice in "Look to the Lady" is to create a replica to draw the bad guys' efforts away from the real Chalice. When he takes the Chalice to a specialist to make the replica, the specialist explains that what Campion has is already a replica -- one made for the same purpose by an ancestor of his.
* RightfulKingReturns: Suberted and played straight in the same book, "Sweet Danger". Campion pretends to be the earl of Pontisbright and king of Averna to draw the villains into the open, then by the end of the book he's found (and crowned) the rightful heir.
* RuthlessModernPirates: Teague in "Cargo of Eagles" was arrested and tried for piracy and murder in the 1940s. At the time of the book, he's just been released from prison and disappeared.

** In "Police At the Funeral" Campion can't resist wearing a [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes deerstalker cap]] to impress a client and jokes around with Stanislaus Oates by pretending to deduce all about someone from the sound of their footsteps.
** In "The Case of the Late Pig" Campion is asked if his unusual butler [[Literature/LordPeterWimsey saved his life in the war]].
* SleightOfHandiness: Campion performs a magic trick in "The Crime at Black Dudley", making a salt cellar disappear and then appear again on the person of a servant (who's in employ of the BigBad). [[spoiler: Campion also takes the servant's gun while performing the trick.]]

** In ''The Case of the Late Pig'', the murderer tries this on Campion. [[spoiler: Fortunately, perhaps as a result of his early experiences of being UnsuspectinglySoused, Campion spots what he's trying to do and just pretends.]]
** In ''Hide My Eyes'', Hawker does this to one of his victims, with the aim of leaving them in a fatal situation that [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident looks like an accidental death]].

* SuicideNotMurder: [[spoiler: In "Police at the Funeral," but not only does Andrew set up his own suicide to look like murder, he leaves behind lethal booby-traps to kill off his relatives and they succeed in killing two of them.]]

* TapOnTheHead: Campion knocks several mooks unconscious in "The Crime at Black Dudley" by hitting them in the head with the butt of a pistol.
* ATasteOfTheLash: Happens 'off-screen' in "The Crime at Black Dudley" after Campion [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu makes a fool]] out of the BigBad that has him held hostage.
* {{Telepathy}}: "The Mind Readers"

* UndercoverAsLovers: Campion and Amanda in "The Fashion in Shrouds", though by the end of the book the engagement is for real.
* TheUnreveal: Campion's identity; subverted when in "The Crime at Black Dudley" Abbershaw thinks he's finally figured out who Campion is, then uses the name to try to shock Campion, but it's just another of Campion's aliases.

** Campion has this done to him when BluffingTheMurderer (Type 3) he accepts a dinner invitation and is manipulated by the MagnificentBastard into having a cocktail. The cocktail however reacts with the rare wine the murderer had specially ordered at the restaurant, and causes Campion to become soused. [[spoiler: Fortunately Campion had asked Inspector Oates for a few plain clothes policemen to watch over him, otherwise the murderer would have gotten away with pushing the inebriated Campion beneath a train.]]

* "The Crime at Black Dudley" (1929), also known as "The Black Dudley Murder".
* "Mystery Mile" (1930).
* "Look to the Lady" (1931), also known as "The Gyrth Chalice Mystery".
* "Police at the Funeral" (1931).
* "Sweet Danger" (1933), also known as "Kingdom of Death" and "The Fear Sign".
* "Death of a Ghost" (1934).
* "Flowers for the Judge" (1936), also known as "Legacy in Blood".
* "The Case of the Late Pig" (1937).
* "Dancers in Mourning" (1937), also known as "Who Killed Chloe?".
* "The Fashion in Shrouds" (1938).
* "Traitor's Purse" (1941), also known as "The Sabotage Murder Mystery".
* "Coroner's Pidgin" (1945), also known as "Pearls Before Swine".
* "More Work for the Undertaker" (1948).
* "The Tiger in the Smoke" (1952).
* "The Beckoning Lady" (1955), also known as "The Estate of the Beckoning Lady".
* "Hide My Eyes" (1958), also known as "Tether's End" and "Ten Were Missing".
* "The China Governess" (1962).
* "The Mind Readers" (1965).
* "Cargo of Eagles" (1968). Novel left incomplete due to the death of Allingham in 1966. Completed by her husband Philip Youngman Carter.
* "Mr. Campion's Farthing" (1969) by Philip Youngman Carter.
* "Mr. Campion's Falcon" (1970) by Philip Youngman Carter. Published posthumously as Carter died in 1969.

* AloneWithThePsycho: [[spoiler: Canon Avril is alone with a serial killer, on purpose! BadassPacifist, indeed.]]
* AmnesiacHero: Campion in "Traitors Purse". Possibly first amnesiac secret agent who must find out [[IdentityAmnesia who he is]], and what he forgot that is so important so he can stop an evil plan during World War II.

* BigDamnHeroes: In [[spoiler: "The Crime at Black Dudley"]] Guffy Randall and The Hunt, of all things

* BodyDouble: At the end of "Mystery Mile" Campion is asked to do this [[NoodleIncident apparently again]] for a foreign prince, and he uses one for himself in [[spoiler: "Sweet Danger"]].

* ChivalricRomance: The whole book "Look to the Lady" is filled with many a ShoutOut to chivalric romances, especially Myth/KingArthur and Literature/OrlandoFurioso, and considering the subject matter it is somewhat justified but there is much more in there than necessary or that [[ViewersAreGeniuses the casual modern-day reader]] would notice.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Richie Barnabas. Canon Avril is a mild one. Gilbert Whippet [[spoiler: appears to be one, but is actually more a case of BrilliantButLazy and SmarterThanYouLook.]]
* CoolCar: Campion's red Lagonda he gets (finally replacing his broken-down, falling apart old Bentley) in "Flowers for the Judge".
* CreepyMortician: Jas. Bowels in "More Work for the Undertaker."
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: To the [[BigBad BigBads]] in both 'Mystery Mile' and 'Sweet Danger'.

* DisguisedInDrag: Campion in "Sweet Danger" so as to avoid being instantly recognisable by his enemies and friends from a distance; leads, of course, to one of his many hilarious entrances.

* ElCidPloy: Campion plays this in the beginning of "Sweet Danger" in order to try to draw the villains into the open.
* ElderlyBlueHairedLady: Dixie Wishart, the landlady of the Demon inn in ''Cargo of Eagles'', has a blue rinse that gives her hair "alarming heliotrope highlights".

* FunWithAcronyms / PunnyName: Roland Isidore Peters [[spoiler: the victim in "Case of the Late Pig" who faked his death once and then made trouble in a small town, then was murdered and his body stolen]]. Now go back and read his initials again.

* GhostTown: In the backstory of "Cargo of Eagles", a fraudulent Victorian property developer sold plots of land in the area known as the Trough, claiming that Eastonville, a new seaside resort, would be built on the site. Only a handful of houses were ever completed, and by the time of the story they're mostly deserted or ruinous.

** Campion terms himself 'universal uncle', making himself honorary uncle to everyone.

* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: In "Crime at Black Dudley" and in "Flowers for the Judge" (by a SympatheticMurderer).
* KillItWithFire: How the BigBad in "The Crime at Black Dudley" intends to kill his hostages, and how Campion deals with the menace in [[spoiler: "Traitor's Purse"]]
* KingIncognito: Subverted in so many ways in "Sweet Danger." Campion pretends to be royalty (which, as one character noted [[ShrugOfGod Campion may actually be]] ) obviously undercover.

* LetsGetDangerous: Campion, of course, especially in "The Crime at Black Dudley" where everyone has taken him for a [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} idiot]] and a [[TheSoCalledCoward coward]] (for his whimsical [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snarking]] of all their plans for escape), then [[spoiler: single-handedly rescues Abbershaw and Meggie; in an attempt to fight back against their captors efficiently takes down one of the toughest mooks all on his own while it takes three of the other men to take out the other; then takes out Dawlish's [[TheDragon Dragon]], all after having been [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] for information.]]
* LightsOffSomebodyDies: In 'The Crime at Black Dudley' and 'Death of a Ghost'.
* LockedRoomMystery: In "Flowers for the Judge."

** Crops up a few times and is generally written in a contemptuous fashion so the reader doesn't sympathize with those involved. Most notably the one between Campion, his client, and his client's wife in "Dancers in Mourning", and the one between Campion's sister, Amanda's boss, and an actress in "The Fashion in Shrouds" (which tends towards the PsychoticLoveTriangle end of things) against which the non-possessive and rather sweet romance of Campion and Amanda is juxtaposed.
** A sort-of version appears in "Traitor's Purse", in which Campion becomes jealous of Amanda's interest in Lee Aubrey. It is mainly down to amnesia, however; Campion has received a head-injury and assumed that he and Amanda were married due to their familiarity, only to be shocked on learning that they are not. Also, Amanda's interest in Lee is, while not entirely fake, largely due to an undercover role. [[spoiler: And Lee turns out to be the bad guy anyway, decidedly putting the kibosh on the whole matter.]]

* MacGuffin: The Gyrth Chalice in "Look to the Lady". The Crown, the Charter, and Metternich's Receipt in "Sweet Danger". The telepathic devices in "The Mind Readers." The [[spoiler: golden Eagles]] in "Cargo of Eagles."

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Precisely what it is that guards the Gyrth Chalice in "Look to the Lady". [[spoiler: In cold light of day, it seems to be just a suit of armor rigged up to a window (albeit with a corpse apparently inside, which is not exactly pleasant). But Campion witnesses a cold-blooded, hard-as-nails criminal practically frightened to death just by looking at it and, seriously doubting that what he has seen could do such a thing by itself, starts to wonder whether something else might also be at work...]]

* MorallyBankruptBanker: In [[spoiler:"More Work for the Undertaker"]]

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Most of World War II, where it is implied Campion was something of a badass spy/secret agent and possibly something of an {{Ambadassador}}, but we only get to see a little of his wartime activities in "Traitor's Purse."

* PirateBooty: The [=McGuffin=] in "Cargo of Eagles" -- Teague robbed and ransacked a private yacht, and although some of his ill-gotten gains were found, the bulk of them have never come to light.

* TheVicar: Swithin Cush

[[quoteright:343:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/albert_campion.jpg]]

* BlackSheep: Campion, his sister Valentine, and if they're any indication of what their family frowns upon, probably Canon Avril as well.

* BrokenMessiah: Campion when seriously contemplating ignoring his ideals, [[spoiler: i.e. seriously contemplating pointing the authorities toward his client so he could steal the man's wife,]] even falling into a HeroicBSOD and putting on some pretty thick JadeColoredGlasses, but [[HesBack he's brought back to himself]] in the next book via LoveRedeems.

** Crops up a few times and is generally written in a contemptuous fashion so the reader doesn't sympathize with those involved. Most notably the one between Campion, his client, and his client's wife (see BrokenMessiah for how this ends up affecting Campion) in "Dancers in Mourning", and the one between Campion's sister, Amanda's boss, and an actress in "The Fashion in Shrouds" (which tends towards the PsychoticLoveTriangle end of things) against which the non-possessive and rather sweet romance of Campion and Amanda is juxtaposed.

Albert Campion is the protagonist of a series of novels by Margery Allingham; outwardly a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob but in reality a GentlemanAdventurer [[WeHelpTheHelpless who is willing to sell his skills to anyone in trouble]]. Aside from his enquiring mind and deductive abilities, his main attributes are his incredible range and depth of contacts, ranging from low class criminals up to the Chief Constables of a number of police forces and his ability to insinuate himself anywhere and get along with pretty much anybody.

* HistoricalCharactersFictionalRelative: Campion is implied but never stated to be the illegitimate son of King George V. Campion is a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob with an undisclosed source of wealth and is indicated to have some connection with the royal family. George V, like other members of the House of House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha/Windsor had Albert among his names, and Campion's real name, Rupert, also fits in with the German origin of the family.

** Subverted in that same story with the creature of Pharisee's Clearing.

* BikerBabe: Doll Jensen in "Cargo of Eagles", ringleader of a biker gang who embodies the Sixties' rebelliousness and sexual freedom.

* SlippingAMickey: In ''The Case of the Late Pig'', the murderer tries this on Campion. [[spoiler: Fortunately, perhaps as a result of his early experiences of being UnsuspectinglySoused, Campion spots what he's trying to do and just pretends.]]

* WindsOfDestinyChange: Capt. Jack Havoc and Canon Avril are both what Havoc calls 'Watchers'

* DecoyProtagonist: While still part of the Campion series, in ''The Tiger in the Smoke'' Campion and his friends are more like supporting characters, with most of the action actually revolving around the vicious murderer Jack Havoc and the effects his obsessive pursuit have on everyone.

* KnifeNut: Captain Jack Havoc

* ElderlyBlueHairedLady: Dixie Wishart, the landlady of the Angel in ''Cargo of Eagles'', has a blue rinse that gives her hair "alarming heliotrope highlights".

* SlippingTheMickey: In ''The Case of the Late Pig'', the murderer tries this on Campion. [[spoiler: Fortunately, perhaps as a result of his early experiences of being UnsuspectinglySoused, Campion spots what he's trying to do and just pretends.]]

* BikerBabe: Doll Jensen in "Cargo of Eagles".