The Tiger in the Smoke

⚖The case for it

Albert Campion hunts a serial killer through fog-bound London. Allingham's most atmospheric and morally ambitious novel; the fog almost personified, the killer Jack Havoc genuinely terrifying. P.D. James called it Allingham's masterpiece. The final confrontation is philosophical as much as physical.

— the canon

✕The case against

Campion barely matters in his own novel; he stands at the edge while the fog and Jack Havoc do the work. The treasure plot underneath is a contrivance the atmosphere has to carry, and Canon Avril's saintliness tips the moral debate into sermon. Magnificent weather, thinner machinery.

— the honest librarian