The Tiger in the Smoke

Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham

From the opening scene in a London 'pea-souper', the descriptive powers of this writer suck you into the strange and captivating thriller. Set in post-WWII London, each of the characters is wonderfully and mesmorisingly described, with effective cameos, such as the first meeting between the police inspector Luke and the old Canon Avril. It is utterly believable and has the best (should it be vilest?) description of evil, which takes a whole chapter and is set at night in a dark church. The 'Tiger' is a psychopathic killer and 'the Smoke' is London, but the story does revolve around a commando raid on the French coast, and the finale is set there. One of Allingham's Campion books, it marks the progression of this character from the 20s fop to the chastened and matured person who has suffered through the six years of war. A good read and re-read. Unputdownable!