The Mind Readers
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A mysterious invention causes mayhem in a coastal English village—from “my very favourite of the four Queens of Crime” (J. K. Rowling). The ancient hamlet of Saltey, once the haunt of smugglers, now hides a secret rich and mysterious enough to trap all who enter . . . and someone in town is willing to terrorize, murder, and raise the very devil to keep that secret to themselves. When a transistor thought to be the key to telepathic communication is found, Albert Campion is called to sort fact from fiction. But the device at the center of the mystery is in the possession of two schoolboys, and whether they stole it or invented it, there are others who will kill to get hold of it. “Allingham has a strong, well controlled sense of humour, a power of suggesting character with a few touches and an excellent English style. She has a sense of the fantastic, and is never dull” —Times Literary Supplement
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13 primary booksAlbert Campion Mystery is a 13-book series with 13 primary works first released in 1929 with contributions by Margery Allingham.
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I first read this book in the 1960s, not long after it was first published, and my copy of it dates from then; I've reread it periodically over the years; but it still seems fresh and exciting today.Allingham had a long career as a writer of murder mysteries and adventures; she was a fine writer and a keen observer of character. As far as I know, this was her only attempt at writing science fiction, but she made a success of it, bringing with her the skills she'd honed over decades and also a bunch of her long-serving characters.Naturally, it's an unusual book, unlike any other science fiction you may have read; I don't suppose she normally read the genre herself. It's the story of a revolutionary technological breakthrough, how it's achieved, and the characters and events surrounding the discovery. There are spies, counter-spies, policemen, intrigue, and a murder, but these turn out to be mere distractions from what's really going on. The murder could have been omitted without making much difference to the story; maybe she found it hard to write a novel without a murder in it.The technological details given are quite implausible and rather quaint, but so persuasively described that you can almost believe; and the involvement of several precocious children in the discovery gives the story added charm and humour, without which it would be much drier.The two main children are, incidentally, descended from characters that Allingham was writing about more than thirty years earlier. She liked to keep things in the family!There's a dedication at the front: “To my technical advisers in gratitude for their astonishing new world and in the hope that I get this tale out before they do.”So she had help with this. But as far as I know we're no nearer this technology now than we were in the 1960s. Perhaps it's fantasy and will stay that way. Or perhaps not, who knows?It seems odd to me that this book isn't highly rated by other readers. I suppose most of them are Margery Allingham fans who prefer her in non-sf mode; whereas I prefer her in sf or fantasy mode, and this qualifies, along with [b:Sweet Danger 383198 Sweet Danger (Albert Campion Mystery, #5) Margery Allingham https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328016520l/383198.SY75.jpg 3205559], which feels rather like fantasy, although it's more unlikely than genuinely fantastic.A man named Peter Clew is mentioned as significant in the first chapter of this book, but doesn't appear again until he's mentioned in the penultimate chapter, so briefly that you could easily miss it. I never before wondered what his significance was; on wondering now, I realize that he was significant to the plot not for what he did, but for what he didn't do. I also realize that his surname was deliberately awarded to provide material for a pun.
