History Literature / AlbertCampion

* BaldWoman: Mrs. Munsy.

* BigDamnKiss: Campion and Amanda after thwarting a plot by Nazis that could have brought the U.K. to its knees.

** In ''The Case of the Late Pig'', the murderer tries this on Campion. [[spoiler: Fortunately, this time Campion spots what he's trying to do and just pretends.]]
* TheVicar: Swithin Cush

* AuthorAvatar: The short story "A Border-Line Case" is essentially a conversation between Campion, a police detective (I forget which one), and the {{Narrator}}, whom the others call Margery.

* Campion's family is implied to be this.

* UnsuspectinglySoused: 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.]]

* LoveTriangle: 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.

* 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."

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Allingham passed away in the middle of writing a Campion novel. It was finished by her husband Phillip Youngman Carter, who later wrote two more Campion novels of his own. They're remembered as pretty mediocre, if they're remembered at all.

* GenreAdultery: The Campion books might be billed as mystery stories, but Margery Allingham often switched between genres (helped by the fact that Campion was quite versatile). Sure, she had whodunnits and country house murders, but there were also adventure novels, thrillers, comedies of manners, secret agent thrillers, mild science fiction, and mild fantasy/horror.

* AccentDepundent: The clue to the answer of who Simister is [[spoiler: (Alistair "Ali" Barber)]], is likely to take American readers a moment or two to 'get' it.

* LifeImitatesArt: After World War II, Margery Allingham was told that the diabolical Nazi plan that Campion has to stop in "Traitor's Purse" was something that the Nazis had actually tried to do.

* 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, all after being [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] for information.]]

* ChivalricRomance: The whole book "Look to the Lady" is filled with many a ShoutOut to chivalric romances, especially KingArthur and 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.

[[folder: Regular & Recurring Characters]]
!!Albert Campion
* BewareTheSillyOnes: Campion may compulsively joke, tell facetious stories, and make the most inane entrances, but you touch a client or someone he's taken a liking to, and you will go down.
* BlackSheep: he's estranged from most of his family, partially because he actually cares about and wants to help people and partially how he goes about doing so.
* BreakTheCutie: One of the early chapters in ''Coroner's Pidgin'' mentions how, because of what he saw in UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, he'll never be quite as carefree again. Sadly, this was TruthInTelevision for a lot of people who saw service.
* BritishTeeth
* BunnyEarsLawyer: His quirks, especially noticeable in the early works, lead others to wonder how anyone could seriously have referred them to him for help. His quirks do tone down as he gets older (though he never can quit the compulsive quipping).
* CharacterTics: Campion's facial expressions become more vague and foolish when he's figured out something and very often when he's about to do something badass.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Occasionally lampshaded by Lugg or Campion himself.
* ClassClown: Campion was implied to be this in school and college.
* CoolOldGuy: Campion becomes one of these by the end of the series.
* CulturedBadass
* DeadpanSnarker
* DidNotGetTheGirl: Until Amanda, all of the women that Campion is interested in end up falling in love with one of his [[TheLancer friends or clients]].
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: He tends to do this in a comedic manner. Needless to say, whatever BigBad is in the story [[ColdBloodedTorture does not usually take this well]]
* DistinctiveAppearances: The minute you hear reference to a 'tall man', a 'thin man', or a 'pale man', you know who it is because no one is referred to in that way except our hero.
* DoesntLikeGuns: due to that he'd rather not have the temptation to kill anyone, however he does carry one when jobs look to be dangerous and is, in fact, a very good shot.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: His real name is [[spoiler: Rudolph]], and he hates it and has done his very best to make people forget it, requiring he be called "Albert" at least as far back as college if not before then.
* FatAndSkinny: The skinny one when pretty much next to anybody, but especially next to Lugg.
* ForTheFunnyz: Campion can rarely resist the compulsion to make a funny, especially in the earlier books.
* FramesOfReference: In a double subversion of SmartPeopleWearGlasses, Campion purposely wears overly large spectacles to [[ObfuscatingStupidity emphasize his]] [[SmarterThanYouLook non-intelligent appearance]] (he does, however, apparently need them for seeing long-distance).
* GentlemanAdventurer: Unlike most of the type though, he does have bills to pay and several stories start with Campion agreeing to help someone for free and Lugg wondering how Campion's going to be able to afford to do so.
* GentlemanDetective
* GentlemanSnarker: Especially as he gets older.
* GrayEyes: described as pale, actually.
* GuileHero
* HappilyMarried: When he and Amanda finally do.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Doesn't express it too much, but you find out when he writes one of his adventures himself (despite doing his best to not spoil the story with any 'damned modesty' since he was quite 'brilliant in it') that he's actually very critical of himself, doesn't see himself as a hero, and tends to get hung up on any perceived failures or mistakes he makes.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: with Lugg.
* IHaveManyNames: Campion has used many pseudonyms; even 'Albert Campion' itself is a pseudonym. (It's eventually revealed that his first name is [[spoiler: Rudolph]], and implied, [[ShrugOfGod but never outright stated]], that he is really the bastard son of King George V.)
* KnightInSourArmor: Not an incredibly blatant version because he tends to [[SadClown hide both his idealism and his disillusionment under a rain of]] [[ForTheFunnyz jokes and quips]], but when you do get to see beneath it, he is very much this trope.
* LivingLegend: Becomes this in certain circles by the end of the books.
* MagneticHero: Despite his quirks, compulsive quipping, and foolish manner, most people find themselves somehow looking for him to come up with a plan or following his orders without question. Is lampshaded in several books.
* MotorMouth: In the earlier books he often goes into long complicated jokes or making up a long string of funnies on the fly, often resulting in a pre-emptive or mid-sentence collective "Shut Up!" from whatever group of people he's with even if they do respect him and know he's more than he appears.
-->Marlowe Lobbett: "I say, do you always talk like this?"
-->Mr. Campion: "Almost always. People get used to it in time. I can't help it, it's a sort of affliction, like stammering or a hammer toe. My friends pretend they don't notice it."
* MysteriousPast
* SadClown: Often uses funnies to relieve the stress of situations and hide his inner workings.
* SelfDeprecation: Doubly subverted. He'll make some sort of statement about his life, fame, heritage, or abilities that's so outrageous it's obvious he's being ironic.
* SharpDressedMan
* SmarterThanYouLook: By the time you realise he's not as dumb, silly, or flighty as he looks, it's too late. Far, far too late.
** ObfuscatingStupidity: One of Campion's greatest weapons. He knows how people perceive him and he'll ramp it up to eleven to enforce that image if it means he's more likely to be underestimated.
* TheSocialExpert
* StealthInsult: It's fairly common for him to slip these somewhere in the middle of his usual [[ForTheFunnyz compulsive joking]].
* TechnicalPacifist: Campion has a 'rule' not to kill -- mostly because he doesn't want to have that on his conscience and partly because of his arrangement with the police -- but he's quite ready to punch people into the wall. And the table. And [[CombatPragmatist the bookshelf...]]
** The only exception to the 'rule' was in the book "Traitor's Purse" in which he is a secret agent during World War II, though he one time did accept a government job where part of his contract was he would have to kill an agent from a vicious international art-stealing ring (though he ended up not having to do so).
* TheTrickster
* VerbalJudo: Campion becomes quite good at this as he ages.
* VitriolicBestBuds: with Lugg. If they're not insulting each other, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness then something is wrong...]]
* WeHelpTheHelpless: and his card reads: "Justice neatly executed. Nothing sordid, vulgar, or plebeian. Deserving cases preferred. Police no object."

!!Magersfontein Lugg
* BadassMoustache: what Lugg thinks it is (and he's probably pretty justified). Campion, however, [[PornStache can't take it seriously]].
* BassoProfundo: In contrast to Campion's tenor voice and fast-paced chatter, Lugg has a very, very deep, sepulchral voice.
* BattleButler
* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: He likes to make out that he's this in regards to Campion.
* CordonBleughChef
* FatAndSkinny: The fat one.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: with Campion.
* TheLancer
* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Allingham inadvertently never really aged Lugg throughout the books (which span thirty years or so), and she even lampshades it in one of her short stories in which she meets up with Lugg and asks him why he doesn't age. After she realized she hadn't been making him age, she just shrugged and let him keep going as he was except for making his moustache white. By the end of the series he should be somewhere in his eighties, and still looks like he's in his fifties.
* OlderSidekick
* OneOfTheKids: Tends to be this whenever he's around kids, making Campion both amused and sometimes frustrated.
* PersonalMook: to Campion.
* ReformedCriminal: He used to be a cat burglar.
* SarcasticDevotee
* SourSupporter
* StoutStrength
* VitriolicBestBuds: with Campion. If they're not insulting each other, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness then something is wrong...]]

!!Amanda Fitton
* BirdsOfAFeather: Campion and Amanda are both highly energetic in mind and body, love to joke around a lot, love adventure, and are not concerned about sticking to their "proper" roles.
* GenkiGirl: In her first appearance and the only person who can keep up with her is Campion (or, rather, they're the only ones who can keep up with each other); she slows down a bit in the later novels.
* HeroesWantRedHeads
* PluckyGirl
* RedheadInGreen: In her first appearance.
* SignificantGreenEyedRedhead
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: While not ugly, Mr. Campion is not the most handsome man; Amanda fell in love with his intelligence, wit, humour, and his dedication to helping others.
* SkilledButNaive: is this in her first appearance. When she and Campion meet up again years later, she's matured and is the perfect partner for Campion.
* SpiritedYoungLady
* TechnologicalPacifist: Averted. During WWII she designs and builds war planes.
* WomenDrivers: Averted. Amanda is a magnificent and elegant driver, one of the first things Campion notices about her and finds attractive when he has amnesia in "Traitor's Purse."
* WrenchWench: Is extremely good at fixing, designing, and building mechanical things. She is actually the chief airplane designer at Alandell Aeronautics and prefers getting her hands in actually assembling the engines.

!!Stanislaus Oates
* DeadpanSnarker: Emphasis on the deadpan.
* FriendOnTheForce: Pretty close friend if making Campion his son's godfather is any indication.
* HappilyMarried
* RetiredBadass: Eventually.

!!Charlie Luke
* AntiNihilist
* BadassBaritone
* CharacterTics: Is constantly using his hands to describe people.
* FaceOfAThug
* FacialDialogue: He communicates through this just about as much as through speaking, and uses this and his compulsive hand-gestures to be really quite articulate in a very weird way.
* FriendOnTheForce
* HollywoodAtheist: Averted.
* KnightInSourArmor
* OddFriendship: With Canon Avril.
* SlasherSmile: His smiles often get mistaken for this, and are prone to unnerve even people that know him well enough to know it's not a SlasherSmile.

!! Thos. T. Knapp
* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: Thos. gathers information he can use to his advantage; he's quite adamant it's not blackmail.
* TheRat
* RecruitingTheCriminal: Several times.
* ReformedCriminal: Eventually he becomes almost respectable.
* RunningGag: One that spans several books and many years. In his first appearance he keeps trying to tell stories of [[NoodleIncident other times he and Campion worked together]] and Campion shutting him up, and further down the road Campion trying to tell stories about when he and Thos. worked together and Thos. shutting him up.

!! Canon Hubert Avril
* BadassPacifist: And how!
* {{Bookworm}}
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Not a very blatant one, more tends towards being forgetful while thinking about something he considers more important, like washing his hands before going out after getting blood on them.
** TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight: Campion (and Charlie Luke) have learned that Canon Avril is almost always right, and you're better off listening to him.
* CoolOldGuy
* GodIsGood: Believes this in contrast to Charlie Luke who doesn't believe there's a god and if there is He doesn't care.
* GoodIsNotDumb: Charlie Luke is actually a bit surprised by this. Canon Avril is highly intelligent and you can see where Campion got his enquiring mind and perception from (and even where Campion got his snarkiness, it's just Avril can control it).
* GoodShepherd
* HappilyMarried: Or was until his wife died a few years before he shows up in the books.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Of the more rounded sort (to others or even the reader - until you see inside his head - he can appear not so rounded). He struggles with things but he makes the right (or at least as right as he can perceive) decision.
* OddFriendship: With Charlie Luke.

!!Augustus "Guffy" Randall
* BestFriendsInLaw: Becomes this with Campion after Campion marries Amanda.
* IdleRich: Except for when Campion recruits him for a job/mission.
* NotWithThemForTheMoney: With his wife, who became pretty fantastically rich at the end of the adventure in which he met her.
* QuintessentialBritishGentleman

!! William Faraday
* [[BlatantLies Blatant Liar]]: Is really a most terrible liar.
* DirtyOldMan
* HonoraryUncle: To Campion.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Is very narcisstic but very childlike and loyal to those he considers his friends.
* ManChild
* TheMunchausen: He wrote his memoirs, but he decided his life was so boring that he needed to spice it up 'a bit.' He got caught out for doing so, of course, and brought to court but people were so amused by him and his fictional adventures he ended up quite well off between the book selling like mad and a stage-play being made of it.

!! Gilbert Whippet
* [[spoiler: BrilliantButLazy]]
* [[spoiler: TheChessmaster: He manipulated Campion into getting into the Pig Peter's case so he didn't have to pay Campion.]]
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}} [[spoiler: Subverted. He only appears that way.]]
* ComplexityAddiction: To put it mildly.
* TheNondescript: Campion says about Whippet, "Vagueness is not so much his characteristic as his entity. I don't know what he looks like, except that presumably he has a face, since it would be an omission that I should have been certain to observe."
* [[spoiler: SmarterThanYouLook]]
** [[spoiler: ObfuscatingStupidity: possibly the only person to be able to out-do Campion on this front.]]

[[/folder]]

* TheCreepyUndertaker: Jas. Bowels in "More Work for the Undertaker."

** In "The Case of the Late Pig" Campion is asked if his unusual butler [[Literature/LordPeterWimsey saved his life in the war]]

-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]]

* ShoutOut: 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.

* BreakTheCutie: One of the early chapters in ''Coroner's Pidgin'' mentions how, because of what he saw in WorldWarTwo, he'll never be quite as carefree again. Sadly, this was TruthInTelevision for a lot of people who saw service.

* ValuesDissonance: The modern reader's sympathies are likely to abruptly reorient themselves when the Cause of Wicked Cousin George's blackmail of Great Aunt Caroline is revealed in ''Police at the Funeral'' ([[spoiler: George's mother was of mixed race]])

* ShoutOut: In "Police At the Funeral" Campion can't resist wearing a [[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.

A television adaptation, ''Series/{{Campion}}'', debuted in 1989. It featured PeterDavison as Campion.

* BadassDamsel

[[folder: Recurring Characters]]

* GoodIsNotDumb: Charlie Luke is actually a bit surprised by this. Canon Avril is highly intelligent and you can see where Campion got his enquiring mind and perception from (or even where Campion got his snarkiness, it's just Avril can control it).