The Tiger in the Smoke
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season252 pages, about 5 hours: four-fifths the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbMeg Elginbrodde, about to remarry, receives photographs suggesting her presumed-lost husband may be alive, while fog settles over London.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 11 reviews from critics and book blogs, 7 credit the plot and 5 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesOne critic groups it with Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye, on the shelf at 320 pages, and two others liken it to Graham Greene.
The case for it
on London in the fog
“I loved the atmospheric descriptions of London in the fog”
a book blog on Jack Havoc
“a charismatic and handsome man, not the snivelling ugly or disfigured face of evil”
a book blog on Canon Avril
“Canon Avril is my favorite character in this story.”
a book blog on the police work
“There’s good hefty police work here and dramatic interplay of violent characters”
Unsigned review · Kirkus Reviews, 1952
The case against
on the last section
“the last section of the book felt needlessly long-drawn out”
four stars · a book blog on the disabled characters
“I feel like she was happily participating and perpetuating stereotypes about the disabled”
two stars · a book blog on the pace
“implausible in others and, by modern standards, in some places quite slow”
a Substack review on Campion in the 1930s
“There may be more fun to be had with Campion in the 1930s”
Andre · Crime Fiction Lover, 2015
