Set in the atmospheric midst of the impenetrable ‘pea soup’ fog that has descended on the streets of post-war London, The Tiger in the Smoke is a sophisticated Golden Age crime novel in which the darkness of the down-at-heel city fades against a piercing portrait of pure evil.
Lurking in the shadows, a violent murderer is on the rampage and rumours are spreading that “The Tiger” is back in town. As feared, Jack Havoc, a charismatic outlaw and ruthless killer, has indeed broken out of jail and is roaming the streets of London once again, more vicious and cunning than ever.
Albert Campion is asked by his cousin Meg Elginbrodde to investigate the reports that her husband, presumed killed at D-Day, is actually alive. Her new fiancée Geoffrey Levitt is madly jealous. When the man who Meg recognises as her husband but who has claimed to be someone else is found dead, and her fiancée goes missing, Campion finds himself on the hunt for the notorious Tiger who stalks the smog-cloaked alleyways of the city, before it is too late.
Havoc is hiding out with a roving band of disillusioned ex-service men led by a sadistic gang leader on the hunt for “The Treasure” belonging to Meg’s first husband and hidden during the war. This novel is an expedition into London’s underworld and explores the psychology of a villain turned evil by the cruelty of his upbringing and a malevolent mother.
Allingham’s beautifully evoked fog-bound London is a character in its own right, synonymous with the palpable sense of evil that seeps from the pages. Her ruthless, psychopathic killer Jack Havoc is a memorably chilling creation. A dark, brooding psychological thriller rather than a classic whodunnit, the battle between good and evil is convincingly played out in the genteel squares and dark alleyways of postwar England’s capital.
