Mr Campion’s Mosaic by Mike Ripley – Review

The year is 1972. Albert Campion is the guest speaker at a meeting of the Evadne Childe Society. The meeting is derailed by the news that someone has tried to kill the lead actor in a TV film adaptation of Childe’s novel – The Moving Mosaic. Campion is perplexed: Usually people want to kill actors after they give their performance. He agrees to investigate and soon finds himself plunged into a sordid world of bed-hopping and spouse-swapping thespians. It gives new meaning to the word “luvvie”. While visiting the film set in Dorset, Campion finds the mystery is complicated by the presence of some local ghosthunters, ‘The Prophetics’, who are trying to commune with the victim of a shootout between American soldiers during WWII. The Kingswalter Massacre was hushed up for fear of damaging relations between the Allied Powers. The final complicating factor is the existence of an impressive mosaic, the myriad design of which could be a metaphor for the elaborate plot-lines Ripley interweaves in this novel.

Mr Campion’s Mosaic is historical fiction at its best, as it invites us into a world which, while only fifty years ago, now feels as though it has vanished forever. It was a time when WWII veterans were numerous and the events of that conflict still resonated, not just in political but in personal ways. Actors were hellraisers, in and out of the bedroom. And there was debate among TV producers whether audiences had the patience to watch a feature-length detective drama! As they were soon to discover, no one ever went broke underestimating television audiences love of a good mystery. I found myself racing towards the conclusion to see how Ripley would tie it all together, and particularly towards the afterword Ripley includes to his Campion novels, which explains some of the references littered throughout the text. The Kingswalter Massacre, for instance, is based on the Kingsclere Massacre.

If you are unfamiliar with Mike Ripley’s Campion novels, then take my advice and treat yourself to a copy of Mr Campion’s Mosaic.

A marvellous book.