Blackkerchief Dick

by Margery Allingham

A historical novel about smugglers set on Mersea Island in the 17th century, where the Spaniard Delfazio discoveres how true love and friendship can be found in the darkest of places. With romance, heartbreak and adventure on an even keel, Blackkerchief Dick ticks along to the beat of smuggler's life; murder, rum, and the old call of the sea.

Genres: Crime

320 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Aka Maxwell March.

Margery Louise Allingham was born in Ealing, London in 1904 to a family of writers. Her father, Herbert John Allingham, was editor of The Christian Globe and The New London Journal, while her mother wrote stories for women's magazines as Emmie Allingham. Margery's aunt, Maud Hughes, also ran a magazine. Margery earned her first fee at the age of eight, for a story printed in her aunt's magazine.

Soon after Margery's birth, the family left London for Essex. She returned to London in 1920 to attend the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster), and met her future husband, Philip Youngman Carter. They married in 1928. He was her collaborator and designed the cover jackets for many of her books.

Margery's breakthrough came 1929 with the publication of her second novel, The Crime at Black Dudley . The novel introduced Albert Campion, although only as a minor character. After pressure from her American publishers, Margery brought Campion back for Mystery Mile and continued to use Campion as a character throughout her career.

After a battle with breast cancer, Margery died in 1966. Her husband finished her last novel, A Cargo of Eagles at her request, and published it in 1968.

Also wrote as: Maxwell March

Reviews

[Terry Mulcahy]

For an adventure/drama novel by an eighteen-year-old in 1923, this is surprisingly interesting. The dialogue and language seem quite authentic, and as such, a bit difficult to catch on to immediately, but the narrative flows smoothly. It takes place during the reign of Charles II of England, somewhere around 1660–1685. In William McFee's introduction, he points out that Margery had written stories for some time before this, and borrowed heavily from movies, so I suppose the authenticity of the names of places, objects, foods, and pirates depends on the authenticity of her sources. Be that as it may, the story succeeds on several levels, once it gets into the nitty-gritty of life on a small island during the time of old-time pirates. Instead of putting us in the world of the pirates, Allingham puts the story squarely in the small town looking at the pirates from the townsfolks' point of view. There is violence and murder on the part of the pirates, although they treat the townsfolk well, paying their bills and enjoying shore leave there from time to time. The townsfolk, for their part, are happy to have tobacco and rum at a discount and cater to the pirates, happy to stay on the same side of the law, without themselves being taken for thieves or lawbreakers. It's a fair arrangement. But when a notorious pirate shows up, one with genteel mannerisms and fancy clothes, people don't quite know what to make of such a man, who seems more like a gentleman than a pirate, but as everyone everywhere says, looks can be deceiving, and a pirate needs keep his crew under his control by any means necessary. There's plenty of drama to keep turning the pages, and there's a highly unlikely romance, or is it? Thar be danger here mateys.

[Mark James Wooding]

I downloaded this book for free from gutenberg.org.

I only made it through most of the second chapter before I felt myself having to push myself through the book rather than being pulled by the story, and I stopped reading. When I was younger I would have finished it as a matter of principle, but I'm in my fifties now, and there are a lot more books that I'd like to read than I am likely to have time to read. Nowadays, if I have to push myself through a book and I don't have any expectation of the reward that awaits, I usually just stop reading and move on to something else.

Black'erchief Dick was a pirate who appeared to enjoy killing. The story was set during the era when single-shot pistols were state-of-the-art. The characters were colorful and diverse, but they spent too much time talking about other characters. The author was clearly setting the stage for the story, but I would have preferred for the author to have shown those talked-about characters without talking about them first.

The way that J. K. Rowling's characters talked about Voldemort before Voldemort actually showed up in the story was well done. There were plenty of other things going on, and the various references to him added to the suspense. In this book Margery Allingham relied too much on characters talking about other characters, in my opinion. But I admittedly didn't read past chapter two, so it may be that I'm judging the book by too small a slice of it.

It may also be that if I hadn't been tired when I read the book that I would have felt differently about it. Maybe some day I'll try it again, but not today.

[Tracy Smyth]

This book was okay but not as good as other books by this author that I have read. The area where it was set sounds quite nice

[Vanillabean]

DNF. I struggle with Margery Allingham anyway, and apparently this is her first book, so I’m not surprised I couldn’t get into it. I could hardly follow what was happening.

[John Payton]

Quite a riveting adventure, especially considering that the author was 18 years old.

I narrated several chapters of this one for Librivox.

Youtube:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddd_N...
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eARl...

Librivox:
https://librivox.org/blackerchief-dic...

[Theresa Lange]

What a story!!! Written in an older English but kept my interest!

[H Jesseman]

Goodish ending but not my cup of tea.

[Les Wilson]

Disappointing, but interesting as it was set on Mersea Island. To be fair, it's not really my type of story.