Sweet Danger
by Margery Allingham (Heinemann, 1933); audiobook read by Francis Matthews (AudioGO, 1991)
The mystery is piecemeal, the villain ruthless but fleetingly glimpsed, and Campion himself little more than the flitting object of a drinking game. (Take a tipple for every reference to the Hereditary Paladin of Averna or his idiotic, vacant or foolish-looking expression.)