From a literary family, Allingham began writing as a child. Educated at the Pease School for Girls in Cambridge and the Regent Street Polytechnic where she studied drama, Allingham began her writing career producing short stories and essays. She published her first novel, Blackkerchief Dick in 1923, which was only moderately successful. Her first true breakthrough came in 1929 with the publication of The Crime at Black Dudley, which introduced the detective Albert Campion who would go on to grace most of her novels and stories thereafter. Allingham became a regular contributor to The Strand Magazine. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Allingham was one of England's premier detective authors and it wasn't until the 1960s that her output began to decline. In the early 1960s Allingham developed breast cancer and she succumbed in 1966 at Severalls Hospital in Colchester. She was a member of the Detection Club. Her many works include Mystery Mile (1930), Death of a Ghost (1934), Dancers in Mourning (1937), The Fashion in Shrouds (1938), Traitor's Purse (1941), More Work for the Undertaker (1948), Tiger in the Smoke (1952), Hide My Eyes (1958), The China Governess (1963) and The Mind Readers (1965).