Crispin, Edmund

The Case of the Gilded Fly (Gervase Fen Mysteries)

Theater companies are notorious hotbeds of intrigue, and few are more intriguing than the company currently in residence at Oxford University. Center-stage is the beautiful, malicious Yseut – a mediocre actress with a stellar talent for destroying men. Rounding out the cast are more than a few of her past and present conquests, and the women who love them. And watching from the wings is Professor Gervase Fen – scholar, wit, and fop extraordinaire – who would infinitely rather solve crimes than expound on English literature. When Yseut is murdered, Fen finally gets his wish. Though clear kin to Lord Peter Wimsey, Fen is a spectacular original – brilliant, eccentric and rude, much taken with himself and his splendid yellow raincoat, and given to quoting Lewis Carroll at inappropriate occasions. Gilded Fly, originally published in 1944, was both Fen’s first outing and the debut of the pseudonymous Crispin (in reality, composer Bruce Montgomery), whom the New York Times once called the heir to “John Dickson Carr . . . and Groucho Marx.”

Holy Disorders (Gervase Fen Mysteries)

Gervase Fen--the eccentric Oxford don with a knack for solving “impossible” crimes--made his debut in The Case of the Gilded Fly, which Edmund Crispin (in reality, composer Bruce Montgomery) wrote to win a bet. With Holy Disorders, Crispin’s skills matured, but Fen remains as maddeningly childish as ever, still deliciously fond of his own wit and erudition, and given to quoting Lewis Carroll at inappropriate occasions. First published in 1945, Holy Disorders takes Fen to the town of Tolnbridge, where he is happily bounding around with a butterfly net until the cathedral organist is murdered, giving Fen the chance to play sleuth. The man didn’t have an enemy in the world, and even his music was inoffensive: Could he have fallen afoul of a nest of German spies or of the local coven of witches, ominously rumored to have been practicing since the 17th century? Tracking down the answer pleases Fen immensely--only the reader will have a better time. This, said the New York Times Book Review, is “Fen at his very best.”

Swan Song (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries) (Gervase Fen Mysteries)

Hurrah! With the Nazi's routed, the British can sing Wagner again. The company assembled in Oxford for the first post-war production of Die Meistersinger is delighted, but their happiness is soured by word that the odious Edwin Shorthouse will be singing a leading role. Nearly everyone in the company has reason to loathe Shorthouse, but who could have had the feindish ingenuity to kill him in his own locked dressing room? Answering that question will require a certain finesse, a certain je ne sais quoi, a certain eccentric professor of English Literature with a passion for amateur detecting. Happily, Gervase Fen is on the scene, fresh from his adventures in The Case of the Gilded Fly and Holy Disorders, with his sleuthing skills as sharp as his epigrams.

Love Lies Bleeding (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries)

Professor Gervase Fen is happy to step in when his old friend, the headmaster of the exclusive Castrevenford School, needs a guest speaker for the school's annual Speech Day. (Though the headmaster, it must be said, has his doubts as to whether Fen is "capable of the sustained hypocrisy which the occasion demands.") Fen's happiness, however, turns to positive glee when it becomes clear that his sleuthing skills are needed: Not only has a student at the local girls' school been trifled with in some unspecified, clearly fiendish fashion, but poison has been swiped from the chemistry department, and two, yes two teachers have been murdered! Too bad, of course, for the teachers, but for Fen it's a very good day indeed.

Beware of the Trains (Classic Crime)

The Moving Toyshop (Classic Crime)

The Long Divorce

Glimpses of the Moon

The Edmund Crispin Treasury Volume 1

Volume 1 includes: The Case of the Giled Fly, Holy disorders and The Moving Toy Shop

Frequent Hearses (Classic Crime)