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Holy Disorders
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Review
" A master of the whodunit -- he combines a flawless plot, witty dialogue, and a touch of hilarity."
- "New York Times"
- "New York Times"
Book Description
Who crushed to death a cathedral organist who didn't have an enemy in the world? Only Gervase Fen can track down the murderer in this witty and surreal whodunnit
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read most of Edmund Crispin many years ago and enjoyed them. Holy Disorders defintely bears re-reading. The plot is complex and reamrkably up to date if you just think terrorists instead of German spies! Why did the two inoffensive victims meet their maker? Gervase Fen - English don and amiable eccentric - asks his friend Geoffrey Vintner to help him find out. But there will be many twists and turns before the murderers are unmasked and many red herrings. The writing is sharp and precise and there are flashes of humour and acknowledgments that this is a book and the characters are part of a story, which could seem artificial in less skilful hands, but here it hits just the right note. Well worth a read especially if you love the Golden Age of British detective fiction.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you've read Crispin's 'The Moving Toyshop' you'll already be wanting to read this book, if you've read neither 'The Moving Toyshop' or 'Holy Disorders' then you've missed a couple of real treats.
'Holy Disorders' is one of my favourite Crispin novels featuring great characters who whilst they perhaps border on caricatures are such great fun it would be churlish to complain. The setting is a small town in wartime England and centres around the local clergy. It features Gervase Fen, the wonderfully eccentric Professor of English, a true Don. Humour and tight clever plotting recall Michael Innes or Carter Dickson at their very best.
Highly recommended for lovers of the classic English crime novel.
Format:Paperback
This is the second of Edmund Crispin's beautifully compact Gervase Fen mysteries featuring his quirky hero, who moonlights as a detective from his 'day job' as Professor of English at a fictional Oxford University college.
Like the first novel, The Case of the Gilded Fly, there is frequent literary allusion - although it's not vital to the plot, it's great fun working out where the quotations come from. Just make sure you have a copy of Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" handy! The book is also full of outlandish situations, such as Geoffrey Vintner in the early pages lurching inexpertly from one life-threatening situation to another whilst clutching the huge butterfly net that Fen has insisted he brings with him. We are also introduced to a range of eccentric clerics alongside some neo-Nazis and a coven of devil-worshippers as well as a group of policemen who seem to have been spirited in from The Pirates of Penzance...and then there is the murder in the cathedral...all within the span of the same day.
Fen himself does not appear until we get nearly a third of the way through the book, although we are frequently reminded of him via notes and people's reports of conversations with him. The final section of the book is much darker than we might expect from what precedes it, but it brings a sharp dose of realism to the plot and highlights the seriousness of the situation.
There is great fun to be had with this book. Like its predecessor, there is a map in the early stages which holds some of the answers. See if you can work out who did it - and how!
Like the first novel, The Case of the Gilded Fly, there is frequent literary allusion - although it's not vital to the plot, it's great fun working out where the quotations come from. Just make sure you have a copy of Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" handy! The book is also full of outlandish situations, such as Geoffrey Vintner in the early pages lurching inexpertly from one life-threatening situation to another whilst clutching the huge butterfly net that Fen has insisted he brings with him. We are also introduced to a range of eccentric clerics alongside some neo-Nazis and a coven of devil-worshippers as well as a group of policemen who seem to have been spirited in from The Pirates of Penzance...and then there is the murder in the cathedral...all within the span of the same day.
Fen himself does not appear until we get nearly a third of the way through the book, although we are frequently reminded of him via notes and people's reports of conversations with him. The final section of the book is much darker than we might expect from what precedes it, but it brings a sharp dose of realism to the plot and highlights the seriousness of the situation.
There is great fun to be had with this book. Like its predecessor, there is a map in the early stages which holds some of the answers. See if you can work out who did it - and how!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not Crispin's best
I've read most of Crispin's "Fen" series of books, the highlight must be "The Moving Toyshop" - and I'd rank this one towards the bottom. Read more
Published 24 months ago by N. Pearce
Bought as gift - no complaints, except print size!
Bought as gift - no complaints, except print size! But not sure how large or small printed text is....... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2010 by Mr. DAVID Geer
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