The Moving Toyshop
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Product Description
Review
`A classic crime novel with a surreal streak... It's a clever, energetic romp, written with wit' --The Week
Book Description
A quirky and appealing locked room mystery for all fans of classic crime
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The Moving Toyshop was published in 1945, but is set in 1938. This makes for an interesting book in that it straddles two eras of crime fiction. It combines elements of the pre-war classic English detective story (whimsicality, literary allusion, a range of satisfyingly eccentric supporting characters) with hints of the sadistic violence of American pulp fiction. Whimsicality wins by a mile however, and Edmund Crispin's authorial voice and talent for characterization are quirky and appealing. Crucially he also understands the value of brevity.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A body in a toyshop that isn't there, an investigation by a poet and an Oxford don, clues based on limericks, with diversions for car chases, punting and discussions of unreadable books - all are included in this fun little novella.
Not one for those interested in gritty crime stories or for getting bogged down in plausibility, this will appeal to those with a sense of humour, an affection for the Golden Age detective stories and, perhaps, a faintly literary bent.
Not one for those interested in gritty crime stories or for getting bogged down in plausibility, this will appeal to those with a sense of humour, an affection for the Golden Age detective stories and, perhaps, a faintly literary bent.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Moving Toyshop is a Penguin classic crime book, originally published in 1946. It is a light, supposedly comic, mystery set in Oxford. The story begins with a poet returning to Oxford late one night. He finds the body of an old woman in a toyshop, but the next morning the toyshop, and the body have vanished. The police are not interested in a crime, which to them doesn't seem to exist, so the poet persuades his friend, an English professor, to help him investigate.
I found the references to Oxford fascinating, as I know the city well. The geography of the city hasn't changed much in the last 60 years, but the attitude of the residents is very different - people seemed to trust each other a lot more then! The language is very quaint, and it is lovely to read a book so full of Englishness!
My main problem with the book was that it was a bit too whimsical for me. I don't find this gentle humour very funny, so I think the main attraction of this sort of book is lost on me. There were lots of other little things which irritated me, but what annoyed me most was the way everyone readily admitted their role in the crime. The "I'm going to kill you, but first let me tell you everything I've done" scene was the worst offender!
Overall, I found this be be a light, reasonably entertaining mystery, and would recommend it to anyone who loves Oxford.
I found the references to Oxford fascinating, as I know the city well. The geography of the city hasn't changed much in the last 60 years, but the attitude of the residents is very different - people seemed to trust each other a lot more then! The language is very quaint, and it is lovely to read a book so full of Englishness!
My main problem with the book was that it was a bit too whimsical for me. I don't find this gentle humour very funny, so I think the main attraction of this sort of book is lost on me. There were lots of other little things which irritated me, but what annoyed me most was the way everyone readily admitted their role in the crime. The "I'm going to kill you, but first let me tell you everything I've done" scene was the worst offender!
Overall, I found this be be a light, reasonably entertaining mystery, and would recommend it to anyone who loves Oxford.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Chronicles of Crispin Vol.3
Strangling, kidnapping, shooting, subterfuge, near-drowning, drunkenness, literary clues, foul-mouthed old ladies, chases in and around the streets of Oxford, not to mention mass... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Kenneth F. Mcara
Creaky and old fashioned
This book reads as if it had been written by a schoolboy in the Thirties. It doesn't descend to 'Yaroo' and 'Cripes' but comes close. It's not very ingenious either.
Published 1 month ago by M. S. Howells
A Don Dares Death
A romp of a murder mystery through the streets and Colleges of late 1930's Oxford. I say `romp'; there are some nasty bits - the murder itself, of course, and a dog gets killed,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by phoebes_mum
Welcome respite from reality crime fiction
In the days when one did not have to embed oneself with the local plod in order to write detective fiction, Edmund Crispin conjures up a delightful escapade full of humour, pace... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mick Read
Very dated, complicated and improbable detective story
Well written with some nice imagery. The story however is wildly improbable - how could the contents and appearance of a shop be changed in an evening, then restored during the... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Womble
A fun crime story :)
The book tells the story of a man, Richard Cadogen, who, walking in Oxford at night, finds a toyshop which has a body of a woman in it. Read more
Published 19 months ago by miss_spookiness
University Challenged
A generation before Inspector Morse, amateur sleuth Gervase Fen was busy investigating ugly crimes in the beautiful setting of the University town of Oxford. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Rotgut
Great little mystery read
Bought this as I enjoy locked room mysteries and it appears high on many 'best-of genre lists'. The somewhat odd premise is that the main character noses his way into a toyshop in... Read more
Published 24 months ago by N. Pearce
Mildly amusing artificiality
It's amusing enough in a (very)sub-Wodehousian way although much of the 1930's context just doesn't ring true - even though presumably it must be. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2010 by Graham R. Hill
An unlocked room mystery
Richard Cadogan is a poet, one of the published variety. He has an inquiring mind, a way with words, and a dilettante disposition. Read more
Published on 24 Nov 2005 by Budge Burgess
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