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The Moving Toyshop (A Gervase Fen Mystery) by [Edmund Crispin]

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Edmund Crispin

The Moving Toyshop (A Gervase Fen Mystery) Kindle Edition

by Edmund Crispin (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

257 ratings

Book 3 of 10: The Gervase Fen Mysteries

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As inventive as Agatha Christie, as hilarious as P.G. Wodehouse - discover the delightful detective stories of Edmund Crispin. Crime fiction at its quirkiest and best.

Richard Cadogan, poet and would-be bon vivant, arrives for what he thinks will be a relaxing holiday in the city of dreaming spires. Late one night, however, he discovers the dead body of an elderly woman lying in a toyshop and is coshed on the head. When he comes to, he finds that the toyshop has disappeared and been replaced with a grocery store. The police are understandably skeptical of this tale but Richard's former schoolmate, Gervase Fen (Oxford professor and amateur detective), knows that truth is stranger than fiction (in fiction, at least). Soon the intrepid duo are careening around town in hot pursuit of clues but just when they think they understand what has happened, the disappearing-toyshop mystery takes a sharp turn…

Erudite, eccentric and entirely delightful – Before Morse, Oxford's murders were solved by Gervase Fen, the most unpredictable detective in classic crime fiction.

Print length

250 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Collins Crime Club
Publication date

4 Jun. 2015
File size

1187 KB
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Product description

Review

Hilarious adventures ― Washington Post

One of the undiscovered treasures of British crime fiction -- A. L. Kennedy

Marvellous comic sense ― P. D. James

The characters were so engaging and the writing so mischievous, that I thoroughly enjoyed it ― Independent

A clever, funny and rightly famous story set in Oxford 30 years before Morse started pounding the beat -- 100 Best Crime Novels of the Twentieth Century ― The Times --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Back Cover

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY

As inventive as Agatha Christie, as hilarious as P.G. Wodehouse - discover the delightful detective stories of Edmund Crispin. Crime fiction at its quirkiest and best.

Richard Cadogan, poet and would-be bon vivant, arrives for what he thinks will be a relaxing holiday in the city of dreaming spires. Late one night, however, he discovers the dead body of an elderly woman lying in a toyshop and is coshed on the head. When he comes to, he finds that the toyshop has disappeared and been replaced with a grocery store. The police are understandably skeptical of this tale but Richard's former schoolmate, Gervase Fen (Oxford professor and amateur detective), knows that truth is stranger than fiction (in fiction, at least). Soon the intrepid duo is careening around town in hot pursuit of clues but just when they think they understand what has happened, the disappearing-toyshop mystery takes a sharp turn...

Erudite, eccentric and entirely delightful - Before Morse, Oxford's murders were solved by Gervase Fen, the most unpredictable detective in classic crime fiction.

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Inside Flap

MORE VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES

MARGERY ALLINGHAM

Mystery Mile

Police at the Funeral

Sweet Danger

Flowers for the Judge

The Case of the Late Pig

The Fashion in Shrouds

Traitor's Purse

Coroner's Pidgin

More Work for the Undertaker

The Tiger in the Smoke

The Beckoning Lady

Hide My Eyes

The China Governess

The Mind Readers

Cargo of Eagles

E. F. BENSON

The Blotting Book

The Luck of the Vails

NICHOLAS BLAKE

A Question of Proof

Thou Shell of Death

There's Trouble Brewing

The Beast Must Die

The Smiler With the Knife

Malice in Wonderland

The Case of the Abominable Snowman

Minute for Murder

Head of a Traveller

The Dreadful Hollow

The Whisper in the Gloom

End of Chapter

The Widow's Cruise

The Worm of Death

The Sad Variety

The Morning After Death

EDMUND CRISPIN

Buried for Pleasure

The Case of the Gilded Fly

Holy Disorders

Love Lies Bleeding

The Moving Toyshop

Swan Song

A. A. MILNE

The Red House Mystery

GLADYS MITCHELL

Speedy Death

The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop

The Longer Bodies

The Saltmarsh Murders

Death and the Opera

The Devil at Saxon Wall

Dead Men's Morris

Come Away, Death

St Peter's Finger

Brazen Tongue

Hangman's Curfew

When Last I Died

Laurels Are Poison

Here Comes a Chopper

Death and the Maiden

Tom Brown's Body

Groaning Spinney

The Devil's Elbow

The Echoing Strangers

Watson's Choice

The Twenty-Third Man

Spotted Hemlock

My Bones Will Keep

Three Quick and Five Dead

Dance to Your Daddy

A Hearse on May-Day

Late, Late in the Evening

Fault in the Structure

Nest of Vipers

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Publisher

A quirky and appealing locked room mystery for all fans of classic crime --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Synopsis

It is late at night when poet Cadogan stumbles on the dead body of an old lady in an Oxford toyshop. The following morning, the toyshop has vanished and in its place is a grocery store. Nobody, not even the police, seem surprised. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Edmund Crispin (2 October 1921 - 15 September 1978) was the pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery (usually credited as Bruce Montgomery), an English crime writer and composer. Montgomery wrote nine detective novels and two collections of short stories under the pseudonym Edmund Crispin (taken from a character in Michael Innes's Hamlet, Revenge!). The stories feature Oxford don Gervase Fen, who is a Professor of English at the university and a fellow of St Christopher's College, a fictional institution that Crispin locates next to St John's College. Fen is an eccentric, sometimes absent-minded, character reportedly based on the Oxford professor W. E. Moore. The whodunit novels have complex plots and fantastic, somewhat unbelievable solutions, including examples of the locked room mystery. They are written in a humorous, literary and sometimes farcical style and contain frequent references to English literature, poetry, and music. They are also among the few mystery novels to break the fourth wall occasionally and speak directly to the audience. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Book Description

Classic British detective fiction featuring Oxford don and amateur sleuth, Gervase Fen. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00QPTAU3M
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Collins Crime Club (4 Jun. 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1187 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 250 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 75,150 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 1,974 in Cozy Mystery
- 2,021 in British Detective Stories
- 3,061 in Police Procedurals (Kindle Store)

Customer reviews:
257 ratings

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Edmund Crispin

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Edmund Crispin was the pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery (2 October 1921 -- 15 September 1978), an English crime writer and composer. Montgomery wrote nine detective novels and two collections of short stories under the pseudonym Edmund Crispin (taken from a character in Michael Innes's Hamlet, Revenge!). The stories feature Oxford don Gervase Fen, who is a Professor of English at the University and a fellow of St Christopher's College, a fictional institution that Crispin locates next to St John's College. The whodunit novels have complex plots and fantastic, somewhat unbelievable solutions, including examples of the locked room mystery. They are written in a humorous, literary and sometimes farcical style and they are also among the few mystery novels to break the fourth wall occasionally and speak directly to the audience.

Crispin is considered by many to be one of the last great exponents of the 'classic' crime mystery.

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Customer reviews

5 star		37%
4 star		30%
3 star		19%
2 star		9%
1 star		5%

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D. Morris

There are lateral thinking puzzles with more sense of story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 September 2020

Verified Purchase

The sort of book that, rather than suspending disbelief, actively encourages it. The lead character talks to the author and has quirks like declaiming poetry while running after criminals. As Mr Wolf might say, do these traits show that he has character, or only that he is a character?

As for the mystery, forget it. It seems like a mind-twisting scenario but I’ve heard lateral thinking puzzles with more sense of story and with more satisfying solutions. Everything is predicated on the reader entertaining the same mannered confection as the author. When at the end he tries to introduce a serious note, asking us for the briefest of paragraphs to consider what it really means to snuff out a life, I used some very bad language. After this pantomime of a plot, Crispin, you don’t get to do that. Take this prep back and do it again, boy.

At one point in the story, when Crispin is in need of some padding and/or wants to vent at novels he hasn’t enjoyed, the characters play a game. Each must name somebody in fiction who is meant to be charming but in fact is a colossal tool. Gervase Fen goes straight to the top of my list.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

A witty and surprising tale

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2020

Verified Purchase

Poet Richard Cadogan sets off for a much-needed holiday to Oxford. Arriving late one night, he becomes intrigued to find the door of a toyshop unlocked. Snooping around, he discovers the dead body of an elderly woman. Before he can do anything else, someone bops him on the head. Informing the police, Cadogan is somewhat bemused to learn that the toyshop is not a toyshop at all, but a grocery store. After discussing the mystery with his college pal Gervase Fen (Oxford professor and amateur detective), the duo begins to investigate and soon uncover a mystery that challenges their powers of explanation.

Hailing from the so-called Golden Age of crime fiction, this is an interesting little book. Central to the plot is a ridiculously convoluted and totally silly storyline which defies all logic. Including weird messages in newspapers, and lots of literary clues, the story romps along like a Carry-On movie without the boob jokes. In normal circumstances, this would have been enough to send me screaming to my Agatha Christie bookshelf, but despite the silliness, this is a witty and thoroughly engaging novel, populated by a rich cast of diverse and surprising characters that contribute to a delightful, though distinctly odd, murder mystery. As a big fan of Alfie Hitchcock, I also loved the bit which apparently inspired the fairground scene in Strangers on a Train.

A witty and surprising tale that is by turns confusing and amusing.

Helpful

Murder Stalks The University!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 November 2018

Verified Purchase

Poet Richard Cadogan decides he needs a break from routine so heads to Oxford. As he walks along a street at night looking at the window displays of the closed shops, he notices the door of a toyshop is open. His curiosity gets the better of him so he enters, but is shocked to find the corpse of a woman lying on the floor. Before he has the chance to leave the shop to report what looks like a murder, he is hit on the head and falls unconscious. When he comes round some time later he finds himself locked in a cupboard, but manages to make his escape and go to the police. However when they return with him to the spot, not only has the corpse disappeared but the whole shop has gone, and in its place is a grocer’s shop! Not unnaturally, the police have difficulty believing his story after this, so he turns to his old friend, the amateur sleuth and university professor, Gervase Fen...

This is one of those crime novels that goes way beyond the credibility line, but makes up for its general silliness by being a whole lot of fun. Due to an unfortunate mistake, Cadogan is soon wanted by the police for stealing from the grocer’s shop, so all the time he and Fen are racing round Oxford pursuing their investigations, the local police are racing around too, pursuing Cadogan! Fen tries to get his old friend the Chief Constable to call them off, but the Chief Constable is far more interested in discussing the themes of Measure for Measure – well, it is Oxford after all, where even the truck drivers read DH Lawrence.

Fen is somewhat eccentric to say the least, and does his detection through a series of brilliant deductions well beyond the scope of us mere mortals, aided by large dollops of luck and coincidence. In fact, I can’t say I ever had much of an idea why exactly the villains had gone to such elaborate lengths to complicate a murder that should really have been pretty easy, but given their efforts to baffle and confuse, it’s just as well Fen is on hand to jump to the correct conclusions! He gradually involves his students as a kind of informal mob of enforcers, which might have worked out better if there weren’t quite so many bars in Oxford. Their ham-fisted efforts to help catch the bad guys add a lot to the farcical feel of the thing.

It’s very well written and full of humour. Cadogan and Fen make a great duo as they bicker their way through the investigation, filling in any lulls by playing literary games with each other, such as naming the most unreadable books of all time. It occasionally takes on a surreal quality when Fen makes it clear he knows he’s a character in a book.

As a little added bonus, I was thrilled to read the part of the book that inspired the brilliant fairground scene in Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train – one of my favourite films, largely because of that finale.

A thoroughly entertaining read, and I look forward to improving my acquaintance with Crispin and Fen in the future. Highly recommended.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Gothicfun

Got too confusing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 January 2020

Verified Purchase

At first I really enjoyed this as it has a mannered and old fashioned style a bit like P G Wodehouse, and some enteratining characters too. But I didn't finish reading it because there was just too much detail. I suggest that if you are the kind of person who likes working out complicated puzzles it will be right up your street! But if you want an easy relaxing read, like I did, you might end up rather exasperated.

4 people found this helpful

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Edmund Crispin

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