The First Gervase Fen Mystery Novel…two more to go…

The First Gervase Fen Mystery Novel…two more to go…

By Jim Romano

Hey 1000 Bookies!!  This week I finished a fun murder mystery, The Case of the Gilded Fly.  One of its sequels is included on the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die, (The Case of the Moving Toyshop). The author, Edmund Crispin, would write a total of 9 in this series, involving the literature professor turned detective, Gervase Fen.  Our “hero” is a literature and language professor who fancies himself a detective. His good friend, Sir Richard, is a detective who fancies himself a poet.  Fen is the head of St. Christopher’s School at Oxford which is a fictional school at the august university. As a hobby, Professor Fen loves to solve murders. The Moving Toyshop was the third in the series, with The Case of the Gilded Fly is the first.  Before we get to the third, I decided to read the first two, to get a feel for the author and style prior to moving to number 3.  In my research on Crispin and the series I discovered that The Moving Toyshop seems to be Crispin’s most popular of the series, and the only one of the series made for TV or the movies.  

I love mysteries, I love trying to solve them prior to the climax of the story.   I enjoyed The Case of The Gilded Fly and I would recommend reading it.  The book was a fast and easy read at 255 pages.  However, you do have to suspend your commonsense and imagination on several parts of this story. First, The Case of The Gilded Fly takes place at Oxford University during the fall of 1940 at the height of the Battle of Britain during World War II.  The blitz would have been threatening England for months at this point but that has little effect on the story which I believe actually diminishes the story.  There is no attack by the Germans during the length of the story. I would think that the characters would be on constant vigilance for a coming attack but not so much.  

The story begins on the train into Oxford where you meet all the characters and there are many.  You meet the eventual murder victim who no one seems to like or stand for that matter, Yseut Haskell.  She is a femme fatale actress and a genuine pain in the ass. The backdrop for the story is a play performed at Oxford and the cast of characters are all connected with the play.  The playwright, Robert Warner, is friendly with Gervase Fen, the English professor. However, from my perspective the main character is Nigel Blake, he is a journalist and former student of Gervase at Oxford.  He is in love with Yseut’s sister Helen. I would assume Gervase would be the main character but again I was mistaken. Nigel does not solve the mystery, but he is there for some comic relief with Gervase. All the characters have a motive to kill Yseut, from sex to unrequited love, from annoyance to money.  What motive won out?  

I do like the backdrop of the play.  I “acted” in high school plays and musicals and enjoyed the intrigue and romance involved.  This is one of the reasons I did enjoy this story. The interactions of the cast were fun and nostalgic to read.  I remember the days when cast members fell for other cast members, or when friends joined the production because their significant other was a part of the production.  Then end result was not murder, but a couple of fights did ensue.   

What is the Gilded Fly and what does it have to do with the story?  All good questions. The Gilded Fly was a ring, a reproduction of an ancient Egyptian artifact.  The dead body was wearing the ring when it was found however, it is determined that the body obtained the ring after the murder.  Why is it important—I have no clue, that was not really explained. Other than it belonged to one suspect and used by the killer to throw off the police and detectives.  To me, the Gilded Fly ring had little to do with the story which was one of the weak parts.  

The story is fun and has great characters, even if the plot is a little light.  Edmund Crispin was the pen name for Robert Bruce Montgomery. Montgomery was known as a musical composer—he composed several movie scores.  Because of his stature in music, he wrote his crime stories under a pseudonym. Supposedly he drafted The Gilded Fly when he was a student at Oxford and that is impressive.  With all its flaws, I recommend the Case of the Gilded Fly has a fun little jaunt. Next Stop are the next two in the series…

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