Swan Song

Gervase Fen #4

by Edmund Crispin

Before odious Edwin Shorthouse can sing the lead in the first Oxford post-war Die Meistersinger, someone kills him in his own locked dressing room. Gervase Fen, eccentric professor of English Literature with a passion for amateur detecting, is on the case. American title is Dead and Dumb.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Detective, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Historical

215 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Edmund Crispin was the pseudonym of (Robert) Bruce Montgomery (1921-1978). His first crime novel and musical composition were both accepted for publication while he was still an undergraduate at Oxford. After a brief spell of teaching, he became a full-time writer and composer (particularly of film music. He wrote the music for six of the Carry On films. But he was also well known for his concert and church music). He also edited science fiction anthologies, and became a regular crime fiction reviewer for The Sunday Times. His friends included Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis and Agatha Christie.

He had always been a heavy drinker and, unfortunately, there was a long gap in his writing during a time when he was suffering from alcohol problems. Otherwise he enjoyed a quiet life (enlivened by music, reading, church-going and bridge) in Totnes, a quiet corner of Devon, where he resisted all attempts to develop or exploit the district, visiting London as little as possible. He moved to a new house he had built at Week, a hamlet near Dartington, in 1964, then, late in life, married his secretary Ann in 1976, just two years before he died from alcohol related problems. His music was composed using his real name, Bruce Montgomery.

source: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/philipg/...

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another entertaining mystery with the eccentric Professor Fen. An opera production in Oxford and two murders. A very original solution in who killed the loathsome Edwin Shorthouse. No one liked him including his brother and colleagues.

Lots of potential motives set against the background of rehearsals for an opera and the artistic temperament. However, the face cream was the clue but with a great twist.

[Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

An opera company is rehearsing Die Meistersinger in Oxford. One of the leads Edward Shorthouse is a truly unpleasant man with nearly everyone in the company (even in his own family) having some reason to loathe him, even to get rid of him. But when someone actually does, it falls to the eccentric Oxford Don Gervase Fen, friends with another of the actors Adam Langley to solve the case which isn’t what it appears at first glance. This was my first Crispin book and I enjoyed it more than I expected. I enjoyed the humour in the book, and the mystery too was something I didn’t really manage to guess (the how or the who). So a good read overall.

[El Convincente · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dentro del género se ha acuñado la etiqueta de novela problema cuando en realidad se debería hablar de novela truco de prestidigitacion.

Porque por mucho que el Detection Club quisiese promover unas reglas de juego limpio con los lectores, haciendo ver que con las pistas dadas y un poco de lógica cualquier persona puede resolver el enigma, lo cierto es que leer estas novelas se parecen menos a resolver un crucigrama que a contemplar un truco de magia con cartas.

A mí, en general, me frustra un poco tener a un autor diciéndome (me lo invento)

piensa un poco, hombre, si la señorita Peonia estaba a las diez en el invernadero y el señor Rosbif estaba a las diez menos cinco en la sala de billar, y la cocinera siempre echa sal al pastel de riñones, y dos días antes se marchitó la rosa blanca Reina Victoria cultivada para un concurso comarcal por la señora Chapelmint, y el tren de las nueve y media en el que venia el señor Coperloose llegó con retraso solo según la versión de una quinta parte de los pasajeros que se bajaron ese día en la estación de Pipperplot Place, puedes deducir perfectamente quien asesinó a la señora Forceps en su alcoba, cerrada con llave por dentro, entre las diez menos cuarto y las diez y cuarto

para que luego la resolución sea del tipo:

claramente, la señora Forceps murió cuando al echarse la siesta se le ocurrió oler el ramo de flores que le había regalado esa mañana la señora Chapelmint y que había sido impregnado por la señorita Peonia (la tercera persona con más probabilidades de ganar el concurso floral después de la señora Chapelmint y de la señora Forceps) con un raro veneno olfativo muy volátil, para lo cual entró pocos minutos antes en la alcoba poniendo la excusa a la doncella de que quería cortar un esqueje del ramo, cosa que la doncella apenas había mencionado porque la sal había desaparecido y solo recordaba el disgusto que le provocó la regañina de la cocinera".

Pero, aun con sus trucos enojosos, debo reconocer que esta novela empieza graciosa y que avanza con una agilidad que evita el cansancio.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Después del placer que supuso leer ‘La juguetería errante’, vuelvo con otra novela del británico Edmund Crispin, protagonizada por el excéntrico profesor de Oxford y detective aficionado Gervase Fen. Las novelas de Crispin están llenas de ironía y humor, y en ellas asistimos a las deducciones de tan peculiar personaje.

‘El canto del cisne’ nos propone otro crimen a puerta cerrada, improbable desde cualquier punto de vista, y con múltiples sospechosos. Nos encontramos en Oxford, en los ensayos de la ópera Los maestros cantores de Núremberg, de Wagner, con lo que esto conlleva: manías de los actores, rencillas, egos subidos de tono y envidias varias. Una noche, aparece muerto uno de los cantantes, que estaba enfrentado con medio reparto, un tipo odioso y engreído. Todo apunta a un suicidio, pero pronto aparecerán indicios de todo lo contrario. Es aquí donde entrará en escena Gervase Fen y sus perspicaces teorías.

Entretenida novela de intriga, con un estilo ligero y al mismo tiempo intelectual, con citas diversas y diálogos chispeantes.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love me an academic mystery. And Edmund Crispin's delightful series starring Gervase Fen--the Oxford don and quirky amateur detective--is a marvelous example of academic mysteries done right. There is witty, sparkling dialogue. There is intellectual name-dropping--"There goes C. S. Lewis," said Fen suddenly. "It must be Tuesday." There is unashamed references to fellow Golden Age sleuths (H.M., Mrs. Bradley and Albert Campion). There is the entertainingly mad brother of the deceased. There is brilliant humor--it's worth the price of admission just for the description of Fen driving his sporty little red car, "Lily Christine." Oh...and, incidentally, a cleverly constructed "impossible" crime. Impossible, that is, if it's murder and not suicide.

Swan Song gives us murder at the opera. An Oxford opera house is putting on a production of Die Meistersinger and while the star of the show, Edwin Shorthouse, may sing like an angel most everyone who knew him thought his origins were from a much warmer climate. His drunken advances to every available (or even unavailable female) doesn't do anything for his popularity with the ladies...or their male friends and spouses. And his insistence on misunderstanding direction hasn't won him any points with the conductor. So, it's no surprise that few tears are shed when Shorthouse is found swinging at the end of a hangman's noose in his dressing room late one night. The trouble is that while there are plenty people with motive, there just doesn't seem to be any way that someone could have murdered him. The police are prepared to accept a case of suicide. But a stubborn coroner's jury will have it as murder. And then there are attacks on the wife of one of the other singers. A second member of the cast will die and a third will be attacked before Fen will reveal how a man can be murdered by hanging with no one else in the room--and how revenge can extend beyond the grave.

This is great fun and Crispin's writing is a delight. Very reminiscent of Dorothy L. Sayers--which probably explains why I like it so much. Four stars.

{This review is mine and was first posted on my blog at http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/20.... Please request permission to repost any portion. Thanks.}

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly obnoxious lead in a Wagnerian opera is the fellow I hoped would be the victim. And I wasn't the only one. There were also several members of the cast and the conductor who hoped the same. It isn't every murder mystery when the reader is so thoroughly satisfied.

Despite the occasional challenging vocabulary, I blew through this. (How often do you see the word "homiletics" in your text? And that's not the only word that had me accessing the included dictionary in the Kindle app.) I know nada, zip, zilch about opera and that made no difference. Yes, there are references to the Wagner opera in production and perhaps I missed some of the significance to them. However, if I did, I can confirm that those references had nothing to do with the solution to the murder.

For mysteries, the plot is the more important element. Crispin also gives you an interesting writing style and his characterizations aren't too shabby either. There were moments of humor and that was a bonus. I often don't "get" written humor, but this was the more typical, wry British humor which does appeal to me. It's possible there was more humor than reached me - it might be the operatic references went over my head.

I find a 4th star for this. It might not be even as high as the middle of that group, but it comes close.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am now a die hard Crispin fan. This mystery takes place in an opera house and the solution to the crime is the most original I've ever read. That doesn't tell you much, but if you respect my previous reviews, and you love classic crime fiction, you will enjoy this book.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

DAME AGATHA CHRISTIE AND HER PEERS
Crispin prepares for us a cozy who-done-it, in the world of opera/academia, with an exquisite side of 'impossible-crime-locked-room' elements, sprinkled with bits of wit that would make even Oscar Wilde laugh.
CAST - 5 stars: Author Crispin (a composer)gets his own opening line: "There are few creatures more stupid than the average singer." And Crispin doesn't hesitate to re-enter discussions at various points, especially evaluating various composers over the years.. Professor Gervase Fen talks like this throughout the entire book: "It argues a certain poverty of imagination that in a world where atom physicists walk the streets unharmed, emitting their habitual wails about the misuse of science by politicians, a murderer can find a not more deserving victim than some unfortunate opera singer..." And Fen's transportation? A noisy sports car named "Lilly Christine III". "But of course she was laid up during the war, and I don't think it's improved her. Things keep falling out of the engine," Fen explains. There is, oddly, a Cypriot waiter who is rude. I've never encountered a waiter from Cyprus in a murder mystery! Adam Langley is "more cultured...intelligent...svelte...than the majority of operatic tenors..." and is married to Elizabeth Harding, a writer researching an episode for a new book during rehearsals for a Wagner opera. Joan Davis is the experienced diva of the story and has recently completed a tour of America: she's been "Playing Boheme and dying of consmption five times weekly. As a matter of fact I nearly died of overeating. You should go to America, Adam. They have food there." And I must mention The Master, he who at one point says about another character: "He pursued women. And that, I presume, is an activity to be included in the definition of madness." (Is this Crispin again?) And then there is Peacock, the young director, who makes a proposal of marriage: "One gets the best things nowadays in second-hand shops"...and it works. Fen is simply 5-star brilliant here. The rest of the cast is also smart...and funny...and memorable.
ATMOSPHERE - 5 stars: With an entire opera house at his disposal, Crispin takes us everywhere. "...the large rococo splendours ...Tier upon tier of boxes and galleries...towered into the upper darkness. Callipygic Boucher cherubs and putti held lean striated pillars in a passionate embrace. The great chandelier swayed fractionally in a draught, its crystal pendants winking like fireflies..." Then there are the "chamberpots fitted with musical boxes which come into operation when they are lifted from the floor. It embarrasses his guests greatly..." Dressing rooms, stage doors, and a sensational set-up for the impossible crime.
PLOT - 4 stars: A lead singer is murdered. Fen wants to know, first, why [was] 'Victim X' tied as well as doped with nembutal? But Adam replies, "You forget the real problem. That is, how anyone could manage to kill 'Victim X' at all?" We have what looks like a suicide, but is actually a murder. But said murder takes place in a locked room, so that's impossible, right? This is really good stuff!
INVESTIGATION - 4: Fen asks questions as he roams from residence to opera house to bars and hotel rooms. And if he is questioning someone and they won't give him an answer? "There's a diamond tiara gone. And the specification of the atomic bomb. So if we're all reduced to molecular dust before we have time to turn around it will be your fault." Toward the end of the novel we find this conversation:
Fen: "I threw a brick at a window and threatened to shoot a chemist."
Cop: "Brick? Chemist?"
Fen: "Do stop repeating everything I say...I'll see you later."
RESOLUTION - 4: Fen, carrying around a copy of "Imitation of Christ" brilliantly resolves this impossible crime. And oh, it's a beautiful thing. After all, how can the same man commit 2 murders, but not commit either of them? That's all I can say. There is a bit of a plot-hole, and perhaps I've got something wrong, but I can't quite give this a 5 star rating: the resolution isn't quite "And Then There Were None" or "Roger Akroyd" brilliant.
SUMMARY: 4.4. Crispin is a blast here. On the cover: "A splendidly intricate and superior locked-room mystery," writes the New York Times. I agree. And on the back cover, the Boston Globe says of Crispin: "One of the most literate mystery writers of the 20th century." Read it if only for the comedic elements. But, guaranteed good times for all.

[Isabel G L · Rating 2 out of 5]

No me ha gustado mucho, y no tanto porque sea un mal libro (que no lo es) como por lo mal que ha sobrevivido al paso del tiempo. Ni le he terminado de pillar el punto al sentido del humor, ni le he cogido el ritmo a la novela que, para que nos entendamos, parecía un Cluedo.

[Alberony Martínez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tremenda sentencia da el inicio de esta novela a los cantantes, comparándolos a estúpidas criaturas, estulto de un escenario, pero cambiemos el rumbo de esta introducción “Esa susceptibilidad e irritabilidad de los cantantes, y esos lapsus aterradores y esos vacíos intelectuales, se observan también en los actores… ” pues como lo dice la narración no hay una respuesta a este complejo problema.

En esta entrega, Edmund Crispin nos trae el aficionado detective y profesor de Oxford, Gervase Fen, quien también había sido uno de los personajes principales de su anterior novela La juguetería errante. Una novela que preludia los ensayos de una compañía de teatro en Oxford donde seria presentada Los maestros cantores de Nuremberg de Wagner. Relación entre Elizabeth Hardeing, escritora de novelas policiacas de 26 años y Adam Langley, al cual consideraba una excepción a esta introducción, como una persona culta e inteligente, esbelto y atractivo al colectivo de tenores operísticos, presentable de unos 35 años, rasgos amables, agradable, de modales corteses, pero con el defecto de la distracción. Una de las cualidades para la joven Hardeing para casarse era ser inteligente. “Los síntomas no dejaban la menor duda respecto a su dolencia” Pues en el discurrir de los días, uno de los personaje en quien contoneara toda la trama, Edwin Shorthouse, tenor ensayista de la obra, aparece muerto. Lo que la hace a novela en plan policiaca, pues todos sus compañeros de la obra de algún modo tenían cierta adveración hacia Shorthouse, y esto motiva a la sospecha de saber quien pudo dar muerte a Shorthouse, todos son investigados y llevado a juicio. Siendo una novela donde la intriga se serpentea por sus páginas, también hay lugar a momentos divertidos, donde se entrecruza la ironía y el humor. ¿Quién lo mato?, eso te lo dejo de tarea….

Dando por terminado lo ante expuesto, creo que es una novela bien delineada, donde cada personaje tienen ciertas características que hacen suponer que uno de ellos es el autor del crimen. El autor tiene mucho cuidado en los detalles para enriquecer su obra, si bien es cierto que da unos de esos pequeños giros sobre datos históricos y posiciones políticas, también es cierto que no se desvía de lo que se ha propuesto en la trama, resolver y encontrar el autor del crimen. .

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe a 2.5. Not his strongest and slightly uneven in tone, but perhaps I wasn’t in the mood (and the Wagner left me cold)

[Kavita · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Gervase Fen book. I intended to start with the first one but I found this book in a second-hand bookshop and just had to buy it! The story is set in a theatre, where all kinds of rivalries, jealousies, and fights abound. Adam and Elizabeth are the protagonists and Adam is friends with Fen, so when an obnoxious lead singer is found hanging in his dressing room at the theatre, Fen gets roped into the investigation.

What I found most interesting was the cultural aspect of the story. The opera company is performing Die Meistersinger by Wagner, and the politics of it is strewn about casually throughout the narrative. This book was published in 1947, just two years after the end of the war, so everything German is still suspect. I did not even know that Wagner was banned during war years, because who would even think of such a thing?! He's still banned in Israel due to the belief that he was indirectly responsible for Hitler's racist ideologies.

As for the story, I found that the pace varied throughout the book. A few pages would be extremely interesting and then the next few pages would drag. Fen is a quirky character but I think he has not comfortably slid into his quirkiness. Maybe later books would see him more comfortable. I am not a fan of theatre murders as they have a tendency to "shock" with drugs and debauchery but this one narrowly escaped that stigma.

The plot was interesting but I did not quite grasp the contraption used for the first murder. I am just taking the author's word about it, but that's not helpful for getting a sense of closure for the book. There was nothing specially fun about the murderers but the final twist was interesting and one I could not predict - so, a win for the author. Would definitely read his other books.

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one where I solved the secondary murder and identified the murderer long before Fen did -- in fact I had both figured out before the character even began suffering -- however I did not have a clue who killed the first guy... nor did I care, particularly. Crispin generally kills off someone the reader actively dislikes the first time, and this book was no exception. And the second murder, as in this one, often involves someone the reader rather likes, and someone who is generally liked by the characters, as well. But I don't read his mysteries to solve them; I read them because they amuse and entertain me, and this one (which I just read for the first time) did the job.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming Golden Age mystery set in Oxford where an opera company are about to perform Wagner’s Die Meistersinger. The talented but inexperienced conductor George Peacock is struggling to contain the behaviour of the unpleasant singer Edwin Shorthouse, whose vicious attacks (physical and verbal) on other cast members is affecting the production. When Shorthouse is found murdered in a locked dressing room, the cast are relieved but anxious, and Gervase Fen becomes involved in the investigation.

This was written with wit and spirit, and was very entertaining. Crisipin was himself a talented musician and composer, and his love of music and wry tolerance of the ‘artistic temperament’ gives life and sparkle to the story. There is an ingenious plot with a strange twist, a couple of rather delightful romances, and a range of varied characters (Shorthouse’s absent minded brother is a total gem!)

Probably my favourite Fen novel so far, I found this very likeable, and the humour felt natural rather than the slightly frenetic and forced humour of some of the earlier books. Very enjoyable.

[Chomsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un giallo poco noto di Edmund Crispin ma che soddisfa pienamente gli standard di genere e che è esemplificativo della capacità di Crispin di esprimere innovazione nella tradizione della detection inglese. In questo caso, titolato in italiano "Il canto del cigno" il professor Fen, chiaramente ispirato dalla figura dell'eroe di John Dickson Carr, Gideon Fell, dipana l'intricata matassa di due morti sospette di cui una avvenuta in una camera chiusa, situazione che ricorre ciclicamente nelle avventure del suo modello, confezionando una soluzione sorpendente ma geniale.

Nato nel 1921 Bruce Montgomery, vero nome di Edmund Crispin, fu anche un apprezzato compositore, il cui lavoro più noto è il “Concertino for string orchestra” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1-aGK... , organista e direttore d’orchestra.
Questo suo livello culturale trapela anche nei suoi gialli, ricchi di citazioni, giochi di parole e suggestioni letterarie derivate anche dal fatto che fu per tanti anni titolare della rubrica di critica della narrativa poliziesca per il Sunday Times.

La produzione gialla di Edmund Crispin inizia nel 1944 con “La mosca dorata” e prosegue con i seguenti libri:
1945, Il diavolo nella cattedrale (Holy Disorders), stampato nel 2004 nella collana Classici del Giallo con il numero 1032.
1946, Il negozio fantasma (The Moving Toyshop), stampato nella collana Classici del Giallo con il numero 649; una seconda edizione è uscita nel 2005, sempre nella collana Classici del Giallo con il numero 1082.
1947, Il canto del cigno (Swan Song), stampato nel 2004 nella collana Classici del Giallo con il numero 1016.
1948, Il manoscritto perduto (Love Lies Bleeding), stampato nella collana Classici del Giallo con il numero 820.
1948, Ritornello di morte (Buried For Pleasure), stampato nel 2005 nella collana Classici del Giallo con il numero 1048; stampato anche come Sepolto vivo dalla Martello nella collana Gialli del Veliero con il numero 18.
1950, Morte sul set (Frequent Hearses), nella collana Classici del Giallo con il numero 995; stampato anche dalla Casini Editore nella collana I Gialli del Secolo come Cercasi ragazza occhi azzurri.
1952, La morte nel villaggio (The Long Divorce), stampato nella collana Il Giallo Mondadori con il numero 154 e ristampato nella collana Classici del Giallo con il numero 878.
1953, Beware of the Trains (racconti)
1977, Omicidio sotto la luna (The Glimpses of the Moon), stampato nel 2005 nella collana Classici del Giallo con il numero 1068.
1979, Fen Country (racconti)

Il romanzo più noto e caratteristico di Crispin è senz’altro “Il negozio fantasma” che P. D. James riteneva uno dei cinque gialli più affascinanti.

Questa è la presentazione nella quarta di copertina de “I classici del Giallo Mondadori del 1991:
“E’ notte fonda, a Oxford, quando Richard Cadogan, amabile poeta, inciampa nel cadavere di un’anziana signora in un negozio di giocattoli. Ma l’indomani mattina quel sinistro negozio è scomparso e al suo posto compare una drogheria. La polizia si mostra incredula e Cadogan comincia a dubitare delle proprie facoltà mentali. Una vera fortuna per lui essere amico di Gervase Fen, professore di Lingue e Letteratura Inglese, nonché abile investigatore dilettante che, senza perdere tempo, comincia a indagare su quel delitto che pare non essere mai avvenuto. Con pochi indizi e molta fantasia appura che il negozio fantasma, il cadavere e il movente sono reali. E in una frenetica girandola di colpi di scena, che hanno non pochi aspetti esilaranti, alla fine l’intricata matassa viene dipanata.”.

In effetti il professor Fen scatena una caccia all’uomo sgangherata e folle che ricorda da vicino i film comici della Keystone con vorticosi inseguimenti e continui equivoci che danno al romanzo una robusta patina comica. Altro fattore da rimarcare è il metodo d’indagine logica del professore esemplificato in queste battute tratte sempre da “Il negozio fantasma”:

"Mio caro Richard, Havering se ne sarebbe ben accorto se la vittima fosse stata uccisa solo qualche istante prima, e questo avrebbe chiaramente indicato Mallory come l’assassino; e inoltre non c’è ragione al mondo per cui Havering volesse proteggerlo una volta che tutta la faccenda fosse venuta alla luce. Anzi, aveva ogni motivo per non farlo. E tutte le versioni coincidono con tanta esattezza, e offrono tanti particolari facilmente controllabili, che possiamo senz’altro accettarle. C’è un neo nella tua teoria: Mallory avrebbe potuto strangolare la Tardy tra le undici e le undici e trenta, oppure alle undici e cinquanta; ma lei è deceduta tra le undici e trentacinque e le undici e quarantacinque.
-Oh, va be’- si arrese Cadogan, disgustato. –Quindi non è stato Mallory. Chi è stato?
-Mallory, naturalmente- rispose Fen dirigendosi alla porta della stanza in cui Havering era prigioniero.”

Niente paura, ho sostituito il nome dell’assassino con uno di fantasia per non togliervi il piacere della lettura di questo strambo, originale ma godibilissimo giallo.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swan Song by Edmund Crispin is the fourth Gervase Fen mystery I've read. The first three were hit and miss. I liked two and one I wasn't all that thrilled with. It may be that I'm getting used to Crispin's style of story - telling but for whatever reason, this was the Fen mystery I've enjoyed the most.

The story focuses on an opera company who have just moved up to Oxford to practice and then perform Wagner's Meistersinger. One member, Adam Langley, has recently married, a budding author, Elizabeth, who specializes in crime stories. Edwin Shorthouse, the lead singer and a feared member of the group, has made passes at Elizabeth and hates Adam because of the marriage.

Elizabeth, as part of a series of articles she wants to write about famous detectives, wishes to interview the famous Gervase Fen, who is now a professor at Oxford. While the troupe practices, one of the members (I won't say who) is found dead, a purported suicide. This brings Gervase Fen into the picture.

The story revolves around his investigation, ably assisted by Adam. It's an interesting mystery, peopled with lovely characters. I like Fen and I also enjoyed Adam and Elizabeth, as well as another singer (maybe my favorite), Joan Davis and I think Fen liked her as well. Shorthouse is an excellent villain, a misogynist, a drunk, but an excellent singer, the focus of the opera He is a source of tension throughout the story. I'm not an opera buff but the snippets involving the rehearsal and the characters made the story more interesting.

For that it was a murder mystery, there is a brightness to the story, it is light and humorous even with murders / deaths occurring within. It's a quick, entertaining, enjoyable mystery. I will read the other books in this series. Well done, Mr. Crispin (4 stars)

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: Suggestive plot about two murders during the rehearsal of an opera in Oxford. The dénouement is very original. When the characters get together in The Bird & Baby (The Eagle and Child), Gervase Fen says: There goes C.S. Lewis - it must be Tuesday.

ESPAÑOL: Sugerente trama sobre dos asesinatos durante el ensayo de una ópera en Oxford. El desenlace es muy original. Cuando los personajes se reúnen en The Bird & Baby (The Eagle and Child), Gervase Fen dice: Ahí va C.S. Lewis. Debe ser martes.

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*. This is a fun series with an eccentric academic as the detective, overly complex but intriguing mysteries (and this one absolutely takes the cake for that) and in this case a musical backstory as the case revolves around the setting of a Wagner opera in Oxford. You have to really love the Golden Age of mystery and weirdly eccentric English characters, but if you do, give this series a try.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gervase Fen is consulted when a universally unpopular opera singer is murdered in his dressing room at Oxford's fictional opera house. Everyone hated Edwin Shorthouse so anyone might have hanged him given the chance, but nobody could have got into his room so it must have been suicide - or so the police think. But Professor Fen has other ideas, and it's not long before other members of the production begin to be attacked.

I've rarely read a mystery in which the murder was committed in such an improbable way, but overlooking that, as one must, I think this is one of Crispin's best. Plenty of humour, a little romance, and a few surprises along with the dastardly deeds.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've cracked a British "cozy" mystery after wallowing in American and French noir. Edmund Crispin's Swan Song is set in the world of opera, as a troupe prepares to put on a performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger, except that there are two murders in quick succession among the cast. Oxford Lit Professor and Amateur Sleuth Gervase Fen is totally flummoxed by the complexity of the cases and the large number of suspects. For good reason, because the murders are unduly complicated, especially the first one.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is centred around an opera house, and the cast of the opera which is rehearsing for it’s first showing. Here we meet the victim of a murder, and like most Golden Age crimes, he happens to be a lecherous drunk who nobody likes. He assorts a young girl, but is stopped by another woman who fortunately enters the room. Quite soon after he is found hanged in his dressing room, not only having taken too much gin, but also drugged by that gin. The problem here being was it actually suicide or murder. Fen is therefore called in to solve this problem.
There are plenty of suspects, as not only is it that many of the cast dislike him, but his brother also disowns him, and tells everyone he is mad. There is also a couple of attempted murders and eventually another victim is murdered. Thankfully Fen manages to unravel the murders, but I had to read the reveal twice to fully understand just how the first murder was committed.

[Ifigenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Después de haberme leído y reído con la juguetería errante, no podía menos que leer esta novela de este detective aficionado tan excéntrico, por eso se lo pedí a mi amigo invisible.

Han pasado unos añitos después de la juguetería errante, y si dije que en la anterior novela el coprotagonista era la literatura, en este, casi estoy por decir, que es la II guerra mundial, encontraremos varias referencias a ella a lo largo de la novela:

Que en un mundo en el que los físicos atómicos pasean libremente por la calle, profiriendo sus habituales lamentos sobre el uso indeseable que los políticos hacen de la ciencia, un asesino no pueda encontrar una víctima más apropiada que un desgraciado cantante de ópera... lo único que revela es una cierta pobreza imaginativa.

La historia comienza poniéndonos en la situación de las relaciones y el quién es quién dentro del mundillo de la ópera, siendo la narración en tercera persona, pero si en la juguetería errante el coprotagonista fue Richard, en esta el coprotagonista será Adam, un tenor de la ópera. De hecho, Gervase no aparece de cuerpo presente hasta la página 61, aunque tampoco es que le echase mucho de menos antes, de hecho, el principio me pareció mucho más entretenido que el resto de la novela que a ratos me cojeó un poco con respecto al ritmo narrativo (y porque me reí menos que con la anterior).

Edmund Crispin sigue con su narración tan irónica, sarcástica y perspicaz, explicándonoslo todo a su peculiar manera, no se le resisten ni los amoríos, ni los líos entre y fuera de bambalinas, ni la política ni mucho menos la guerra y sus estúpidas restricciones:

-... te aseguro que no me importa en absoluto volver a Wagner ahora que se ha levantado la prohibición de interpretar sus obras durante la guerra... y, de todos modos, ¿por qué demonios se prohibió?
-Es un axioma inamovible de alto nivel intelectual que Wagner fue responsable del surgimiento del nazismo. Si quieres estar a la moda tienes que hacer suspicaces referencias a la nefasta influencia del “Anillo” en la mentalidad teutona... Aunque, dado que todo el círculo operístico de los Nibelungos está destinado a demostrar que ni siquiera los dioses pueden romper un compromiso sin que todo el universo se derrumbe sobre sus cabezas, nunca he sido capaz de entender cómo pudo Hitler encontrar ahí un fundamento para sus ideas. Pero no me hagas caso en este asunto. Es uno de mis caballos de batalla.

Volverán a hacer cameos algunos de los protagonistas de la entrega anterior y volveremos a ver a los personajes más excéntricos y caricaturizados que se puedan encontrar en las páginas de un libro. Además el misterio resulta de lo más misterioso, ni me he olido la resolución hasta que Gervase ha dado con la solución y todo sea dicho, tras leerla, la solución me ha parecido un poco surrealista (aunque esté explicada y demostrada científica, es como buscar los tres pies al gato).

En definitiva un libro recomendado para todos aquellos que les guste el misterio, los personajes extravagantes aderezado con un poco de humor.

[Jane Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book - love Edmund Crispin's books. I read them all a long time ago so it's nice to revisit them. This one is set in an opera company so loads of musical references and some great sarcastic humour. Fen, his detective, is always portrayed as waspish and sarcastic which makes for a humourous read. It's quite hard to find his books now which is a shame so snapped this one up when I realised it was 99p!

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1946, this book describes the first production, in England after the war, of Die Meistersinger (banned during the war because the Nazis loved Wagner) and several murders that occur during rehearsals. It is a near-perfect example of the old-fashioned English murder mystery at its best. A locked room murder, an eccentric Oxford don as the sleuth, admirably witty, romantic, or waspish suspects. I especially loved it because, even though I caught one of the most important clues early on, I never figured out what to make of it, and then Crispin wound up fooling me not once, but twice in the denouement. A bravura performance. This particular edition, however, from Felony and Mayhem Press, is so full of misprints that it borders on the unreadable. Choose a different edition. Crispin once wrote a short story that turned on whether a character said "rowed" or "rode"--and given that, misprints do not inspire confidence.

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deserves five stars for the totally ingenious locked room murder alone. Edwin Shorthouse - opera singer - is a totally dislikeable corpse.. The whole cast of the Wagner opera in which he has a part have motives for disposing of him though to many - including the police - it appears to be suicide because no one could have committed the crime.

Of course Gervase Fen discovers a solution to the mystery of how anyone could have done with a little help from a skeleton and the police. I don't always think that Crispin's full length novels work as well as his short stories but this one is excellent with some marvellously amusing scenes and of course the ingenious crime itself. The writing is stylish and assumes a reasonable level of education in the reader. Crispin is a writer whose books bear re-reading as I always find things I missed or failed to appreciate in previous readings.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I love the eccentric Gervase Fen, I think in this story, one of my favorite characters who doesn't even figure prominently in the story, is John Barfield, who seemed never not to be eating. It's hilarious that when he enters scenes, he seems to be consuming food.

I really appreciate the way Crispin stated and described things -"And the situation was this, that she had fallen inexplicably and quite unexpectedly in love with an operatic tenor...How it came about she was never able clearly to remember, but it seems to have happened quite suddenly, without gestation or warning. One day Adam Langley was an agreeable but undifferentiated member of an operatic company; the next he shone alone and unreal. Elizabeth felt, in the face of this phenomenon, something of the awe of a Coenobite visited by an archangel and was startled at the hurried refocusing of familiar objects which such an experience involves."

"The room into which an elderly, heavy-footed maid-servant ushered her was untidy - so untidy as to suggest the aftermath of a burglary."

Crispin had such wit, sometimes in choosing the name of his characters - "...the stage-door-keeper shuffled out of it. He was an old man named Furbelow, with wispy hair and steel-rimmed spectacles...Mudge sighed, and pronounced, as though it were rude, the word "Furbelow". The stage-door-keeper materialized from among the peripheral wraiths and stood blinking at them. "Furbelow, you'd better come with us." Mudge was peremptory. "Sir Richard will want to hear what you have to say." "Who's this?" Sir Richard demanded with distaste." "The stage-door keeper, sir. His evidence is important."

I also like Gervase's idiosyncrasies - "It was not until they were properly underway that Adam recognized the force of that "with any luck". They would require a great deal of luck, he thought, sitting petrified in the front seat, if they were to get back at all. To realize that anyone is not a very good driver takes a little time; the mind is not eager, in the face of a long journey, to embrace this particular verity; and it was not until Fen emerged into the High Street, with the velocity of a benighted traveller pursued by spectres, that Adam became really alarmed...the car rushed on towards Headington. It was a small, red, battered and extremely noisy sports car; a chilled-looking female nude in chromium projected from its radiator cap; across its bonnet were scrawled in large white letters the words LILY CHRISTINE III. "I bought her," said Fen, removing both hands from the wheel in order to search for a cigarette, "from an undergraduate who was sent down. But of course she was laid up during the war, and I don't think it's improved her. He shook his head, sombrely. "Things keep falling out of the engine," he explained.

Not surprising, the victim was universally disliked - "There could be no doubt, thought Adam, that the death of Edwin Shorthouse was not much regretted either by Peacock or anyone else connected with the production. Adam said as much to Fen. "I know," said Fen. "It seems positively indelicate to be trying to discover his murderer."

[Adam Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Edmund Crispin book - with a few reservations I enjoyed it a lot!

The good - it was an excellent and clever plot, and I was really gripped on the whodunnit and howdunnit elements throughout. A very clever locked room tale, characters I was bought into and one or two moments that made me inhale sharply!

The bad - it’s very Wodehouse in style, this was generally enjoyable, but the first chapter was so in your face Wodehouse, it was annoying. While the characters were enjoyable, probably the weakest was the Detective himself! Fen was not memorable, once or twice seemed to act bizarrely out of character and really, other than giving the solution, didn’t add a lot.

There is a lot of opera and Wagner in this story, I found myself skimming some of these parts as, frankly, they bored me and really didn’t add much beyond showing the authors clear knowledge and love of it. It’s a very good read though, which more than makes up for the shortcomings.

[Robin Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming detective story that's also a really clever impossible crime. Set in an opera company, and mostly in Oxford (the characters take tea at the Randolph and drink at the Bird and Baby!), it's a really fun, fast and enjoyable read, and the denouement is extremely smart. 12+

*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*

[Armonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seria3.5. No me gusta el estilo del autor, demasiadas descripciones que no aportan nada a la trama, abandoné anteriormente un libro suyo por esa razón, no logro interesarme.Este no obstante logré terminarlo, ( saltando algunas descripciones, debo decir). La trama logró interesarme lo suficiente, aunque los personajes no me resultaron cercanos ni despertó en mi emociones o sentimientos.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ett ”closed room mystery”, där en operasångare hittas hängd på teatern och Gervase Fen ska lösa gåtan.

Själva gåtan var bra uttänkt, men boken är skriven 1947 och det är lite komplicerat språk, vilket gör att den tar för lång tid att läsa. Annars gillar jag Gervase Fen som karaktär, och det är småroligt i dialogen.