Fen Country

Gervase Fen #11

by Edmund Crispin

Dandelions and hearing aids, a bloodstained cat, a Leonardo drawing, a corpse with an alibi, a truly poisonous letter … just some of the unusual clues that Oxford don/detective Gervase Fen and his friend Inspector Humbleby are confronted with in this sparkling collection of short mystery stories by one of the great masters of detective fiction.

Contents:
• Who Killed Baker?
• Death and Aunt Fancy
• The Hunchback Cat
• The Lion’s Tooth
• Gladstone’s Candlestick
• The Man Who Lost His Head
• The Two Sisters
• Outrage in Stepney
• A Country to Sell
• A Case in Camera
• Blood Sport
• The Pencil
• Windhover Cottage
• The House by the River
• After Evensong
• Death Behind Bars
• We Know You’re Busy Writing, But We Thought You Wouldn’t Mind If We Just Dropped in for a Minute
• Cash on Delivery
• Shot in the Dark
• The Mischief Done
• Merry-Go-Round
• Occupational Risk
• Dog in the Night-Time
• Man Overboard
• The Undraped Torso
• Wolf!

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Crime, Audiobook, Short Story Collection, British Literature

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

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

[Marsali Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered this book a few years back in our local library van (note to unfortunate people who live in a town: the library van arrives, full of books, every third Tuesday, around lunch-time, and it's driven by a cheery lady who knows her stock backwards and has good recommendations. You can also order books from the main library in Lerwick, and she'll bring them out on her next visit).

This collection of short stories led me on to read the full-length books. Each story is very short, with a neat punchline based on everyday observation. The one about the unwanted visitors is particularly apt for an aspiring author who tries to work from home ...

I was delighted to find a 'new' detective author whose books I enjoyed so much. In his longer books, Crispin focuses on the puzzle, with action episodes and quirky characters, and writes with wit and humour. I found some of the donnish moments (his detective, Gervase Fen, is an Oxford don) are a bit in-joke clever, but Fen's a likeably eccentric character, and like Carter Dickson, Crispin uses jokes to slip clues past.

[James Hold · Rating 3 out of 5]

This turned out a lot better than the other GV books I'd been reading. IT's still not as good as THE MOVING TOYSHOP but much better than the others I've had to slog thru. Here we get 25 short stories and the brevity benefits them greatly. They are a breeze to skim thru. Not that a competent editor couldn't blue-pencil a lot of needless phrases and an over-abundance of adverbs to make them better still. Fen only figures in a handful of them. The stories are more 'cute' than clever, the solutions turning on a single word or sudden revelation. All could have been dragged out to novel length but Crispin resists the temptation. My favorite was 'Cash on Demand' where a killer-for-hire offs the wrong person. none of the others made much of an impression. Final verdict: FEN COUNTRY is all right; a quick read some of which will stay with you but most of it won't. Not a waste of time, but nothing you'd want to revisit later.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edumund Crispin is wonderful. He deserves to be better known than he is.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Around the World: Crime and Mystery
Book/Shorts - 1979 - UK
Crispin is one of the most humorous mystery/crime authors I've read. But his humor is based on character development and how they respond/develop inside novel-length mysteries.
CAST - 2 stars: In most of the stories, we have Professor Gervase Fen, friend Inspector Humbleby, and acquaintances discussing old crimes. There isn't room at all for character development, or even descriptions.
ATMOSPHERE - 2: Again, lack of humorous atmospheric touches, often satiric, just aren't here.
CRIMES - 2 stars: 26 stories, some of the crimes rather unusual. But I can only recall one in particular, and that's not a good thing.
INVESTIGATION - 3: If you're read any of the "5-Minute Mystery" books, or material like them, you know each story is sort of a one-trick-pony that might consist of a single word. Or, you as a reader may not have knowledge of a very esoteric issue/fact, and be absolutely unable to figure anything out. Still, there are some good tricks here, and a couple of memorable great ones.
RESOLUTION - 3: Again, there iare a handful of great twists, maybe 6 of the 26 stories. A few I had to read twice to get it: and a few I didn't get at all.
SUMMARY - 2.4. An okay set of shorts to take along on a bus ride, or to have handy at home while waiting for laundry to dry, etc. But Crispin isn't at his best here: if you haven't read Crispin, then start with a full-length novel or 2.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of stories that don't all feature Gervase Fen, which is actually kind of nice.

Most of the stories are pretty good.

[JZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a pleasant little read between chores and such. Every time I wanted a break, I read a few of these. Several laughs, more surprises. I loved the novels, and these are quick reminders of why.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pleasant, mostly forgettable puzzle stories, with only a modicum of the wit and weirdnesses of the novels. Best are “Who Killed Baker?” “The Pencil,” and “We Know You’re Busy Writing...”.

[Donna Holland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought I’d try a different genre to start the new year so chose this detective book . It feels dated and some of the stories just didn’t make sense . It hasn’t put me off detective / mystery stories but will not be reading any more about detective Gervase Fen . Sorry ,just not for me .

[dmayr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bunch of short, enjoyable stories involving stolen candlesticks, blackmailers, swapping of identities, affairs, assassins and abductions, funny forgeries and of course, murder.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in November 2000.

The description of Fen Country on its cover as twenty six detective stories featuring Gervase Fen is a slight exaggeration; only around half the stories are actually mysteries solved by Crispin's famous detective. They are generally, though, of high quality, and several of them are quite funny.

Writing a mystery in short story format is a difficult art. At novel length, the classic murder myster writer has space to introduce six or seven potential suspects, all with backgrounds making them suspicious and giving them motives for killing the victim, as well as clues to mislead the reader. Many novels have denouements which are longer than any of the stories in this collection. To fit enough into a short story for it to have any chance to compete is very difficult, and efforts by even some of the best known mystery authors just show how hard it is (the short stories of Dorothy L. Sayers are a case in point). The achievements of Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote so many classic short stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon, are shown in their correct perspective by this. And it is, thankfully, of the Sherlock Holmes stories that the reader of Fen Country is most consistently reminded.

Their structure is very similar, with the detective usually solving the crime by picking up some small detail - and here the puzzles are sufficiently difficult that I would defy the majority of readers to solve any of the mysteries even with this hint.

The most interesting story - not the best, because it is rather obvious - is We Know You're Busy Writing..., which is about the way that people assume that writing is not really work and how frustrating writers find this. The story is one of the amusing ones, and it is probably the most memorable.

[Eric Tanafon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of these stories are very short --4-5 pages--and read quickly. They aren't quite up to the standards of Crispin's amazing classics such as The Moving Toyshop, Love Lies Bleeding, or Buried For Pleasure. Don't get me wrong, these stories are very well written, entertaining, and crisp. Something like single potato chips, and we all know the problem with that.

Part of the explanation, I think, is that these stories were written later, mostly in the Fifties; also, the short story was not really Crispin's form. The two longest stories in this collection are also the best, giving him more room for quirky characters and tragicomic turns of events. 'The Mischief Done' deals with jewel theft, insurance fraud, diamonds that shine in the dark, and ambitious landscaping projects. On the other hand, "We Know You're Busy Writing, But We Thought You Wouldn't Mind If We Just Dropped In For a Minute", told in the first person, is sure to touch a responsive chord in any author's heart...though one may not endorse the rather drastic course that the narrator takes to deal with the problem.

[Jlnpeacock Peacock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in the 1950's, this book provides all the charm of the day. It is pleasant to step back into a time when the author is not purposefully taking you back in time, but is writing of his current time. It adds a different flavour to the entire work. Each of the stories is a delightful puzzle with which the reader is provided enough information so that a solution is possible to realize before the big reveal. Fen is an Oxford professor and is the chief solver of the puzzles in the short stories. His character is not fully developed in this book, but he is still presented substantially enough to be believable. The book provides a pleasant afternoon reading. I am interested now in obtaining some of the novels since Fen has piqued my interest. I am anxious to see what other riddles he solves.

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing short stories, never boring. Most do not involve Fen but give us an idea of what other characters he would have created... including the frustrated writer who is interrupted just one time too many.

The last stories are a chunk of Fen and Humbleby. It's a little heart breaking to read since it was clear that Crispin had a lot of material he could have worked into a full novel. Sadly he died too soon.

[Gabriele Crescenzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edmund Crispin è una figura peculiare nell'ambito del giallo: laureatosi in Lettere Moderne, si dimenò nel corso della sua esistenza tra musica e letteratura. Grande compositore nonché personalità affascinante e ricca di humour, compose alcune originali e brillanti opere gialle.
Tutti i suoi romanzi hanno per protagonista Gervase Fen, professore del fittizio St Christopher's College di Oxford, chiaramente ispirato alla famosa creazione di John Dickson Carr, il dottore Gideon Fell.
Spesso accostato al suddetto per la creazione di delitti miracolosi e a Wodehouse per lo stile raffinato e umoristico, Crispin si rivela un autore particolarmente spumeggiante dell'epoca post-Golden Age.

"Fen Country" è una raccolta eterogenea di 26 suoi racconti che dimostra, attraverso l'estrema varietà di situazioni, la grande inventiva e la bravura dell'autore.
Molti racconti hanno per protagonista Fen, altri hanno un andamento più da spy-story, altri ancora si presentano come dei semplici giochi intellettuali, quasi indovinelli. Insomma, una gradevole miscellanea di scritti brevi.
Lo stile forbito, spesso ironico e pungente, rende queste pagine estremamente piacevoli e adatti ad una lettura veloce.
La maestria di Crispin si nota anche nella sua abilità nel condensare in pochissime righe, dal momento che quasi la totalità dei racconti non supera le 3 pagine, storie brillanti di furti, omicidi o altri eventi criminosi, fornendo al contempo indizi ben celati che possono condurre alla verità.
La "brevitas" e il "labor limae" callimachei applicati in ambito poliziesco!
A tal proposito meritano una menzione particolare i seguenti racconti:

"Who Killed Baker?"
Bel racconto d'apertura, in cui ciò che viene narrato viene completamente sovvertito nel finale. Un normale whodunit all'inizio che nasconde in realtà una struttura ben diversa. Più un racconto enigmistico che altro, ma molto ben strutturato e piacevole, con una critica sottile verso i detrattori della criminologia.

"Gladstone's Candlestick"
Storia del furto di un antico candelabro da una casa blindata. L'unica persona che potrebbe aver commesso il reato si dichiara innocente e chiede l'aiuto di Fen, che riuscirà a sventare un colpevole astuto.
Bel racconto su un crimine impossibile, con una soluzione semplicissima eppure molto ingegnosa. L' "impossibilità" è tale solo per un fattore che il lettore dà per scontato: Crispin lo sa e gioca di contropiede demolendo le sue convinzioni. Brillante.

"Death Behind Bars"
Racconto geniale sull'omicidio di un carcerato. Sembra che questi sia stato avvelenato con del diserbante, eppure nella cella non si è trovato nulla che la vittima potesse aver ingerito. Aggiungendo a ciò il fatto che tutto ciò che entrava veniva scrupolosamente controllato e che gli unici sospetti non si sono mai avvicinati alla vittima, si avrà una camera chiusa che più chiusa non si può. Soluzione semplice e geniale, che si adatta benissimo a quella particolare situazione.

[Alex Sarll]

I was tempted to read this collection by the aggressive archness of Merry-Go-Round, which packs an impressively deep inventiveness into a four-page tale of forgery (or is it?). Most of the others are around the same length, hence being able to fit 26 stories (not all, contrary to what the title implies and some editions claim outright, featuring crime-solving don Gervase Fen) into 160 pages, though one of the other standouts, We Know You're Busy Writing, But We Thought You Wouldn't Mind If We Just Dropped In For A Minute, is even more prolix than its title, clocking in at a mammoth 16 pages as a writer bearing distinct biographical similarities to Crispin channels his rage at being repeatedly interrupted by people from Porlock. Of the rest, a few recall the infuriating ingenuity of those pub tricks that are supposed to earn one a pint but seem more likely to get you smacked, and once or twice the ideas well does seem to be running dry, as when Dog In The Night-Time repeats the crime from one story earlier in the connection and the solution from another. But for the most part, the sensation is of reading the ingenious denouement to a mystery without the padding that would be required to turn it into a novel. Which is pretty fun, like going to see a band with one big song and them not holding it back for the encore, just banging it out and then handing over to another act who do likewise, then a third... The only problem being, I'm not sure if I could now read a Gervase Fen novel without wondering why it's so interminably stretched-out.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very nice collection of 25 short(SHORT) stories .Most of them feature Fen but not all. I think there are 5 or 6 where Fen is not present .But in those (Except one ) Inspector Humbleby is present .
The stories are short and mostly based on a single idea of a dodge or trick but the trick is different everytime .
Since the stories are so short, they do not have any of the madcap antiques of Fen and his cohorts .This makes the experience significantly different than reading a Fen novel .
For me personally ,I.like Crispin because of his turns of phrase,great English,idiosyncratic characters and flair of imagination.This book obviously can't provide those .But as a short detective story collection it is a very good one ..except a couple rest are really good for their size .They contain enough ideas for a dozen novels ..the tricks are that good .

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a bit of false advertising going on here: not all these stories involve Gervase Fen, the inimitable crime-solving Oxford don at all. The ones that do are certainly more fun for his fans than the others, which tend to be a bit dark, lacking the comic turn that almost always enlivens a Fen mystery. But Crispin is a wonderful writer, and so you can let yourself relax and enjoy these period mysteries. They are sometimes a bit dated, but that's part of their charm, too. Fear not, and read on.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another book out of my mother-in-law's extensive collection. When she moved into assisted living, all her books became up for grabs. I would guess that her mysteries alone take up 50 feet of shelf space. The book I read was a paperback published in 1981, but, to the extent you can tell, most of the stories seem to take place in the 1950s.

I was a bit disappointed in the first few stories, but more gems appeared as kept going. With Fen at his best in the later stories I moved my mental ranking from three stars to four.

[Kenneth McMahon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Subtitled "Twenty-Six stories featuring Gervase Fen" though only half of them do. More short (usually 5-6 pages) little puzzles than mystery stories. A fun, diverting read which I've been dipping into occasionally, this kind of thing is always a mixed bag and so not always a satisfying read. "The Pencil", more of a crime story rather than a whodunnit like most of the stories here, was probably my favourite of the bunch.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of these mini mysteries are only a few pages in length, which is quite an accomplishment for any writer. I have great admiration for the talent required in writing short stories and getting the job done as well as those who write at great length. These mini mysteries might push the boundaries a bit, but that's quite all right. They are fun to read.

Also, I am a fan of Edmund Crispin, and make an effort to collect his books.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've enjoyed a couple of Crispin novels, and these short stories were a treat. Gervase Fen is not a typical detective. He's an English professor, interested in many things, well read, curious, and thoughtful. Fen can listen to details about a baffling case (usually told by a friend or acquaintance), ask pertinent questions and then quietly go about solving the crime, sometimes traveling or making use of knowledgeable contacts to do so. A little intrigue, a little wry humor, and a lot of fun.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were short, crisp and smartly written crime stories. Although the British wit and irony increased the charm in many cases, majority were too dry to be enjoyed now. Nevertheless, it was a good collection.
Unfortunately, the Bloomsbury production is atrocious. The quality of page is worse than pirated books. When sub-par font got added to it to cut costs, the book became unreadably cheap. The author deserves better than such production.

[Craftyhj · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful collections of short stories

I have loved all of the Gervase Fen books and they really do merit far greater public exposure than they have. This collection of short stories is no exception. Most of them are very short but in just a few pages the author manages to create interesting and inventive stories. Most of these stories since Inspector Humbleby and the relationship between him and Fen is well crafted.

[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A volume of very short, slight crime stories. They were mostly written for the old Evening Standard and so each can be read between bus stops, tube stations or waiting for the kettle to boil. There is pleasure to be had in trying to work out the solutions, and the plots and style are erudite and intelligent. A nice diversion from more heavyweight matter.

[Jeff Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not really a fan of short stories at the best of times but I found most of these stories baffling and sometimes so brief they were over with a punch line. The book lacked any of the musing that made the Gervase Fen mysteries so entertaining while character seemed to involved with the police in a way he never was in any other books. Disappointing.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable set of short mystery stories, not all involving Gervase Fen (but he is in the majority of them). I believe that this completed my reading of Crispin; perhaps I shall revisit some of them in the near future :)

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story collection that suffers from being grouped together, too many repeated solutions to baffling mysteries/crimes... and for a crime compilation rather more end in criminal getting away with it, than not...

[Min Zhi · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories are quite short. Some are very funny, particularly "We Know You're Busy Writing,
But We Thought You Wouldn't Mind if We Just Dropped in for a Minute."

[Juan Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Algunos cuentos son interesantes, pero la mayoría de ellos son muy breves y no logran atraparte.