When Scholars Fall

by Timothy Robinson

Murder at Oxford. When Scholars Fall is a lively, entertaining and frequently witty book, the first detective story to come from New Authors Limited. It describes the bizarre events which surround the murder of Ronald George Herriott, a brilliant but unpopular Socialist don at St. Saviour's College. When Edward Donaldson and his two friends try to solve the mystery they soon find they are up against no ordinary murderer, but a fanatical High Tory determined to uphold the traditions of the University. In their efforts to deal with this eccentric criminal, obsessed with the controversies of the past, they discover some very odd things about the dons in their college and become involved in a series of adventures such as could happen only in Oxford.

223 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

Reviews

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay little mystery with an interesting Oxford setting. I didn't like who the murderer turned out to be.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do like the sub-genre of mysteries set in Oxford, UK! Not everyone can write like Colin Dexter or Dorothy L. Sayers, but this unpretentious book kept me entertained on a quiet afternoon. This is the (late 1950s) Oxford of obstreperous (male) and flirtatious (female) undergraduates, dotty dons and archaic college customs. A group of students match wits with a self-satisfied police inspector (a former Balliol man, as he can never refrain from remarking) to identify a murderer who seems obsessed with keeping Oxford unchanged and its traditions preserved.

Lectures and tutorials, scouts and college porters, tea in town and dinner in the halls, all the peripheral aspects of an old-fashioned Oxford mystery are here. I particularly enjoyed the scene towards the end, involving a respectable Dean of Divinity climbing out of the college, and a pursuit by bicycle and punt on the river Cherwell.