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Gervase Fen #5
Love Lies Bleeding
Castrevenford school invites English professor and amateur sleuth Gervase Fen to present the prizes at Speech Day. However the night before, strange events leave two staff members dead. The Headmaster calls on Professor Fen to investigate.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
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1158 people want to read
About the author
Edmund Crispin
101 books207 followersEdmund 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/...
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/...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 176 reviews
February 24, 2020
The fifth of the Gervase Fen books by Crispin, this was the second of these that I’ve read. The book opens in Castrevenford school where preparations are on for speech day (and prize day etc), but lots it seems is going wrong. One of the girl students from the sister school, participating in the school play for the occasion is visibly upset, but no one knows why, and then she goes missing leaving an uncharacteristic note about running away; there has been a theft in the chemistry lab; and now the night before the big day, not one but two of the teachers are found dead—shot—within a short time of each other. Luckily for the Headmaster, Dr Stanford, due to a last minute change in programme, he had invited his friend, Oxford Don Gervase Fen to deliver the speech. With his considerable experience on previous cases, and the fact that the local Superintendent Stagge is out of his depth and would welcome any assistance, Fen is involved in the matter right from the start.
This was an enjoyable read for me, a good combination of a fairly complicated mystery (in a sense) and humour—and I certainly enjoyed the writing a lot as well. The mystery as I said had plenty of elements, a kidnapping, theft, and murders (a third murder, apparently unconnected also occurs, and a second theft, from the armoury is also discovered), all of which are connected of course, and it is up to Fen to work out how. There are a number of people who could have done it, but in this one I felt, none really stood out throughout the book as having a strong enough motive (I mean as in a usual whodunit, one can narrow it down to a specific set of suspects—that didn’t happen for me here), it could have been any one of the characters around, though there was a clue about the person who turned out to have done it. But there were an assortment of them—masters, and some staff, including one who is the in-house gossip in a sense (Mr Etheredge), keeping his eye on all that goes on. There was also quite a bit of action in the plot too with a search for the missing girl, and more in a full-fledged car-chase at the end, reminiscent of movies.
The atmosphere of the school too I thought came through pretty well—activities (from exams and reports to various clubs and games), student love affairs, to teachers who get along and not with each other and the students (their approaches to their work, and the students etc)—one felt that one was amidst all the hustle and bustle and all the goings on. In the plot, one along with Fen keeps going between the activities of speech day (morning service, the speech, cricket, a garden party, and much more) and the investigations, with things having to be hushed up as much as possible since speech day must go on as usual.
There was also a fair bit of humour as mentioned, in for instance Fen writing his own detective story, which he keeps trying to tell Dr Stanford about, and the animals in the book. There is Mr Merrythought, a bloodhound with a tendency to ‘homicidal fits’ who seems to take a liking to Fen (Harold Bloom has described him as ‘a masterpiece of canine creation’), and who turns out to have a fairly strong role throughout the book. Fen and Mr Plumstead, another character who appears as the story moves on, also have an encounter with a ‘gross and evil smelling’ duck who has a ‘truculent gaze’, present at the site of the third murder. Both fun even if the duck had just a ‘guest appearance’. Other touches are there too including Crispin poking a bit of fun at his readers and may be himself—with Fen observing when told that he was recognised from his picture in the papers, that this was ‘more than Crispin’s readers manage to do’).
All in all, a great deal of fun.
This was an enjoyable read for me, a good combination of a fairly complicated mystery (in a sense) and humour—and I certainly enjoyed the writing a lot as well. The mystery as I said had plenty of elements, a kidnapping, theft, and murders (a third murder, apparently unconnected also occurs, and a second theft, from the armoury is also discovered), all of which are connected of course, and it is up to Fen to work out how. There are a number of people who could have done it, but in this one I felt, none really stood out throughout the book as having a strong enough motive (I mean as in a usual whodunit, one can narrow it down to a specific set of suspects—that didn’t happen for me here), it could have been any one of the characters around, though there was a clue about the person who turned out to have done it. But there were an assortment of them—masters, and some staff, including one who is the in-house gossip in a sense (Mr Etheredge), keeping his eye on all that goes on. There was also quite a bit of action in the plot too with a search for the missing girl, and more in a full-fledged car-chase at the end, reminiscent of movies.
The atmosphere of the school too I thought came through pretty well—activities (from exams and reports to various clubs and games), student love affairs, to teachers who get along and not with each other and the students (their approaches to their work, and the students etc)—one felt that one was amidst all the hustle and bustle and all the goings on. In the plot, one along with Fen keeps going between the activities of speech day (morning service, the speech, cricket, a garden party, and much more) and the investigations, with things having to be hushed up as much as possible since speech day must go on as usual.
There was also a fair bit of humour as mentioned, in for instance Fen writing his own detective story, which he keeps trying to tell Dr Stanford about, and the animals in the book. There is Mr Merrythought, a bloodhound with a tendency to ‘homicidal fits’ who seems to take a liking to Fen (Harold Bloom has described him as ‘a masterpiece of canine creation’), and who turns out to have a fairly strong role throughout the book. Fen and Mr Plumstead, another character who appears as the story moves on, also have an encounter with a ‘gross and evil smelling’ duck who has a ‘truculent gaze’, present at the site of the third murder. Both fun even if the duck had just a ‘guest appearance’. Other touches are there too including Crispin poking a bit of fun at his readers and may be himself—with Fen observing when told that he was recognised from his picture in the papers, that this was ‘more than Crispin’s readers manage to do’).
All in all, a great deal of fun.
September 15, 2008
Crispin's the writer who slipped more polysyllables into the whodunnit genre than any other. He occasionally runs so beautifully away with the language that it feels as though either he'd really rather not be writing crime novels, or he's forgotten that he is. For those who care, he delivers slippier & more satisfying plots than you've a right to demand, and for those who don't, he leaves you feeling you've had the kind of wonderful conversation you were worried you'd never have.
September 2, 2014
Le estoy cogiendo el gusto a las novelas de Edmund Crispin. Tras ‘La juguetería errante’ y ‘El canto del cisne’, la editorial Impedimenta nos ofrece ‘Trabajos de amor ensangrentados’. Se tratan de novelas protagonizadas por el profesor de Lengua y Literatura en Oxford y detective aficionado Gervase Fen, excéntrico, inteligente y perspicaz como pocos. Sus casos tienen que ver con misterios y crímenes a puerta cerrada, en los que se analizan las pruebas y pesquisas minuciosamente, pasando por interrogatorios, pistas falsas y revelaciones varias, hasta llegar a una explicación final pormenorizada.
En ‘Trabajos de amor ensangrentados’ (Loves Lies Bleeding, 1948), nos encontramos en el Instituto de Castrevenford, donde Fen ha sido invitado para la entrega de premios y diplomas. Pero unos atroces hechos van a empañar los festejos: dos profesores han sido asesinados y una alumna ha desaparecido. Entonces, el director le pedirá a su amigo Fen que se implique en el caso.
Calidad literaria, buen ritmo narrativo, protagonistas atractivos, toque de humor british y conversaciones cultas y citas eruditas, hace de este un entretenimiento más que recomendable.
En ‘Trabajos de amor ensangrentados’ (Loves Lies Bleeding, 1948), nos encontramos en el Instituto de Castrevenford, donde Fen ha sido invitado para la entrega de premios y diplomas. Pero unos atroces hechos van a empañar los festejos: dos profesores han sido asesinados y una alumna ha desaparecido. Entonces, el director le pedirá a su amigo Fen que se implique en el caso.
Calidad literaria, buen ritmo narrativo, protagonistas atractivos, toque de humor british y conversaciones cultas y citas eruditas, hace de este un entretenimiento más que recomendable.
January 2, 2023
An outing with Gervase Fen is always fun. In this fifth in the series, Fen is invited to speech day at Castrevenford School. Of course, things will not go smoothly and a convoluted mystery involves a missing girl, murder and a bloodhound names Mr Merrythought...
This was something of a confusing mystery, as is always the way with this series, and the finale involved Gervase giving a rather long explanation. However, he is such a fun character, so exuberant and eccentric, that you know once you begin an Edmund Crispin novel that you will have fun. I enjoy his academic settings and, although in this book we are in a school rather than Oxford, there was a similar vibe of masters and the general school calendar and events to have similarities with previous mysteries. Also, like Christie, Crispin tends to throw in a little romance and that keeps things light-hearted. Overall, I enjoyed the setting, characters and look forward to reading on in the series.
This was something of a confusing mystery, as is always the way with this series, and the finale involved Gervase giving a rather long explanation. However, he is such a fun character, so exuberant and eccentric, that you know once you begin an Edmund Crispin novel that you will have fun. I enjoy his academic settings and, although in this book we are in a school rather than Oxford, there was a similar vibe of masters and the general school calendar and events to have similarities with previous mysteries. Also, like Christie, Crispin tends to throw in a little romance and that keeps things light-hearted. Overall, I enjoyed the setting, characters and look forward to reading on in the series.
March 25, 2023
Another wonderful story. Murder, Shakespeare manuscript, a school prize giving and Professor Fen thrown into the mix. My favourite character was Merrythought the elderly determined dog. The story is set after the Second World War at a school near Stratford on Avon.
I guessed the wrong murderer. There are clues which one of which I thought was a red herring. I feel my detecting abilities are on a par with Inspector Clouseau.
I guessed the wrong murderer. There are clues which one of which I thought was a red herring. I feel my detecting abilities are on a par with Inspector Clouseau.
April 8, 2020
I have read at least three of the books featuring Oxford Don Gervase Fen. This one brings him to another school where preparations are underway for speech day and a series of events have the head master in confusion and at a loss. More troubling things occur that cannot be understood or explained until Fen is asked to help the police who are muddling through without success.
The body count mounts; investigation reveals the possibility of the discovery of a missing play by Shakespeare hidden in a cottage and much more fun; a life is saved and more.
Again I have had to look up the meaning of several arcane words, something I enjoy about these books, as well as the pace and humour throughout.
Kindle Unlimited
The body count mounts; investigation reveals the possibility of the discovery of a missing play by Shakespeare hidden in a cottage and much more fun; a life is saved and more.
Again I have had to look up the meaning of several arcane words, something I enjoy about these books, as well as the pace and humour throughout.
Kindle Unlimited
December 29, 2022
Edmund Crispin’s Gervase Fen mysteries are mostly set at Oxford University, but Love Lies Bleeding takes place at a suburban boys’ school. It is the eve of a schoolwide celebration involving a play, cricket match, athletic display, speeches, prizes, and teas; the notable intended to hand out the prizes is unavailable, and Fen is called in to take his place.
He arrives just in time for a whole raft of murders and other mysterious events—a theft from the chem lab, the disappearance of a girl from a nearby school. The first half of this book is devoted to rather plodding attempts to analyze the various elements of this crime spree, and it is mildly entertaining, especially if you enjoy the character of Fen and the eccentricities of Crispin. But no motive for any of the events is apparent till halfway through, and that robs the book of any sense of suspense. Despite the horrific crimes, the feeling is one of undertaking an academic exercise.
The pace picks up for a bit as Fen plunges into various dangers and the chase is on in earnest, but then the last thirty-plus pages (out of only 200 in my edition) are devoted to an extremely tedious recap of everything that happened and why. The alert reader will have pieced together the villains and their motives by then, so most of this long summation is otiose.
There are the usual asides to the reader and violations of the fourth wall that readers of this series have come to expect, but there is also a mildly unsavory focus on the sex appeal of minor females that really started to get on my nerves by its third iteration. In other books Fen has displayed an appropriate sense of the gravity of murder and its cost, but that element—crucial for my full enjoyment of a mystery—is absent here. There is a moderately funny bit of Shakespeare pastiche to enliven the slow ending, but it wasn’t enough to compensate for the laziness of this effort overall.
He arrives just in time for a whole raft of murders and other mysterious events—a theft from the chem lab, the disappearance of a girl from a nearby school. The first half of this book is devoted to rather plodding attempts to analyze the various elements of this crime spree, and it is mildly entertaining, especially if you enjoy the character of Fen and the eccentricities of Crispin. But no motive for any of the events is apparent till halfway through, and that robs the book of any sense of suspense. Despite the horrific crimes, the feeling is one of undertaking an academic exercise.
The pace picks up for a bit as Fen plunges into various dangers and the chase is on in earnest, but then the last thirty-plus pages (out of only 200 in my edition) are devoted to an extremely tedious recap of everything that happened and why. The alert reader will have pieced together the villains and their motives by then, so most of this long summation is otiose.
There are the usual asides to the reader and violations of the fourth wall that readers of this series have come to expect, but there is also a mildly unsavory focus on the sex appeal of minor females that really started to get on my nerves by its third iteration. In other books Fen has displayed an appropriate sense of the gravity of murder and its cost, but that element—crucial for my full enjoyment of a mystery—is absent here. There is a moderately funny bit of Shakespeare pastiche to enliven the slow ending, but it wasn’t enough to compensate for the laziness of this effort overall.
January 3, 2020
DAME AGATHA CHRISTIE AND HER PEERS
BOOK 45 - 1948
If penned today, "Love Lies Bleeding" would possibly be a 500-page Dan Brown-type conspiracy thriller involving globe-trotting good guys/gals and those fighting/chasing them (with some kind of secret agency hidden under a London lake perhaps.) I'm glad Crispin wrote it first, though, for various reasons.
CAST - 5: Professor Gervase Fen must be, in all of crime literature, the investigator who is least likely to even care about a crime. At one point, he says: "I shall go on working on my detective novel." The oh-so-serious (sort of) Headmaster says: "At your what?" Fen replies: "It's a very good one. You see, it all begins on a dark and stormy November night in the Catskill Mountains..." So, you know Fen is just anxious to go to his hotel for some sleep thinking something like "do I HAVE to be here, I figured it all out 3 pages ago...." Mr. Etheredge's position at a particular school is to ensure no one gets too enthused in the school itself, or the community, as that would turn everything into a 'dreary fetish'. Castrevenford School doesn't much care for a good reputation, just an inflow of money with no hypocrisy involved. Teacher/Master Love thinks the world of Teacher Master Somers, but Love's favouritism is well-known as good grades (and other things) can be purchased at relatively low prices by the students. The Headmaster of the school strongly believes that change is the source of all misery: "No doubt Eden was quite static and lethargic." Crispin's attitude toward England's education system is clearly on view and the comic lines come fast and furious. Oh, and I must mention Mr. Merrythought, a bloodhound who checks in and out of reality at odd times. A fascinating, funny, great, diverse cast. And this novel is pretty much ALL cast.
ATMOSPHERE - 3: Typical English high school campus with kids and hormones and the issue of sex isn't avoided. However, there are hints of anything and everything. Is there a Love/Somers connection? Crispin even goes there...and about everywhere, but this takes us back to the extremely diverse cast. It seems every British crime writer gets around to this setting but Crispin is the one turning it all upside down and doing about everything he can to avoid an actual detective story and turn this into a stage farce.
CRIME - 3: There are murders. And the motives have been done and done, Crispin knows it though and sticks more to a farce than anything else.
INVESTIGATION - 3: There are early clues, and you'll probably figure out most of the mystery early. But that doesn't take away from enjoyment.
RESOLUTION - 3: Everything comes together nicely (except we really never learn who is doing who...but I will say a LOT of people are having way too much fun...) as is Crispin as Fen.
SUMMARY: 3.4. This could have been a great stage farce. The mystery is very literary: books and authors (as clues) are all over the place. But it's the people, the dog, the students, the love interest, and the greed that greases the wheels of this fast, laugh-out-loud read. And let's not forget those here who play cricket: after all, as Crispin points out, there must be something for the outcasts to do. Enjoyable to read for the cast alone.
BOOK 45 - 1948
If penned today, "Love Lies Bleeding" would possibly be a 500-page Dan Brown-type conspiracy thriller involving globe-trotting good guys/gals and those fighting/chasing them (with some kind of secret agency hidden under a London lake perhaps.) I'm glad Crispin wrote it first, though, for various reasons.
CAST - 5: Professor Gervase Fen must be, in all of crime literature, the investigator who is least likely to even care about a crime. At one point, he says: "I shall go on working on my detective novel." The oh-so-serious (sort of) Headmaster says: "At your what?" Fen replies: "It's a very good one. You see, it all begins on a dark and stormy November night in the Catskill Mountains..." So, you know Fen is just anxious to go to his hotel for some sleep thinking something like "do I HAVE to be here, I figured it all out 3 pages ago...." Mr. Etheredge's position at a particular school is to ensure no one gets too enthused in the school itself, or the community, as that would turn everything into a 'dreary fetish'. Castrevenford School doesn't much care for a good reputation, just an inflow of money with no hypocrisy involved. Teacher/Master Love thinks the world of Teacher Master Somers, but Love's favouritism is well-known as good grades (and other things) can be purchased at relatively low prices by the students. The Headmaster of the school strongly believes that change is the source of all misery: "No doubt Eden was quite static and lethargic." Crispin's attitude toward England's education system is clearly on view and the comic lines come fast and furious. Oh, and I must mention Mr. Merrythought, a bloodhound who checks in and out of reality at odd times. A fascinating, funny, great, diverse cast. And this novel is pretty much ALL cast.
ATMOSPHERE - 3: Typical English high school campus with kids and hormones and the issue of sex isn't avoided. However, there are hints of anything and everything. Is there a Love/Somers connection? Crispin even goes there...and about everywhere, but this takes us back to the extremely diverse cast. It seems every British crime writer gets around to this setting but Crispin is the one turning it all upside down and doing about everything he can to avoid an actual detective story and turn this into a stage farce.
CRIME - 3: There are murders. And the motives have been done and done, Crispin knows it though and sticks more to a farce than anything else.
INVESTIGATION - 3: There are early clues, and you'll probably figure out most of the mystery early. But that doesn't take away from enjoyment.
RESOLUTION - 3: Everything comes together nicely (except we really never learn who is doing who...but I will say a LOT of people are having way too much fun...) as is Crispin as Fen.
SUMMARY: 3.4. This could have been a great stage farce. The mystery is very literary: books and authors (as clues) are all over the place. But it's the people, the dog, the students, the love interest, and the greed that greases the wheels of this fast, laugh-out-loud read. And let's not forget those here who play cricket: after all, as Crispin points out, there must be something for the outcasts to do. Enjoyable to read for the cast alone.
September 10, 2020
Crispin may be unmatched in literary style in the mystery genre ("Finally Weems, the music master, sat down at the piano and accompanied the school song, which the boys bellowed with the exuberance of reprieved assassins, while the parents, ignorant of the words, stood looking sternly respectful and moving their mouths in rather an improbable fashion."), but he's still capable of the most hackneyed plots. This one, set at a boys' boarding school, involves the discovery of a lost Shakespeare play which inspires murderous impulses. There's also a beautiful kidnapped teenage girl from the neighboring girls' school, giving Gervase Fen and some of the other grown men the chance to flirt inappropriately and entertain lascivious thoughts. The story is unrelentingly tedious, the characters indistinguishable (I had no idea who the murderer was when he or she was named). The only thing that saves the novel, just barely, is the presence of Mr. Merrythought, a large bloodhound mix who belonged to a deceased teacher and now haunts the campus anthropomorphically, prowling about the windows of the headmaster's house "like the wraith of Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights."
"Mr. Merrythought, who was now attempting to scale a wall..."
"Mr. Merrythought was eating pansies with a self-righteous air."
"Mr. Merrythought, inscrutably misanthropic, was scratching himself tentatively beneath a tree."
"The remote but persistent baying of a dog suggested that Mr. Merrythought was communing with some inward grief."
"...Mr. Merrythought, who, dazed and comatose after his floral banquet, was sprawling owlish and unfriended at the edge of the lawn."
"Mr. Merrythought had developed an unconvincing coyness..."
"...but he soon saw that there was no chance of escape and resigned himself to a sullen hebetude."
"Mr. Merrythought sniffed about, displaying more goodwill than was habitual with him..."
Mr. Merrythought is "liable to homicidal fits" every three months, the headmaster explains to Fen, and "as a matter of fact there's one due about now." Indeed, Mr. Merrythought will play a major role...
May 30, 2013
I finished the book last night and loved it. First of all it was set at a boys school. This is one of my fantasies. At one time I had four teen-agers at home ages 13-18 and thought that it would be lovely if we had the British system of sending teens away. I can't tell you how many days I dreamed of that. I don't know why they call them public schools when they're really private and cost money? Can anybody help me ou there?
I really liked Gervase Fen. I envisioned him as a rumpled old guy that you could just curl up and listen to for hours.
Here is my favorite line in the whole book uttered by Miss Parry, the girls headmistress, "I prefer American brands (cigarettes). Fewer chemicals in them." I can't tell you how much I laughed.
This is my idea of a traditional cozy English mystery and I was entertained from the moment I picked it up until I finished. Where you could read about two funnier characters than Brenda and Elspeth? The star is, of course, Mr. Merrythoughts.
It was quite a fun read.
I really liked Gervase Fen. I envisioned him as a rumpled old guy that you could just curl up and listen to for hours.
Here is my favorite line in the whole book uttered by Miss Parry, the girls headmistress, "I prefer American brands (cigarettes). Fewer chemicals in them." I can't tell you how much I laughed.
This is my idea of a traditional cozy English mystery and I was entertained from the moment I picked it up until I finished. Where you could read about two funnier characters than Brenda and Elspeth? The star is, of course, Mr. Merrythoughts.
It was quite a fun read.
May 5, 2008
A nicely written story with a thoroughly idiosyncratic hero. Gervase Fen, language and literature professor, is called upon to perform some discreet detective work at Castrevonford School: two people have been murdered the night before the school's Speech Day, and the headmaster wants the case solved quietly. Fen calls upon his knowledge as a professor to solve the case, which eventually involves a lost Shakespeare manuscript as well as a missing schoolgirl and the aforementioned murder victims.
This is an excellent example of Golden Age detective fiction. It does take three whole chapters before the murders occur, but apart from that, the book is brilliant. Crispin is definitely a worthy read for any fan of good British mysteries.
This is an excellent example of Golden Age detective fiction. It does take three whole chapters before the murders occur, but apart from that, the book is brilliant. Crispin is definitely a worthy read for any fan of good British mysteries.
December 10, 2012
Edmund Crispin's books, while being great golden age detective stories, are also remarkably literary. I even had to reach for the dictionary for some enlightenment on one particular word I'd never heard of in this book. Crispin's detective, Gervase Fen, is an enormously likeable individual - a scholarly Oxford don who is perfectly suited to unpicking the intricacies of this particular puzzler which centres around the unexpected discovery of a long lost Shakespeare manuscript. Set in a private boys school, the body count is high and the plot is practically impenetrable. Indeed, it takes Fen over 30 pages to detail whodunnit, why and how. It's a very well written novel, and a perfect antidote to these miserable Winter nights.
August 15, 2016
Such an inventive and well-constructed book. Some of the conclusion did seem very obvious, but only when it was revealed; before that, I was enraptured, and made no guesses as to what had happened, as I ordinarily do. A very enjoyable piece of crime fiction; an absorbing, intelligent, and surprisingly quick read.
January 19, 2023
Another sparkling literary mystery from Edmund Crispin, this time set among the masters of Castrevensford School. Gervase Fen, an Oxford professor and amateur detective, is invited to give out the prizes by his friend the headmaster, but on the night of his arrival there are two murders, and a girl from the neighbouring girls school goes missing. Fen begins to investigate along with the local police.
The school setting is always an enjoyable one in Golden Age mysteries - the closed community with an assortment of recognisable characters works well, and the presence of eccentric masters and cheeky schoolboys adds a touch of humour. This is a good example, full of wit and charm and literary quips, but Fen also pauses to consider the brutal reality of murder, which provides balance to the narrative.
The plot itself was very intricate, and I’m never sure I fully follow the breakdown of alibis and time slots (though they always seem logical as I read!) but there was so much thrown into this story, along with Fen’s perceptive analysis of human nature and an exciting confrontation with a villain, that I just accepted it all. And watch out for the adorable Mr Merrythought…
The school setting is always an enjoyable one in Golden Age mysteries - the closed community with an assortment of recognisable characters works well, and the presence of eccentric masters and cheeky schoolboys adds a touch of humour. This is a good example, full of wit and charm and literary quips, but Fen also pauses to consider the brutal reality of murder, which provides balance to the narrative.
The plot itself was very intricate, and I’m never sure I fully follow the breakdown of alibis and time slots (though they always seem logical as I read!) but there was so much thrown into this story, along with Fen’s perceptive analysis of human nature and an exciting confrontation with a villain, that I just accepted it all. And watch out for the adorable Mr Merrythought…
August 11, 2019
Good but not the best of the Fen titles. Full review at classicmystery.blog
June 1, 2024
It takes Gervase Fen the whole of the last two chapters to explain — in a relentlessly over-detailed manner — the ins and outs of a vertiginously — ridiculously — complicated plot involving the murders of two schoolmasters and an old crone, the kidnapping of a schoolgirl and the missing MS of a lost Shakespeare play Love’s Labour’s Won.
The revelation of the identity of one of the two murderers (the master mind) falls completely flat as that character was only briefly encountered in the book’s first half and the reader will have difficulties remembering who exactly it was. Crispin’s writing is mildly amusing and ‘naughtily’ erudite but is that enough? At one point I simply ceased to care whodunnit which is not a good thing if one is reading a whodunit. Oh and would a speech day at a prestigious public school still go ahead less than 24 hours after the brutal killing of two of its employees?
The best of Crispin is his short story Who Killed Baker?
The revelation of the identity of one of the two murderers (the master mind) falls completely flat as that character was only briefly encountered in the book’s first half and the reader will have difficulties remembering who exactly it was. Crispin’s writing is mildly amusing and ‘naughtily’ erudite but is that enough? At one point I simply ceased to care whodunnit which is not a good thing if one is reading a whodunit. Oh and would a speech day at a prestigious public school still go ahead less than 24 hours after the brutal killing of two of its employees?
The best of Crispin is his short story Who Killed Baker?
September 27, 2012
Gervase Fen visits a school for a lecture and finds 3 murders and a kidnapping in less than 24 hours! Though not as wild as some of his earlier works, there's lots of fun to be had and I laughed out loud several times while reading it. Highly recommended it.
February 25, 2023
Another interesting Gervase Fen mystery from Edmund Crispin. Love Lies Bleeding is marked by an extremely complicated dénouement in which Fen explains his conclusions about a series of crimes (three murders, a disappeared schoolgirl, missing sulfuric acid from the biology storeroom) at an exclusive boys' school at Castrevenford.
Two of the murder victims were on the school teaching staff; the other was an old woman who discovered some interesting old papers hidden in her Elizabethan thatched cottage. It seems as if it's all too complicated for Fen and the local police superintendent, but then it all comes together in a rush.
Two of the murder victims were on the school teaching staff; the other was an old woman who discovered some interesting old papers hidden in her Elizabethan thatched cottage. It seems as if it's all too complicated for Fen and the local police superintendent, but then it all comes together in a rush.
September 5, 2024
ENGLISH: A twisted plot about three murders during the end-of-year party at an English school. The development is quite far-fetched and sometimes - I would say - a little absurd. It is one of Crispin's novels I have liked less.
ESPAÑOL: Retorcida trama sobre tres asesinatos durante la fiesta de fin de curso en un colegio inglés. El desarrollo es bastante rebuscado y a veces -diría yo- un poco absurdo. Es una de las novelas de Crispin que menos me ha gustado.
ESPAÑOL: Retorcida trama sobre tres asesinatos durante la fiesta de fin de curso en un colegio inglés. El desarrollo es bastante rebuscado y a veces -diría yo- un poco absurdo. Es una de las novelas de Crispin que menos me ha gustado.
March 1, 2019
At Castrevenford School, two people are murdered on the same day with the same caliber gun.
"...at two minutes past eleven, the telephone rang. Virginia Love's voice was so blurred with hysteria that he [the Headmaster of Castrevenford] hardly recognized it. He listened in stupefaction to what she had to tell him...He rang off, controlling himself with difficulty, and turned to
Galbraith..."It's Love," he said. "Shot." Galbraith looked bewildered..."Shot?...You don't mean killed?" "Yes. Killed."
The telephone rang again. The Headmaster took it up; listened, incredulous and appalled. "All right," he said at last. "Stay there, and don't touch anything. I'll make the necessary arrangements." He replaced the receiver. "That was Wells, speaking from Hubbard's Building. He's just found Somers in the Common Room..."Somers is dead, too," he said. "Shot through the eye."
"Tell me about them" [Fen] said. "Character, history, personal ties - that sort of thing."
"As far as I can." The Headmaster resumed his pacing. "Love, I think, was the more interesting of the two. He...taught...classics and history. Competent, methodical - a satisfactory man in most ways...he wasn't the sort of person who invites affection...Duty was his lodestar. It would be wrong to say that he disapproved of pleasure, but he was inclined to regard it as a necessary medicine to be taken at specified times, in specified doses."
"A man whom there were none to praise and very few to love," Fen remarked sadly..."What about his private life?" "Was he married?"
"Yes. His wife's a wispy, mousy little woman; all the character rubbed out of her, I suspect, by years of ministering to him." Later on, Love is described by the doctor as 'domineering in an insidious, underhand sort of way.'
"...Somers. Yes. Quite a young man. Educated at Merfield. "Love thought the world of him...Somers taught English...clever, and a shade conceited. Not popular. He came here a year ago, from the Army...not married...parents dead, no brothers or sisters. As to his friends, I don't believe he was intimate with anyone here.
Who killed these two? Why? Fen will find out in his usual persistent, sardonic way and I'll enjoy the ride.
How interesting that Crispin included the personal name of God as stated in the Bible in this story - "They stood petrified at their Headmistress's apocalyptic entry, like those Cornish maids whom the wrath of Jehovah transmogrified in granite for dancing naked on the Sabbath Day."
And there is a dog with issues whose name is Mr. Merrythought. (That cracks me up!) "The dog was a large, forbidding bloodhound, on whose aboriginal colour and shape one or two other breeds had been more or less successfully superimposed. He stood just inside the doorway, unnervingly immobile, and fixed Fen with a malevolent and hypnotic stare...."This," said the Headmaster, "is Mr. Merrythought...He's rather old"..."Is he" - Fen spoke with great caution, rather as Balaam's ass must have spoken after perceiving the surprise and alarm created by his first attempt - "is he yours?" "He isn't anybody's, really. He belonged to a master who died, and now he just wanders about the site," said the Headmaster. "The trouble is, you see, that he's liable to homicidal fits...They happen about once every three months. As a matter of fact, there's one due about now."
"...at two minutes past eleven, the telephone rang. Virginia Love's voice was so blurred with hysteria that he [the Headmaster of Castrevenford] hardly recognized it. He listened in stupefaction to what she had to tell him...He rang off, controlling himself with difficulty, and turned to
Galbraith..."It's Love," he said. "Shot." Galbraith looked bewildered..."Shot?...You don't mean killed?" "Yes. Killed."
The telephone rang again. The Headmaster took it up; listened, incredulous and appalled. "All right," he said at last. "Stay there, and don't touch anything. I'll make the necessary arrangements." He replaced the receiver. "That was Wells, speaking from Hubbard's Building. He's just found Somers in the Common Room..."Somers is dead, too," he said. "Shot through the eye."
"Tell me about them" [Fen] said. "Character, history, personal ties - that sort of thing."
"As far as I can." The Headmaster resumed his pacing. "Love, I think, was the more interesting of the two. He...taught...classics and history. Competent, methodical - a satisfactory man in most ways...he wasn't the sort of person who invites affection...Duty was his lodestar. It would be wrong to say that he disapproved of pleasure, but he was inclined to regard it as a necessary medicine to be taken at specified times, in specified doses."
"A man whom there were none to praise and very few to love," Fen remarked sadly..."What about his private life?" "Was he married?"
"Yes. His wife's a wispy, mousy little woman; all the character rubbed out of her, I suspect, by years of ministering to him." Later on, Love is described by the doctor as 'domineering in an insidious, underhand sort of way.'
"...Somers. Yes. Quite a young man. Educated at Merfield. "Love thought the world of him...Somers taught English...clever, and a shade conceited. Not popular. He came here a year ago, from the Army...not married...parents dead, no brothers or sisters. As to his friends, I don't believe he was intimate with anyone here.
Who killed these two? Why? Fen will find out in his usual persistent, sardonic way and I'll enjoy the ride.
How interesting that Crispin included the personal name of God as stated in the Bible in this story - "They stood petrified at their Headmistress's apocalyptic entry, like those Cornish maids whom the wrath of Jehovah transmogrified in granite for dancing naked on the Sabbath Day."
And there is a dog with issues whose name is Mr. Merrythought. (That cracks me up!) "The dog was a large, forbidding bloodhound, on whose aboriginal colour and shape one or two other breeds had been more or less successfully superimposed. He stood just inside the doorway, unnervingly immobile, and fixed Fen with a malevolent and hypnotic stare...."This," said the Headmaster, "is Mr. Merrythought...He's rather old"..."Is he" - Fen spoke with great caution, rather as Balaam's ass must have spoken after perceiving the surprise and alarm created by his first attempt - "is he yours?" "He isn't anybody's, really. He belonged to a master who died, and now he just wanders about the site," said the Headmaster. "The trouble is, you see, that he's liable to homicidal fits...They happen about once every three months. As a matter of fact, there's one due about now."
March 16, 2021
Have not read any in this series previously. Crispin's settings and descriptions of characters were very detailed and vivid, which I enjoyed very much, and it was a fast read. Gervase Fen, Oxford don that he is, was amusing at times. But I found the overall plot around the crime just way too convoluted. Most mysteries tend to divulge all sorts of facts and motives near the end that were never really made clear during the book, but this seemed just too much. Resolving the crime revolved around invisible ink and in fact, making invisible ink that would appear black. It just seemed a stretch to me.
I am fully aware that vocabulary changes over time and this is a British setting and book from 1948, but there were many many words that I had to stop and look up. All in all, I would probably not read another one of Crispin's novels. So many of the Golden Age writers I have totally enjoyed and wanted to read more of that I can let this author from the list go by the wayside.
I am fully aware that vocabulary changes over time and this is a British setting and book from 1948, but there were many many words that I had to stop and look up. All in all, I would probably not read another one of Crispin's novels. So many of the Golden Age writers I have totally enjoyed and wanted to read more of that I can let this author from the list go by the wayside.
August 10, 2020
Extremely meta book (English professors who are detectives, lost Shakespeare fragments!), so much so that at the end it recalls its plot as a possible plot to a detective novel. It was ok, the elements should have been more to my liking. But between the overly sexy descriptions of sixteen year old girls (not being "ripe" but will soon be, wink wink nudge nudge) and the also overly highbrow language, the experience was ruined for me.
And sure, "cupidity" is appropriate for Shakespeare, as is "inappositiveness". But towards the end you stumble onto someone being "imitatively oratund" and, well, why? Such an excess. It's not that I didn't understand any of these words, I did, but they broke the flow of reading for me.
And sure, "cupidity" is appropriate for Shakespeare, as is "inappositiveness". But towards the end you stumble onto someone being "imitatively oratund" and, well, why? Such an excess. It's not that I didn't understand any of these words, I did, but they broke the flow of reading for me.
July 2, 2018
This story passes the most important test--it's very re-readable. Crispin (aka Bruce Montgomery) was primarily a composer, but wrote much better than most people who consider themselves, well, writers. He can go from tragedy to the Keystone Kops and back again within a page or two. This story offers multiple murders, a missing manuscript which may or may not be a lost Shakespeare play, a truly comic-epic chase scene to rival the one that ends The Pink Panther, and some practical advice (a tip on how to avoid sneezing if you're trying to lurk clandestinely somewhere--I've tried it myself--the tip, not the lurking--and it works).
November 6, 2019
This is vintage mystery from one of the great writers of the mystery and mayhem genre.
The plot, characters, setting, etc are very thoroughly developed, but the vocabulary is a challenge, so have fun with words that sometimes make you think they are made up.
I keep a list of vintage writers handy and search for them at every opportunity. I never pass on an opportunity to buy a book by Crispin when I see one at a book sale or used book store.
The plot, characters, setting, etc are very thoroughly developed, but the vocabulary is a challenge, so have fun with words that sometimes make you think they are made up.
I keep a list of vintage writers handy and search for them at every opportunity. I never pass on an opportunity to buy a book by Crispin when I see one at a book sale or used book store.
June 1, 2016
This is the first book that I have reas by this author, but it won't be the last. The writing is witty and the mood is light, for a murder mystery. All in all it was an enjoyable read.
April 14, 2020
This was great fun. It was a light, enjoyable mystery, with entertaining characters. I also particularly enjoyed the school setting. Looking forward to reading more by this author.
March 20, 2024
Hoewel de cover wel degelijk een illustratie is van het boek, is het zodanig gestileerd en slechts in 2 kleurendruk dat het niet aanspreekt en moeilijk te interpreteren valt.
Gelukkig is de inhoud van een beter gehalte.
Prisma brengt met dit boek een verhaal uit een reeks uit (het vijfde) maar voor het Nederlandse taalgebied is dit het eerste Gervase Fen boek. Zoals ook op de binnencover vermeld staat, de schrijver maakt veelvuldig gebruik van woordspelingen en citaten en dat kan wel eens verwarren zijn voor de minder belezen lezer - opzoeken kost (te veel) tijd.
Een onrustwekkende verdwijning en twee moorden betekenen een fikse uitdaging voor de dienstdoende inspekteur van de lokale politie en ook voor de inderhaast bijgeroepen privé-speurneus professor Fen.
Op de achtergrond kunnen we (heerlijk nostalgisch) genieten van beschrijvingen van het Engelse buitenleven en het (geromtiseerde) leven op een Engelse kostschool voor jongens, en veel minder ook voor meisjes.
De plot wordt ingewikkeld als er twee extra personages ten tonele verschijnen en er een derde moord plaats vindt. Het duurt wel even voor Fen de link legt maar dan heeft hij eigenlijk de oplossing al terwijl de lezer en de politie nog compleet in het duister tasten.
Ingewikkeld en daarom besteedt de schrijver ook heel wat bladzijden om alles in detail uit te leggen. Een fijn verhaal in de beste traditie van de Engelse detective van een voorbije generatie.
Gelukkig is de inhoud van een beter gehalte.
Prisma brengt met dit boek een verhaal uit een reeks uit (het vijfde) maar voor het Nederlandse taalgebied is dit het eerste Gervase Fen boek. Zoals ook op de binnencover vermeld staat, de schrijver maakt veelvuldig gebruik van woordspelingen en citaten en dat kan wel eens verwarren zijn voor de minder belezen lezer - opzoeken kost (te veel) tijd.
Een onrustwekkende verdwijning en twee moorden betekenen een fikse uitdaging voor de dienstdoende inspekteur van de lokale politie en ook voor de inderhaast bijgeroepen privé-speurneus professor Fen.
Op de achtergrond kunnen we (heerlijk nostalgisch) genieten van beschrijvingen van het Engelse buitenleven en het (geromtiseerde) leven op een Engelse kostschool voor jongens, en veel minder ook voor meisjes.
De plot wordt ingewikkeld als er twee extra personages ten tonele verschijnen en er een derde moord plaats vindt. Het duurt wel even voor Fen de link legt maar dan heeft hij eigenlijk de oplossing al terwijl de lezer en de politie nog compleet in het duister tasten.
Ingewikkeld en daarom besteedt de schrijver ook heel wat bladzijden om alles in detail uit te leggen. Een fijn verhaal in de beste traditie van de Engelse detective van een voorbije generatie.
October 21, 2022
Gervase Fen is another contender in the ranks of brilliant and quirky fictional detectives operating in Britain in the mid 20th century. This #5, a gift from my book cousin Penney, was written in 1948. It is set in a boys’ school and features kidnapping, murder, lost manuscripts, teen angst, and much more (such as a neurotic dog). Edmund Crispin’s style is over the top engaging.
October 18, 2020
I don't think that I've ever read anything quite like this book! Crispin loved language as much as he liked mysteries. The reference to Vaughan Williams Songs of Travels was unexpected and priceless. There is a real comedic flair to this book and Crispin's style. I'm happy that I have another few of his books on my shelf to enjoy!
July 25, 2022
Love the Fen stories although they are difficult to track down these days. His character is so spiky and droll, laconic and laid-back, always amusing but also very clever. The stories are good and keep you turning pages.
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