Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collections
Publication
Folio Society (2016). 204p. In slipcase.
Description
Public signs of an uncontrollable youthful passion disrupt rehearsals for the play at Castrevenford School. But it is an uprising of a different sort - murder - that causes the real worry, and it is left to Oxford don Gervase Fen to investigate.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Eat_Read_Knit
Professor of English Literature Gervase Fen helps out an old friend by agreeing at short notice to present the prizes at a school speech day - little expecting also to be called upon to investigate several murders and a kidnapping, and possibly - just possibly - to discover a lost Shakespearean
A nicely-plotted mystery with excellent character sketches and a lot of depth. The insane bloodhound is a nice touch, and the scene with the headmaster interrogating the sixteen-year-old boy caught making illicit assignations with a girl is really very amusing. Fen is his usual self (but less annoying than he often is) and the whodunnit is satisfyingly complex. Well paced, well written, rich and full-bodied. In more than one sense.
The kind of book with which to snuggle down before a roaring fire (should you be so fortunate as to have access to one) on a really cold night, with either a large glass of wine or a large mug of cocoa depending on your preferences.
Show More
manuscript.A nicely-plotted mystery with excellent character sketches and a lot of depth. The insane bloodhound is a nice touch, and the scene with the headmaster interrogating the sixteen-year-old boy caught making illicit assignations with a girl is really very amusing. Fen is his usual self (but less annoying than he often is) and the whodunnit is satisfyingly complex. Well paced, well written, rich and full-bodied. In more than one sense.
The kind of book with which to snuggle down before a roaring fire (should you be so fortunate as to have access to one) on a really cold night, with either a large glass of wine or a large mug of cocoa depending on your preferences.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JonRob
When Gervase Fen is asked to give the prizes at a minor public school he becomes embroiled in a mystery involving the murder of two of the staff, the abduction of a pupil from a nearby girls' school and the finding of an old manuscript in a nearby cottage, whose inhabitant becomes yet another
Show More
victim. As usual Fen is able to solve the mystery using precise logical deduction. All the characters are well-drawn in one of my favourites from Crispin's small body of work. Show Less
LibraryThing member abbottthomas
It's a long time since I read any of Crispin's books and I had forgotten his donnish detective, Gervase Fen. I enjoyed reading my yellow-wrapped Cheap Edition with a gentle whiff of damp and crisp browning paper - much better than a paperback, even a green Penguin.
The story is set in a boarding
I found the style somehat irritating: Fen is making comments that suggest he has worked everything out about a third of the way through the book, certainly before a motive has been found. We get some helpful hints along the way but the full denouement has to wait until Fen gets round to telling his headmaster friend the details in the last couple of chapters, after the murderer is dead. I don't consider that a 'spoiler' because, in the days of capital punishment, the murderer in middle-class who-dun-its was usually allowed a less grim end than the noose.
An interesting feature was the relationships between Fen and a couple of nubile 16-year-old schoolgirls who play important parts in the story. For a married, middle-aged professor he has an inappropriate interest in their physical development and goes as far as kissing one on the tip of her nose, not to mention offering them cigarettes and whisky. Those were the days!
The story is set in a boarding
Show More
school not too far from Stratford-upon-Avon. Fen has arrived to present the prizes at the school's speech day. An opportune choice, as, soon after his arrival, two of the teaching staff are found shot to death. The urbane headmaster seems amazingly unfussed about the events, worrying mainly about keeping the story from the visiting parents, and having to contact Gabbitas for two replacements. There is another problem in the disappearance of a girl from the neighbouring girls' school which may seem irrelevant but we, and Fen, know better. The plot moves along quite briskly with another murder to come as well as a major role for the demented bloodhound who we inexplicably met at the start of the book.I found the style somehat irritating: Fen is making comments that suggest he has worked everything out about a third of the way through the book, certainly before a motive has been found. We get some helpful hints along the way but the full denouement has to wait until Fen gets round to telling his headmaster friend the details in the last couple of chapters, after the murderer is dead. I don't consider that a 'spoiler' because, in the days of capital punishment, the murderer in middle-class who-dun-its was usually allowed a less grim end than the noose.
An interesting feature was the relationships between Fen and a couple of nubile 16-year-old schoolgirls who play important parts in the story. For a married, middle-aged professor he has an inappropriate interest in their physical development and goes as far as kissing one on the tip of her nose, not to mention offering them cigarettes and whisky. Those were the days!
Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
Very enjoyable entry in the Gervase Fen series. I like books in school settings, and this one doesn't disappoint! Fen (and Crispin) are in fine form, the humor is present and the solution, while clear once Fen expostulates, was a surprise to me.
LibraryThing member JeffreyMarks
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.
LibraryThing member RubyScarlett
I LOVED this. It starts a little slow - the setting (a school) is really interesting for it offers a lot of different locations and characters to work with. The plot is excellent and the motive is incredible - I hadn't read anything about the book prior to my reading and I would absolutely
This is really good. It was my first Crispin, which I read to partake in a book club discussion, but it won't be the last. There wasn't as much humour as I was expecting given Crispin's reputation for parodying the genre, but he delivered on so many other accounts.
Show More
discourage anyone from reading the summary. The motive needs to be the revelation it is in the novel as I think it's very innovative. I also really appreciated the carefully laid out conclusion and recap of the murders at the end. It was done very well and ended up being very clear and logical. There's quite a lot going on in this - from a car chase to a hunt in the woods - but the puzzle is essentially intellectual and you can guess the murderer's identity if you pay very close attention. The clues, along with the motive, are quite original (I'd never encountered them before at least). While the detective is male, the female characters are all different and interesting which is always important to me.This is really good. It was my first Crispin, which I read to partake in a book club discussion, but it won't be the last. There wasn't as much humour as I was expecting given Crispin's reputation for parodying the genre, but he delivered on so many other accounts.
Show Less
LibraryThing member overthemoon
Crispin writes in an ostentatiously pompous style with a rich vocabulary that often sends me to the dictionary, and with an overwhelming number of similes - all to jocular effect (I hope it is done on purpose). As to the plot, Gervaise Fen, invited to a prize-giving at a boys' school not far from
Show More
Stratford-on-Avon, discovers the perpetrator(s) of three - perhaps four - murders motivated by the discovery of a lost manuscript thought to be by Shakespeare. He keeps the entangled threads of the mystery to himself until the conclusion. Fen almost falls asleep during his explanations of alibis and underhand plotting and blotting paper and I almost did too. Apart from the lengthy conclusion I found it all most enjoyable. A pity about Mr Merryweather. Show Less
LibraryThing member francesanngray
A bit too silly for my taste, I think.
LibraryThing member piemouth
Murder on a secondary school campus, and a newly discovered Shakespear manuscript might be behind it. Not as good as the previous ones; the characters felt even less developed than usual, though Gervase Fen makes amusing remarks, as usual.
LibraryThing member Overgaard
Gervase Fen # 5
I loved this! Academic setting perfect for the plot.
I loved this! Academic setting perfect for the plot.
Subjects
Awards
Haycraft Queen Cornerstones (1948)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1948
Local notes
Set in the post-war period in and around a public school in the vicinity of Stratford-upon-Avon, it is about the accidental discovery of old manuscripts which contain Shakespeare's long-lost play, Love's Labour's Won, and the subsequent hunt for those manuscripts, in the course of which several people are murdered. Collaborating with the local police, Oxford don Gervase Fen, a Professor of English who happens to be the guest of honour at the school's Speech Day, can solve the case at the same weekend.