Tag: Gervase Fen

Bodies from the Library 2

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Bodies from the Library 2: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Crime and other Masters of Golden Age Detection

ed. Tony Medawar (Collins Crime Club, 2019)

audiobook read by Philip Bretherton (HarperCollins, 2019)

Book cover: “Bodies from the Library 2: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Crime and other Masters of Golden Age Detection” ed. Tony Medawar (Collins Crime Club, 2019); audiobook read by Phillip Bretherton (HarperCollins, 2019)

A collection of unpublished or obscurely published and never before reprinted detective stories from some famous names in the genre. While these include pieces featuring, respectively, Gervase Fen and Lord Peter Wimsey, most of these tales have gathered dust for good reason.

The Case of the Gilded Fly

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The Case of the Gilded Fly

by Edmund Crispin (Victor Gollancz, 1944); audiobook read by Paul Panting (HarperCollins, 2017)

Book cover: The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin

Crispin’s quasi-humorous style (satirically intended but sordidly directed) comes across merely as tiresome. The mystery’s ‘ingenious’ solution proves elusive mostly due to being ludicrously improbable and thoroughly reliant on coincidences. Gervase Fen, though a striking protagonist, doesn’t appear for the first quarter.