Ratings5
Average rating3.8
Named by P.D. James as one of the best five mysteries of all time.
Richard Cadogan is at loose ends in Oxford, very late at night. Charmed by the window display of an old-fashioned toyshop, he is worried to find the door unlocked; surely the owner should be alerted. And so Cadogan slips into the darkened store and up the narrow stairway to the apartment above. But rather than a snoring toyman, he finds a very dead old lady, the marks of murder still livid on her neck. But when Cadogan returns with the coppers, the toyshop...has disappeared. This, it seems, is a matter for Gervase Fen.
Featured Series
7 primary booksGervase Fen is a 7-book series with 7 primary works first released in 1944 with contributions by Edmund Crispin.
Reviews with the most likes.
A classic from the Golden Age of mystery stories. Set in Oxford, veddy British, is somewhat dated.
My favourite of his Gervase Fen mysteries. Clever, at times surreal, ahead of its time, a wonderfully ludicrous plot, a bonkers chase across Oxford incorporating most of the characters from the whole story, and a classic death-defying conclusion. Really brilliant.