Swan Song ebook

by Edmund Crispin

And Edmund Crispin's delightful series starring Gervase Fen-the Oxford don and quirky amateur detective-is a marvelous example of academic mysteries done right. There is witty, sparkling dialogue.

And Edmund Crispin's delightful series starring Gervase Fen-the Oxford don and quirky amateur detective-is a marvelous example of academic mysteries done right. There is intellectual goes C. S. Lewis," said Fen suddenly.

Edmund Crispin’s real name was Bruce Montgomery. He was born in 1921 of Scots-Irish parentage. The Glimpse of the Moon. He worked for two years as assistant master at a public school and later established himself as a composer. My dear Godfrey, You’re not, I fancy, an habitual reader of such murderous tales as this, and in the ordinary way I should be decidedly shy of dedicating one of them to you. But a book with a background of Die Meistersinger – well, what else could I do?

But Swan Song is completely satisfactory as an investigative experience. This is one of Crispin's better books. The Gervase Fen books are all quite good. This one involves the presentation of an opera.

But Swan Song is completely satisfactory as an investigative experience. There are plenty of clues, if you manage to spot them, and some wonderful twists and misdirection. Murders and near-murders are plentiful.

‘You’d scarcely say that,’ Adam answered, ‘if you’d known Shorthouse. He will not be very much mourned. The three men paused on the kerb to let a lorry go by before crossing St Giles’. whirlwind of snowflakes was swept among them by the wind. All the same,’ Fen resumed when they were half-way across, ‘good singers are rare. And as far as I’m able to judge’ – his confident manner tended to nullify this reservation – ‘he was good. Certainly he was good. No one would have put up with him for two minutes if he hadn’t been.

Edmund Crispin was the pseudonym of Bruce Montgomery, an English crime writer and composer. He also composed the music for many of the Carry On films.

Swan Song (1947) (published in the United States as Dead and Dumb). Whittle, David (2007). Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books. Aldershot: Ashgate, p. 4. ^ John Bowen in The Oldie, April 2011. Love Lies Bleeding (1948). Buried for Pleasure (1948).

About Edmund Crispin. Robert Bruce Montgomery was born in Buckinghamshire in 1921, and was a golden age crime writer as well as a successful concert pianist and composer. Under the pseudonym Edmund Crispin, he wrote nine detective novels and 42 short stories, combining farcical situations with literary references and sharply observed characterisation. His professional film scores included the well-known scores for the Carry On series.

As inventive as Agatha Christie, as hilarious as . Wodehouse - discover the delightful detective stories of Edmund Crispin. Crime fiction at its quirkiest and best. When an opera company gathers in Oxford for the first post-war production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger its happiness is soon soured by the discovery that the unpleasant Edwin Shorthouse will be singing a leading role.

by. Crispin, Edmund, 1921-1978. Books for People with Print Disabilities. Internet Archive Books.

In the course of this funny, fiendish mystery with an operatic theme, eccentric Oxford don Gervase Fen has to unravel two murders, cope with the unpredictability of the artistic temperament, and attempt to encourage the course of true love.

Sudert

This is a fairly straightforward puzzle mystery — except for having some wildly eccentric characters, and except for the theatricality and sneakiness of the murders, and except for the donnish humor.

Crispin is capable of indulging in an egregious romp (Movable Toyshop) when he should be attending to murder and detection. But Swan Song is completely satisfactory as an investigative experience. There are plenty of clues, if you manage to spot them, and some wonderful twists and misdirection. Murders and near-murders are plentiful. And romance is in the air, as is vengeance and vindictiveness.

The first murder victim is a disagreeable opera singer, whose egomaniacal behavior threatens to wreck the production of the opera Meistersinger opening in Oxford. Wagner is finally being performed in England, after having been interdicted during the war. The murder is a tremendous relief to everyone. The general feeling is a wish not to pursue or punish the murderer. But Gervase Fen, Oxford don and amateur sleuth, can’t condone murder, even of the deserving.

Fen is less outrageous in this book than in some, but he makes just enough outré remarks to uphold his reputation for eccentricity. And to keep things lively he indulges in reckless and dangerous driving. His favorite exclamation under stress seems to be, “My dear paws!” — which gives him an appealingly old-fashioned air.

Between the Wagnerian lore and Crispin’s fondness for obscure literary allusions and equally obscure multi-syllabic words, Swan Song is an intellectual funhouse. Even when the culture went over my head, I found it a cleverly conceived mystery, highly original, and consistently amusing.

Jesmi

The solutions of these types of stories are just too ridiculous. I can't imagine anyone going to all that trouble. When did he do his research? Where was his spouse? How did he happen to know....well you get it. Just too far fetched for me. It really spoils the book to, in my opinion, really have no ending. I'd prefer a more likely scenario.

Delari

This is one of Crispin's better books. The Gervase Fen books are all quite good. This one involves the presentation of an opera. During rehearsals, one of the lead singers -- whom no one likes -- is found hanging in his dressing room. As always, Fen is the first to figure out what's going on.

Dogrel

Not much more to say beyond my title - Crispin is a wonderful writer with a wry sense of humor and grand delivery, but the solution to the crime was too too odd. Nonetheless I'm off in search of more by the same author.

Rose Of Winds

The British mystery author, Michael Innes a.k.a. John Innes Mackintosh Stewart wrote the introduction to "Swan Song," wherein he claims that Crispin solved the dilemma of the 'Great Detective versus the bumbling police' scenario that many Golden Age mystery authors had to contend with. The dilemma in a nutshell: why would a twentieth-century policeman, who was much more adept and scientifically trained than his counterpart in the late Victorian era of Sherlock and Mycroft, call in an amateur (no matter how intelligent) to help him with his inquiries?
According to Innes, "The Great Detective was, curiously, often a person of title, like Dorothy Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey, or at least the familiar of persons of title. It is never easy to render plausible the acceptance of a meddlesome private investigator by a group of professional policemen standing round a corpse, and novelists appear to have felt that a lord will be better received..."
Innes himself wrote a series of mysteries starring the titled Sir John Appleby.
Crispin avoided the 'blue-blooded detective' solution. His detective, Gervase Fen is part of the same social milieu as the police. He is a professor of English literature at Oxford, but his cherished hobby is criminal investigation. His detective counterpart (Sir Richard Freeman in "Swan Song") has a passion for literary scholarship. Their dialogues (mainly disagreements) keep "Swan Song" swimming right along. It's definitely not a 'Great Detective versus bumbling policeman' relationship---it's more like two crotchety friends with mutual interests who keep running into each other in various Oxford pubs and murder scenes.
"Swan Song" starts out rather unpromisingly:
"There are few creatures more stupid than the average singer. It would appear that the fractional adjustment of larynx, glottis and sinuses required in the production of beautiful sounds must almost invariably be accompanied---so perverse are the habits of Providence---by the witlessness of a barnyard fowl."
I would have thought that the above statement applied to tenors and sopranos only (singing in such a high register seems to destroy their brain cells), but it is the bass in "Swan Song" who sets himself up for murder. Several members of "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" cast have good reasons for wishing Edwin Shorthouse dead, in spite of his voice and its drawing power.
Even his composer-brother has a motive for killing the bass, and after a meeting with him, Fen is also made to question the intelligence of composers: "As a general rule, composers aren't the brightest of mortals, except where music's concerned."
Since Crispin himself composed music, it might be better if the reader did not take his commentary on the intelligence of musicians too seriously!
One of my favorite characters from "The Moving Toyshop" shows up in "Swan Song"-the deaf and (according to Fen) senile Professor Wilkes who makes a habit of stealing Fen's whisky. He and Fen are always good for a round or two of acrimonious repartee whenever they meet.
A third dialogue element that threads merrily through the book is a crime writer's attempt to interview Fen about his most famous cases. Every time Fen clears his throat and begins, "The era of my greatest successes..." someone is bound to interrupt him.
We never do get to learn what Fen considers his greatest successes, but surely the outcome of "Swan Song" must be counted among them.
NOTE: "Swan Song" was also published under the title "Dead and Dumb."

Gavinranara

A certain wittiness about this author that I really enjoy helps make this an enjoyable read.

Manris

I am a big Gervase Fen fan , I like his brilliance and quirkiness , the setting, (Oxford), and the time period in Engand, after the 2d
World War.
Edmund Crispin's writing confuses me at times, but, also makes me think.
Just a big fan of the early British mysteries.

Great murder novelss for opera lovers.