Sat 18 Mar 2017
Stories I’m Reading: EDMUND CRISPIN “Beware of the Trains.”
Posted by Steve under Stories I'm Reading[4] Comments
EDMUND CRISPIN “Beware of the Trains.” First published in The (London) Evening Standard, 1949. Lead story in the collection of the same title (Gollancz, UK, 1953; Walker, US, 1962).
Is it possible to tell to tell an “impossible crime” mystery in ten pages and get away with it? The answer is yes, and “Beware of the Trains” is a fine unadulterated example.
Crispin’s primary detective character, Gervase Fen, is by profession an Oxford professor, but he has a decided penchant for running into — and solving — all kinds of unusual crimes. In this story he is once again luckily on hand when the engineer of the train he is on mysteriously disappears, even though the police have the small station surrounded, hoping to nab a notorious burglar whom they suspect was on the train, but who is not.
That the thief may never have been on the train means that the latter part of that previous sentence is not an impossible crime, but where is the driver?
Fen uses his wits, does some searching, and comes up with the answer, all neatly and tidily done. Another author who specialized in short story impossibilities was Edward D. Hoch, some of whose efforts along these lines have been collected, but not enough of them to suit me.
March 18th, 2017 at 8:18 pm
Crispin at his considerable best.
March 19th, 2017 at 2:25 am
I’m working my way through the paperback of the same title, and enjoying each of the stories very much. I won’t be reporting on any of the rest of them, though, unless there’s one that really knocks my socks off.
March 19th, 2017 at 8:54 am
Steve – There was at least one other locked room-impossible crime problem confronting Fen in BEWARE OF THE TRAINS, “The Name on the Window,” story number 12 in this review:
http://carrdickson.blogspot.com/2015/06/all-of-them-embody-nowadays.html
March 19th, 2017 at 11:51 am
Thanks for the link, Mike. I love reading story by story reviews like that, but I don’t ever take the time to do them myself. I’m not up to Number 12 yet, but there’s no reason I can’t skip over to it. I think I’ll read that one next!