Sat 6 Aug 2016
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: EDMUND CRISPIN – Buried for Pleasure.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
William F. Deeck
EDMUND CRISPIN – Buried for Pleasure. Lippincott, US, hardcover, 1949. First published by Gollancz, UK, hardcover, 1948. US paperback reprints include: Bestseller Mystery #187, digest-sized, 1949; Pyramid X1937, 1969; Perennial Library, 1980; Felony & Mayhem, trade paperback, 2009.
Faute de mieux, Professor Gervase Fen decides to run for Parliament as an Independent. It’s an odd constituency, but Fen, of course, is even odder: “He was haunted … by a growing fear that he might actually be elected…. A whole-time preoccupation with democratic politics, he rapidly discovered, is not easily imposed on a humane and civilised mind. In no very long time the gorge rises and the stomach turns.”
Luckily for Fen, as something to take his mind off his own problem, a woman in the area who was being blackmailed has been murdered and then another murder occurs. As Fen campaigns and investigates, he must deal with Elphinstone the lunatic who thinks he is Woodrow Wilson, the non-doing pig, a most peculiar poltergeist, a not very competent psychiatrist named Boysenberry, assorted eccentrics, and, of course, his would-be constituents.
Marvelously amusing. Fen’s final speech of the campaign with all its home truths should not be missed. Oh, it’s a fair-play mystery, too, but you should be too busy laughing to figure it out.
August 6th, 2016 at 11:48 pm
Writing the scores for so many British comedy films must have somehow infected Crispin (composer Robert Montgomery)whose works are the Ealing Comedy of Fair Play mystery.
I know some who object to Fen’s penchant for running around, but never me. This and LOVE LIES BLEEDING are my favorite of the Fen series though almost any of them are delights with THE MOVING TOYSHOP and THE LONG DIVORCE also more than worth a look.
This one is a classic of both Fair Play and screwball comedy.
August 7th, 2016 at 9:52 am
I will have to give both Crispin and Gervase Fen another try. I don’t think I was in the mood for a comedy mystery when I read one of his books once, not this one, and I didn’t find enough of interest at the time to try another.
August 7th, 2016 at 10:17 am
The four novels David Vineyard recommends are my favourite Crispins, too. It’s worth mentioning, however, that THE LONG DIVORCE has much less humour than the other three, so it’s better left for later if you want to get a sense of Crispin at his most characteristic.
August 7th, 2016 at 10:53 am
This is one of my favourite books, full-stop. The farcical elements stand up to many re-readings, and there is a political speech that Fen makes towards the end of the book (designed to lose him the election) that is splendidly stinging.
Both THE LONG DIVORCE and FREQUENT HEARSES are interesting attempts to try something more serious without completely losing the humour. The latter book has a genuinely scary night-time climax in one of those huge garden mazes, where the heroine knows that a mad killer lurks nearby.
I still think that Crispin in undervalued. Although all of the books have been reprinted in recent years, one would have thought that he was perfect for Film/TV adaption (although given the recent FATHER BROWN and PARTNERS IN CRIME maybe I should be careful what I wish for).