I hadn’t read much of Edmund Crispin’s work – two novels and one or two short stories – so I jumped at the chance to read this new anthology from HarperCollins. It collects together in one volume all of Crispin’s forty-six published short stories, many of them featuring his series detective Gervase Fen. The entire contents of two previously published Crispin collections are included here – Beware of the Trains (1953) and Fen Country (1979) – as well as several standalones. It has taken me nearly two months to work my way through the whole book, a few stories at a time, as I think reading them all at once would have been too much!

Gervase Fen is a Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford University and a friend of Detective Inspector Humbleby of Scotland Yard, whom he often assists in the solving of crimes. Most of the short stories that feature Fen are very short – just a few pages long – and begin with Humbleby or another friend describing an unsolved case, after which Fen is soon able to tell him the solution, sometimes without even leaving the room, sometimes by making a quick telephone call or consulting a reference book. I was reminded of Baroness Orczy’s Old Man in the Corner stories, where her detective solves mysteries from the comfort of a London tea shop. The stories are too short for any real character development and the focus is on the puzzling scenario and how Fen solves it. I think there were only one or two that I guessed correctly; the majority rely on noticing tiny clues and sometimes require some specialist knowledge, for example knowing how cameras work or how a foreign word is pronounced.

Overall, I enjoyed the non-Fen stories more. The title story, We Know You’re Busy Writing, But We Thought You Wouldn’t Mind If We Just Dropped in for a Minute, is the highlight. Written in the first person, it’s narrated by an author who is working on a new novel and desperately trying to meet his publisher’s deadline. Unfortunately, he is constantly being interrupted by the telephone and people at the door. When his latest visitors sit themselves down and show no sign of leaving, he is forced to take drastic action! This is a great story, written with a lot of humour and a dark conclusion. Child’s Play, another standout, is dark from the beginning. Judith has just started a new position as governess to four children, one of whom is an orphan and is bullied by the other three. The story becomes very disturbing when a murder takes place and it seems that one of the children may be responsible.

This collection closes with a Gervase Fen novella from 1948, The Hours of Darkness, which was unpublished until it appeared in a Bodies from the Library anthology in 2019. The novella is set at Christmas, which makes it perfect for this time of year! Although the story itself isn’t very festive, Fen walks around singing carols as he works, much to the irritation of Inspector Wyndham, whom Fen is helping to investigate a murder which takes place during a game of hide and seek at a Christmas Eve house party. I didn’t find this a particularly outstanding or original mystery, but it was very enjoyable and the longer length allowed more depth of plot and characters.

I think the best place to start with Crispin, based on what I’ve read so far, is his 1946 Fen novel The Moving Toyshop, but these short stories are very entertaining, although I recommend taking your time over them as the Fen ones do become quite repetitive. You should also be aware that justice isn’t always done and Fen is sometimes satisfied just to find the solution and allow the culprits to get away with their crimes. Still, this is a great collection and has reminded me that I really need to read more of Crispin’s novels.

Can I tell you a secret? I have (I believe) all the books that Edmund Crispin published but I haven’t read them all. Why not? Because when I do, I’ll never again experience the huge enjoyment of reading a new Crispin story for the first time. I have read a lot of detection stories, ranging from the 1800s to 2023, but the writer who consistently delivers the goods, as Bertie Wooster might have put it, is Crispin. His real name was Bruce Montgomery and he died far too young in 1978, when he was only 56.

‘We Know You’re Busy Writing…’ is a collection of all the Crispin stories that are known. Beware of the Trains was published in 1953, containing 14 stories. Fen Country was published posthumously, containing another 26 stories, previously published in newspapers and magazines. The Great Story Sleuth, Tony Medawar, has since tracked down four more stories. He found one of them – an unpublished, unknown, story amongst Crispin’s papers. Three of those stories are published in Medawar’s Bodies from the Library books of uncollected mystery stories; and one in his Ghosts from the Library collection.

This book, then, contains 46 beautifully crafted stories from one of the great masters of the mystery story. Admittedly, only 31 of them feature his series detective, Gervase Fen, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the non-Fen stories too. Why do I enjoy Crispin so much? One unique feature of his writing (among mystery writers) is where he breaks the fourth wall and opens a portal between the fictitious world of the book and the real world in which we’re reading it. For example, in one of these stories, two of the characters are talking to Fen after he has identified the murderer. “His identity’s been proved, […] And Crispin is proposing to write the case up. I suppose I shall have to get in touch with him about it…” In the Moving Toyshop, Fen says “Fen steps in. The Return of Fen. […] Blood on the Mortarboard.” Then “I was making up titles for Crispin.” Later in that chapter he says “Let’s go left. After all, Gollancz is publishing this book.” (Gollancz were the publishers of the Left Book Club, founded in 1936, if any youngsters are reading this review.)

I do urge you to read Crispin’s short stories – but eke them out and savour them, because when they’ve read for the first time, you can’t repeat that experience!

A True Gem..
A glorious collection of the published short stories of Edmund Crispin. For the first time, in one delicious bundle, the reader is greeted with no less than forty six tales of classic golden age detective fiction from a true master. The majority of stories feature the wonderful creation of Gervase Fen, the enigmatic and charismatic Oxford don, and Inspector Humbleby of Scotland Yard. Clues, perplexing plots, red herrings and misdirection feature throughout in fair abundance and always sprinkled with clever wit and warmth. The finale of the collection is a surprising and recently discovered Christmas novella. A true gem.

As well as writing under the pen name Edmund Crispin, Robert Bruce Montgomery was a composer. He is best known for his writing, however, and as Crispin, he was best known for his Gervase Fen novels. he also wrote short stories, some featuring Gervase Fen and some not. These stories are collected here, including three that had never been collected until now and one that was unearthed in 2019.

Gervase Fen is a professor of English who works in a fictional college at Oxford. he is eccentric and seems a bit pompous. He often listens to someone tell a story about a particular crime or problem and provides a solution. Sometimes he is at the scene and sometimes just talks it through to the relevant person. We don't really get much of a sense of him as a person in these stories--what his home life is like, for example--just glimpses here and there, but that's the nature of short stories involving a recurring character. Authors can't explain everything in each story and I suspect that for someone who is familiar with the novels, which I am not, these things would be already known. All that is to say that even if this book is the first introduction to Crispin, it's an enjoyable read. One must sometimes suspend disbelief at how the stories unfold, but that's OK.

This is a good, solid collection of stories and a great read. I am a fan of classic detective stories and short stories in general, so this was right up my street.I liked the mix of Fen and non-Fen stories. The final longer story was set at Christmas, which was especially fun. If you're a fan of classic detective stories, then I can wholeheartedly recommend this book.