Fen Country

About Edmund Crispin

Edmund Crispin (1921-78) was the pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery (usually credited as Bruce Montgomery) an English crime writer and composer. Montgomery wrote nine detective novels and two collections of short stories under the pseudonym Edmund Crispin (taken from a character in Michael Innes''s Hamlet Revenge!). The stories feature Oxford don Gervase Fen who is an eccentric sometimes absent-minded Professor of English at the university. Crispin''s whodunit novels have complex plots and fantastic somewhat unbelievable solutions. They are written in a humorous literary and sometimes farcical style and contain frequent references to English literature poetry and music. They are also among the few mystery novels to break the fourth wall occasionally and speak directly to the audience. The Times chose Edmund Crispin as one of their ''50 Greatest Crime Writers''.