Wednesday 9 November 2011

Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin


Bruce Montgomery was the real name of the detective novelist Edmund Crispin, who wrote his first novel while he was still an undergraduate at Oxford. I read his most famous book, The Moving Toyshop, when I was about 14, some time before I thought about going to university. It's a book full of high spirits, which makes good use of the Oxford setting. It appealed to me more than Gaudy Night, that's for sure.

Crispin was influenced by John Dickson Carr, rather more than by Michael Innes, who wrote even more stories with an Oxford background, and I must say Carr is more to my taste than Innes, because the mystery plots are more compelling. But Crispin produced nothing for many years, and when his amateur sleuth Gervase Fen finally reappeared, I found The Glimpses of the Moon a sad disappointment.

David Whittle's sympathetic biography, Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: a life in music and books, explains the downward trajectory of his subject's life. He was an alcoholic, who suffered a good deal of ill health in his later years. It's a sad story, and his rather inept love life sounds rather depressing.

And yet he achieved a good deal. Not only those excellent early mysteries (though as a crime novelist he was burned out at 30) but also light music - he wrote often for films, including Carry On and Doctor movies. He was friendly with Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin, and in some ways as talented. Whittle gives a good deal of insight into a life that began brilliantly, but all too soon entered a decline. A pricey but worthwhile biography.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Martin - Thanks for these insights. It's so sad isn't it that someone with such talent went into such a downward spiral...

Morgenländer said...

My first book of Crispin was "Glimpses" which I did not like at all.

Years later I picked up "Love Lies Bleeding" which is a very entertaining mystery, and I realized what a fine mystery writer Crispin was.

Still, I beg to differ: Innes is a far more accomplished writer than Crispin. His "Hamlet, revenge!" is especially satisfying, well written, witty and well-plotted.

Kind regards
Morgenländer

The Merry said...

Some of Crispin's short stories were quite good. Some are quite silly, but I still enjoyed them. I rather liked the one titled "We know you're busy writing, but we thought you wouldn't mind if we just dropped in for a minute." Just from the title alone, you know who the murder victim will be.

Martin Edwards said...

Thanks for your comments.
Morgenlander - I haven't read that one, so clearly I must give it a go.
The Merry - that is a great story which I really enjoyed too.