Before there was Inspector Morse there was Gervase Fen, 40 year old Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of St Christopher’s at Oxford.  Richard Cadogan who was an undergrad student with Fen seeks his help with a puzzle when he arrives to stay in Oxford late at night and inadvertently stumbles on a mystery.  Being a little nosy he goes into a toyshop when he finds the door open, he gets conked on the head, when he comes round he discovers a dead body he hastens to the police station to report it but when he returns the toyshop is no longer a toyshop but a greengrocer’s and there is no dead body! 

 

A classic murder mystery and part of murder mystery history published in 1946, it is at times silly, clever and intriguing.  I was surprised by the use of bad language in the story and also some of the words were unusual may be they were more common then ... tautologous, atrabilious, cachinnation, sensescene - certainly worked on expanding on my vocabulary.  It was fun to read there were chases along the high street in pursuit of suspects, people getting trussed up, fraud and murder.  It was an odd trip into a time gone by.