"Sudden Vengeance," by Edmund Crispin

On all the line a sudden vengeance waits,

And frequent hearses shall besiege your gates.

          "Elegy To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady"

          by Alexander Pope (1717)

Alexander Pope was an English poet of the early 18th century. Bruce Montgomery was a composer of British film music during the middle years of the 20th century. As Edmund Crispin, he also wrote a series of first-rate mysteries featuring Gervase Fen, Professor of English Literature at Oxford University.

One of those mysteries combines the author's behind-the-scenes knowledge of the British film industry with his knowledge of, and love for, English literature. The book is "Sudden Vengeance," first published in 1950, which has also been published under the title "Frequent Hearses." Both titles come from the same couplet in Alexander Pope's  "Elegy To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady." As always with a Crispin novel, it combines a great deal of comedy with what is ultimately a murderous tragedy. It is the subject of today's Classic Mysteries podcast review, and you can listen to the review by clicking here.

Gervase Fen is hired by a British movie studio to act as technical advisor for a movie about Alexander Pope, one which will concentrate on that great elegy written for an unnamed woman who committed suicide for loving, as Pope says, "too well." Pope calls down a curse on those who, he says, drove her to suicide.

But, as the novel begins, one actress, playing a bit part in the movie, commits suicide. When the police try to investigate, they find that all traces of the woman's identification have been removed from the place where she had lived, so that they cannot find out who she really was.

And then the murders begin. And it becomes clear to both Fen and to the police that someone is pursuing vengeance on behalf of the dead girl.

It's an excellent book - as are all the Crispin mysteries, by the way. The author neatly skewers the people involved in the British film industry. The writing throughout is both witty and literate. Crispin is also an expert at creating an atmosphere of terror and fear, when needed - as in a nightmarish pursuit through one of those garden mazes so beloved of the English.

"Sudden Vengeance" has been reprinted under that title by the Felony & Mayhem Press, but you can also ask your favorite bookseller to search for it under the title "Frequent Hearses." It is also my latest offering in the Vintage Mysteries Reading Challenge at the My Writer's Block blog.

Comments

[Yvette]

Les, I'm going to have to biuy the Crispin books since they are absent without leave at my local library. This one sounds a treat. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll find them 'used' and cheap. :)

[Les Blatt]

Yvette, if you click on the links above (either the text link or the Amazon button), you'll be taken to Amazon's "Sudden Vengeance" page. In addition to the new books, they also have links back to their affiliated used-book dealers, who apparently have copies for as little as $8. (Disclosure - as always, if you buy through my links, I get a small commission).

[Bev]

I love Crispin. He's one of the authors that I wish I hadn't been in such a hurry to gobble up all his books...now I have no new ones to read. All I can do is re-read. Which is fun, but not quite as much fun as settling down with one that hasn't been read yet.

And, I know you'll keep reading Les...but now that you've reached 16--any time you're ready you can email me to claim your prize. phryne1969 AT gmail DOT com