Frequent Hearses is the second of Edmund Crispin’s Gervase Fen mysteries that I’ve read. I think it’s fair to say that the best things about Crispin’s novels are Gervase Fen himself and Crispin’s delightfully witty writing style.Published in 1950, Frequent Hearses is a story of suicide and murder within the British film industry. Professor Fen happens to be working at the film studio, as an adviser on a biopic about the poet Pope, when the suicide of a promising young actress arouses his suspicions.
The plot is one of those typical murder mystery plots that perhaps relies just a little too much on coincidence. It’s all enormous fun though, and there’s so much amusement to be derived from Fen's encounter with the wonderful world of movies. A great book to curl up in bed with.
A very good book - Crispin is perhaps the best detective story writer of all, after of course Raymond Chandler.
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