Swan Song (Crispin novel)

Swan Song is a 1947 detective novel by the British writer Edmund Crispin, the fourth in his series featuring the Oxford Don and amateur detective Gervase Fen.^[1] It was the first in a new three-book contract the author has signed with his publishers. It received a mixed review from critics.^[2]

Swan Song

First edition
Author	Edmund Crispin
Language	English
Series	Gervase Fen
Genre	Detective
Publisher	Gollancz
Publication date	1947
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print
Preceded by	The Moving Toyshop
Followed by	Love Lies Bleeding

Stage adaptation

In 1986 the novel was adapted into a play which was staged in New York City by Tony Tanner. It shifted the location from Oxford to Cambridge and changed the opera being performed to Rossini's The Barber of Seville.^[3]

Synopsis

Fen becomes dragged into the complexities rivalries of an opera company who are to perform the Wagner's The Mastersingers of Nuremberg for the first time in Britain since the Second World War. When one of the singers, widely loathed by the rest of the company, is found hanging dead in his dressing room Fen becomes the driving force behind the investigation. A second murder threatens to derail the opening night, but Fen has at last cracked the case.

See also

• Golden Age of Detective Fiction