The Case of the Gilded Fly

The Case of the Gilded Fly
First edition 1944
AuthorEdmund Crispin
LanguageEnglish
SeriesGervase Fen
GenreDetective fiction, Theatre-fiction
PublisherVictor Gollancz[1]
Publication date
1944[1]
Publication placeEngland
Media typePrint
Pages158[1]
ISBN978-0008228002
Preceded by
Followed byHoly Disorders 

The Case of the Gilded Fly is a locked-room mystery by the English author Edmund Crispin (Bruce Montgomery), written while Crispin was an undergraduate at Oxford[2] and first published in the UK in 1944. It was published in the US a year later under the title Obsequies at Oxford.

Crispin's debut novel, the book contains the first appearance of eccentric amateur detective Gervase Fen, Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford, who went on to appear in all nine of Crispin's novels as well as most of the short stories.[3] The book abounds in literary allusions ranging from classical antiquity to the mid-20th century.

  1. ^ a b c "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  2. ^ DeMarr 1984, pp. 267.
  3. ^ DeMarr 1984, pp. 258.