''Beware of the Trains'' is a collection of

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

by the British writer

Edmund Crispin Edmund Crispin was the pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery (usually credited as Bruce Montgomery) (2 October 1921 – 15 September 1978), an English crime writer and composer known for his Gervase Fen novels and for his musical scores for ...

published in 1953. It contains sixteen stories including ''Beware of the Trains'' which gave its title to the collection. They all feature Crispin's amateur detective and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Gervase Fen Gervase Fen is a fictional amateur detective and Oxford Professor of English Language and Literature created by Edmund Crispin. Fen appears in nine novels and two books of short stories published between 1944 and 1979. Fen is an unconventional de ...

, an eccentric with a genius for solving complex cases. A number also featured

Detective Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

Humbleby of

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

who also appears in two of the novels in the Fen series. Apart from one they had all previously appeared in the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' newspaper. It was the last work featuring Fen for many years, until Crispin returned to the character for the 1977 novel '' The Glimpses of the Moon''.Reilly p.395

Stories

* ''Beware of the Trains'' * ''Humbleby Agonistes'' * ''The Drowning of Edgar Foley'' * ''Lacrimae Rerum'' * ''Within the Gates'' * ''Abhorred Shears'' * ''The Little Room'' * ''Express Delivery'' * ''A Pot of Paint'' * ''The Quick Brown Fox'' * ''Black for a Funeral'' * ''The Name on the Window'' * ''The Golden Mean'' * ''Otherwhere'' * ''The Evidence for the Crown'' * ''Deadlock''

References

Bibliography

* Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015. * Whittle, David. ''Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books''. Routledge, 2017. 1953 short story collections Mystery short story collections Novels by Edmund Crispin Victor Gollancz Ltd books {{1950s-mystery-story-collection-stub