Edmund Crispin (Pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery, 1921–1978), 1944: The Case of the Gilded Fly

Abstract

Edmund Crispin first appeared with the publication of The Case of the Gilded Fly (1944), launching a nine-volume detective fiction series featuring Oxford Professor of English literature Gervase Fen as the amateur detective. Crispin is the pseudonym for Robert Bruce Montgomery, noted composer of film scores, such as for the popular British Carry On film series. Montgomery coined the pseudonym to reserve his given name for music compositions. The pseudonym assumed a life of its own, beginning with the initial popular assumption that it belonged to an Oxford don, in the same manner as Michael Innes was the pseudonym for Oxford professor J. I. M. Stewart. Furthermore, Montgomery edited and introduced critical collections of science fiction and detective fiction under the Crispin pseudonym. Most importantly, however, the pseudonym develops another dimension in its appearance within the texts, as the detective Fen often refers to Crispin as the author of the books or Crispin provides signed footnotes within the text.