Buried for Pleasure by Edmund Crispin

Gervaise Fen, professor of literature at Oxford, had decided to run for parliament. His reason for doing so remains rather unclear in this delightfully funny mystery novel. He had never been in his proposed constituency before and arrived at the town of Sanford Angelorum shortly before the election. He rented a room at the Fish Inn. He was quite intrigued when he read over the guest register and found the name of Rawdon Crawley, The innkeeper told him that Mr. Crawley was there to fish although there were no fish in the streams. Fen knew that he must get to know Mr. Crawley.

Before this meeting occured, Fen had to begin his campaign. He met his campaign manager, Captain Watkyn, who had made sure that Fen was nominated to run and that he had plenty of posters and pamphlets. He also assured Fen that since he was running as an Independent, he had absolutely no chance of winning against the established parties. Nevertheless, Fen persisted. He gave his first campaign speech and the listeners seemed almost interested. Fen attributed his ability at speech making to years of teaching and to his literary abilities.

I should also mention the naked man who was running through the neighborhood. Fen encountered him on his initial taxi ride from the train station. The naked man would also jump out and surprise the elderly ladies. The locals assumed that he was an escapee from the local mental institution. Also the town had a poltergeist at the vicarage; however, the vicar seemed to have it under control.

Back to Rawdon Crawley. When Fen finally met up with him, Fen found that he knew him. He was Bussy a detective inspector of the C.I.D. who had assumed the name of Rawdon Crawley because he was sure that the locals had not read Vanity Fair. Bussy was there to investigate the murder of a woman named Mrs. Lambert who had died from eating poisoned chocolates. Mrs. Lambert had begun her working career as a prostitute, but had desired a better life. She went to school, got a decent job, and had married Mr. Lambert. Bussy suspected that she was being blackmailed about her past which was a waste of time because Mr. Lambert knew all about her past.

Another murder occurred, and the police came to investigate in the form of Superintendent Wolfe of the local police department, and Detective-Inspector Humbleby of New Scotland Yard. Suspicion immediately fell on the escapee from the mental institution, but Fen was not convinced. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Anybody who has endured the recent elections will find it a funny and expert commentary on the bizarre activities of politicians and voters.  Fen's last speech to the voters is definitely worth reading. This book was published in 1949, but many of the comments still apply.

Death on a Quiet Day by Michael Innes

When David Henchman started off on his walking excursion on the moor, he could not have conceived that he would end up in a run for his life. David and some other students were on a reading party during their spring holiday vacation from Oxford; they were reading Plato with Professor Pettifor.  David had decided to get away from the group for a day and to enjoy a walk through the moor.  His goal was to reach a hill called Knack Tor and to climb it.

David did climb it and at the top he found the body of a man with a bullet hole in his head, and a gun in his hand. David ascertained that he was alone with the body on the top, and looked over the edge where he saw a man walking by. David hailed the man who ignored him at first, and eventually climbed to the top of Knock Tor. Their conversation was essentially a negotiation about what they should do about the body. Should they both leave and report it or should one leave or should they just ignore it and go away. David became more and more suspicious of this man, and his suspicions were realized when the man took the gun from the dead man's hand and aimed it at David. David fled down the side of the tor and across the moor followed by the stranger.

David's run away from his pursuers makes for great reading. As he is totally running out of energy to continue, he meets Sir John Appleby of Scotland Yard who believes his rather fantastic story and takes considerable interest in retracing David's steps. Together they return to Knack Tor and find the body of a dead man, but not the dead man that David found the first time that he was there.

This book was written in 1957 and was also published as Appleby Plays Chicken. This title refers to the game of chicken which the students were playing the night before David had his encounter on Knack Tor. The book is a little short  in the display of Apple's detecting skills and not a lot of time is spent looking for clues and examining witnesses; instead there are several energetic chase scenes involving Appleby, David and the other students which keep the reader reading.