The Moving Toyshop Audiobook (Unabridged)

" Perhaps I had my hopes too high with so many great reviews of this book. While it was certainly a serviceable mystery, I found it hard to like and care about the characters. When that is the case, I need a VERY good puzzle. I didn't get one. With so many of the people who reported facts about the murder being suspects it was hard for me to take the mystery part of it really seriously. "

" Does not really work as a murder mystery/detective fiction since the whole crime seems to be very obviously reverse engineered keeping the detective in mind. A lot of implausible jumping to conclusions without any detection or reason, wild red herrings that didn't really make sense. I liked Gervase Fen, Richard Cadogan and the descriptions of Oxford which were quite hilarious. Did not enjoy the detective element of it though, even though this book comes quite highly recommended. "

" fun read love crispins literary allusions. "

" A really good fun (and daft) crime novel, with a few surprising moments of edgines. "

" Brilliant. A real romp of a read. It fairly gallops through as you race to keep up with the two main protagonists, wondered just where they will take you. A classic whodunit. Finally the author's note at the end made me laugh out loud as it encapsulates the wonderful absurdity of the novel. "

" Crispin's books are literate and hilarious and it's a shame he wrote so few. "

" I Liked his 'Long Divorce'. This one, not so much. "

" That'll teach me to steal a book from a holiday cottage! I had planned to post it back, but the book is so bad I think I'll save any future holiday makers the trouble! God knows why I finished this, but I felt it was my duty as punishment for the theft. "

" Relentlessly facetious to the point of nausea. I gave up on it at around the dog-bashing episode, which is presented as wildly funny, so I never did discover how the toyshop came to move. Nor, I confess, did I greatly care. Starts well, but disintegrates into utter puerility. "

" Edmund Crispin wrote this book in 1946. The story was engaging as well as interesting because of the difference in writing style between the 1940's and today. The mystery murder kept me guessing till the end. "

" Just got started on this series - "

" A campy romp around Oxford with zany characters, improbable situations and lots of chuckles. Can't wait to discuss/compare this with The Water Room at Mystery Loves Company in January. "

" Read this for Mystery book club. So veddy British: silly plot, unsympathetic characters. Ho hum. "

" A campy romp around Oxford with zany characters, improbable situations and lots of chuckles. Can't wait to discuss/compare this with The Water Room at Mystery Loves Company in January. "

" A cute sort of mystery, Gervase Fen as the main character... sort of on the mystery set in a room with no windows and one locked door... it was neat, not my favourite "

" I'd like to read this again. "

" This book was great fun and good exercise for the little grey cells. It's dripping with literary allusions. I didn't know whodunnit till the very end. Note to self: Find more Crispin. "

" Set in Oxford, with a huge cast of eccentric characters and a very complicated plot. Despite some good comic writing, this one was a disappointment. The set-up was unbelievable, and the mechanics of the actual murder when they were explained made little sense. "

" A quite enjoyable mystery! Thanks for the review Scott P. that led me to it. "

" The kind of book for which the word 'delightful' seems to have been purposefully coined. "