Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books (review)

'What with Kingsley [Amis] becoming a prominent literary figure, and now you', wrote Bruce Montgomery in a letter to Philip Larkin in 1956, 'I feel like an aging hare overtaken by squads of implacable tortoises.' David Whittle takes this metaphor as the starting point of his biography of Bruce Montgomery (1921-78), who is perhaps best known for his detective fiction, written under the nom de plume 'Edmund Crispin'. Montgomery's first detective novel, The Case of the Gilded Fly, was famously written in ten days during the Easter vacation of his last term at Oxford. Gollancz published the book in 1944, not long after his Two Sketches for piano, Op.1 No. 4 appeared in print (Oxford University Press). So began a dual career as author and composer.

A considerable number of detective novels, church anthems, and concert pieces followed in quick succession, and by the late 1940s he had started to undertake film work, composing over forty film scores by 1962. The work of juggling (in effect) three careers at once eventually took its toll, and the last decade or so of Montgomery's life was dogged by worsening health, which was never good even at the best of times, and further compounded by bouts of alcoholism (if Amis and Larkin think you are drinking too much, you must have a problem). Although Montgomery finished only one more detective novel before he died (The Glimpses of the Moon, published in 1977),Whittle examines a number of unfinished projects, in addition to Montgomery's later activity as a prominent and well-respected critic (mainly of crime fiction) for the Sunday Times and as an anthologist of detective and science fiction.

Whittle presents a richly detailed biography of a personable and gifted man, who was obviously liked and well respected by the people he came into contact with, from Agatha Christie and Leslie Phillips to Malcolm Arnold,Thomas Armstrong, and Muir Mathieson (who once referred to Montgomery as the finest young film composer he knew). From page 1 of the lengthy acknowledgements it is clear that this study is the product of years of research and careful thought. In the opening chapters, the author traces Montgomery's family background and childhood leading up to his time at St John's College, Oxford, where he formed lifelong friendships with a number of notable figures such as Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin. Montgomery was clearly an equal figure in the group, also including John Wain, often referred to as the Movement. Whittle discusses a number of interesting points, such as Montgomery's contribution to the Movement, and examines his significant influence on Philip Larkin, drawing on a large amount of material from Montgomery's papers, held in the Bodleian Library.

Later chapters deal with Montgomery's music, film music, and novels more or less in turn.This is successful overall, especially as Whittle identifies the copious autobiographical references in the detective novels and weaves them into his clear and engaging narrative. One of the most obvious strengths of the book lies in the fact that he has excavated and carefully scrutinized a large and varied amount of primary sources, and has gathered fresh evidence from a long and eclectic list of those who knew Montgomery. This, together with the autobiographical anecdotes taken from the detective novels, brings the story of the decline and fall of an 'ageing hare' to life.

The main body of the book is followed by a number of appendices and a good index. The first two appendices are essays entitled 'Montgomery and Detective Fiction' (pp. 263-8) and 'Montgomery and Film Music' (pp. 269-74). These are both concise and informative (especially with regard to the processes and nittygritty of writing music for films), though it is strange that the material of what are, in effect, additional chapters was not incorporated in the main body of the text.

The fourth...