Edmund Crispin's style already bears such a marked resemblance to that of Michael Innes that, when we find him borrowing a title from [Pope's] The Rape of the Lock, suspicion is almost confirmed. At any rate, even if the two do lead a separate existence, The Moving Toyshop is the equivalent of Edmund Crispin 1921–1978 Photograph by Nicholas Horne Ltd-Totnesthe latter-day Innes, in poking fun at Oxford dons, twitting the proletariat and humorously commenting on life in general, with the addition of a perfectly fantastic plot hurled with total disrespect at the reader. The scene of The Moving Toyshop is Oxford, where the toyshop moves overnight from one end of the city to the other; and just the thought of Oxford sends these highbrows off into peals of facetiousness. If you can laugh at Professor Fen you will like it; but heaven help you if you're expecting detection...