[It] is very nice to know that there is a new Crispin, called The Long Divorce. Murder following anonymous letters in a village community is, admittedly, a usual pattern, but treated at Mr. Crispin's level it is a real pleasure. (What odd value-judgements one makes when reviewing detective-fiction.) The plot lacks, perhaps, those twists of fantastic imagination in which Mr. Crispin, at his best, excels, and instead a note hitherto foreign to him, a note of tenderness, creeps in. Taking, as, thank goodness, with Mr. Crispin we may, the quality of the detection for granted, readers will find that this time they've got a nice sentimental romance thrown in too—no, not Mr. Fen's.

Esther Howard, "Detection: 'The Long Divorce'," in The Spectator (© 1951 by The Spectator; reprinted by permission of The Spectator), Vol. 185, No. 6423, August 3, 1951, p. 168.