ABSTRACT
After the success of his first three novels, Gollancz awarded Montgomery another three-book contract. The first in this series, Swan Song, was published in 1947, keeping up his record of one novel a year. the notices were the customary mixture. The New Statesman referred to its ‘rollicking badinage’, mentioning in particular that the methods of murder ‘are a wild contraption, reminding us of Mr Dickson Carr at his worst’. 1 The Daily Express echoed many of the comments about previous novels: ‘Swan Song is a good novel first, a puzzle-solver second.’ 2 The most positive review appeared in the Daily Telegraph: ‘Swan Song will establish Mr Crispin’s reputation in this class of fiction. He is witty as well as intelligent.’ 3
