BURIED FOR PLEASURE:
TEMPUS FUGIT
1948 seems to have been a quiet year for Professor Fen. There is only one case clearly assigned to it, that of The Hunchback Cat.
The next of Fen's major cases — Frequent Hearsess — took place in March 1949. Again, a little deduction is necessary. Mr Crispin does tell us the events occurred in March. And, when Fen encounters Inspector Humbleby (for the second time), Humbleby tells Fen it's less than two years since they met at the Buried For Pleasure affair. Less then 2 years surely implies more than one, and as the non-doing pig met his fate in September 1947…
It is during the investigations into the deaths of Gloria Scott and the three Cranes that Humbleby and Fen become firm friends. From then on, Humbleby seems to have become Fen's conduit to crime. That Frequent Hearses was not one of those cases that Fen himself particularly enjoyed is clear from Mr Crispin's more serious than usual narration. It is also a possible indication that Fen suffered from what we now call Seasonal Affected Disorder (S.A.D.). Why else would he display ebullience during the sunny months?
1949 also saw Fen investigate the case of The Golden Mean.
A Pot of Paint is another of those cases that Crispin was infuriatingly vague about. He included it in the collection Beware of the Trains, published in 1952, thus providing a outer date limit for it. Sadly, there is no indication of any earliest date. Given Fen's excellent standing with Inspector Bledloe, however, it does seem as if this case must belong to his heydays. Without any other clues, therefore, we shall consign this case to 1949, when Fen seems to have had little on his plate.
