Edmund Crispin was in fact a pseudonym for composer Bruce Montgomery, best known for writing the scores to the ?Carry On? films. The film on which Professor Gervase Fen has been hired to consult, though, is a biography of the poet Alexander Pope. But however high-minded the subject-matter, the actual process of making the movie is a grubby business, from the young actresses of dubious morality to the stogie-chomping cameramen, perpetually threatening to strike. And?to Fen?s evident delight?even the showbiz glamour can?t prevent murder from muscling its way onto the scene.