His novels feature the Oxford don Gervase Fen. Fen is reportedly based on the Oxford professor W.E. Moore.
Books The Case of the Gilded Fly (1944) Holy Disorder (1945) The Moving Toyshop (1946) was dedicated to Crispin's great friend Philip Larkin. Swan Song (1947) Love Lies Bleeding (1948) Buried for Pleasure (1948) Frequent Hearses (1950) The Long Divorce (1952) Beware of the Trains (1953) (short story collection) ''Glimpses of the Moon (1977) Fen Country (1979) (short story collection, published posthumously)