Hoskins, large, raw-boned and melancholy, a little like a Thurber dog, blinked mildly.” (Toy 27). From this, we get an immediate mental picture of him.The setting of the narrative is also thrown out at various times throughout the book. Within the first fifteen pages of the novel, we are given the year that the story takes place in. It is told to us as part of the story when Crispin writes, “Cars and lorries, it seemed, were reluctant to stop – this was 1938, and British motorists were having one of their periodical scares about car thieves…” (Toy 15). The surroundings are described to us in the same sort of way. For instance, there is a wonderful portrayal of the scene when we are told, “…throughout the suburb of St John’s Wood. From the sooty trees, their leaves brown and gold in the autumn sunlight, rose flights of startled birds.” (Toy 9). From these two sentences, we now know where, when and what season we are reading about. The most wonderful thing about Crispin’s narrative is the way he builds up the mystery of the toyshop. We know early on that Miss Emilia Tardy is dead and that we are trying to discover the murderer. We also know that there is a toyshop that seems to have moved from one place to another overnight. Crispin does a fantastic job of hiding the murderer from us. Although we are given clues, it is almost impossible to decide whom the guilty one is. This is what makes the book so tempting to finish. The reader cannot wait to find out who committed the crime and how he did it.If a reader rereads this book, he will find many little subtle clues throughout the story that were probably not noticeable during the first read. One of these clues is about Mr. Spode when, “Complacently he patted the rather doggy petunia waistcoat which corseted his plump little form…” (Toy 12). That piece is told to us at the very beginning of the novel...
