Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Sigh... maybe I should just give up on this author. Occasionally she gets it right for me, but it's just not worth going through hundreds and hundreds of pages of completely uninteresting details, people and events just for these few inspired moments. There was a moment when I was sure there was something wrong with my edition, since there seemed to be so little left to happen and I was still at around 70%. Anyway, clearly I have nothing good to say about this. If you really like bells, I'd recommend Tracy Chevalier's "A single thread". Bells are definitely a part of that book, but it never feels like they're the sole reason for its existence.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Lord Wimsey, Bunter, and their car end up in the ditch in the Fens on New Year's Eve and so get involved first in some bell ringing in the village, and then in solving a mystery. I found this a lot funnier, and a lot more engaging, then some of the other Lord Peter stories I've read. Although the pacing of the plot did throw me towards the end. Not as used to weeks being skipped in a mystery story as usually there's a frenetic pace of trying to solve something right up to the last minute. There were brilliant characters to observe, stuff to learn about peals and bells, and tidal waters to watch out for.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very slow to build but then halfway through it picks up speed and crashes to the end. Loved the characters and the setting.
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is part of my attempt to (re)read the Lord Peter Wimsey books. I find Sayers a very talented, observant writer but this really does not read like a murder mystery. It feels disingenious to call it a murder mystery at all.
There is a dead body, there is a mystery around how the dead body came to be a body in the place that the body was. But it's not the focus of the book. The focus of the book is a love letter to a small town Anglican priest and the small village life right on the cusp of the Second World War.
I found the explanations of bell-ringing and the snapshots of deeply traditional people and a very specific moment in time. All of that was beautiful but it made the 'mystery' much less compelling than the story of the church and the bells.
There is a dead body, there is a mystery around how the dead body came to be a body in the place that the body was. But it's not the focus of the book. The focus of the book is a love letter to a small town Anglican priest and the small village life right on the cusp of the Second World War.
I found the explanations of bell-ringing and the snapshots of deeply traditional people and a very specific moment in time. All of that was beautiful but it made the 'mystery' much less compelling than the story of the church and the bells.
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I came to this book as a huge Agatha Christie fan and having heard good things about Dorothy L Sayers. While the writing style is a bit more slow-paced and intellectual than Christie’s (with the occasional tangent about sluice gate keeping in the Fenlands), I still enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot and never guessing the true murderer until the end of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, Murder
Minor: Cursing, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, War
Nine tailors
Not my favourite book by Dorothy Sayers. The book is readable but contains too much unnecessary technical detail about bell ringing and the whole story was sad and depressing.
Not my favourite book by Dorothy Sayers. The book is readable but contains too much unnecessary technical detail about bell ringing and the whole story was sad and depressing.
Such a fine, fine book. Dorothy Sayers mostly wrote fabulous books, but in this and Gaudy Night, she really outdid herself. To paraphrase a reviewer of the Nine Tailors when it first came out, this is not just a terrific mystery, it's a terrific novel, which can not always be said of mysteries. And of course, if you've ever wanted to know more about change-ringing and the draining of the English Fen Country, this is a pleasant way to learn something about both.
Egads! Two stars for a Dorothy Sayers book? Well, you see, I should have held my tongue when I said that the cricket chapter in Murder Must Advertise was a snooze. Because then I met this combination of bells and fen drainage, and now I literally have no words. Lord Peter and the unflappable Bunter are stranded in Fenchurch-St-Paul over New Years' Eve. One of the local change ringers is down with the flu, so Peter Wimsey, Renaissance man extraordinaire, takes his place in the Guinness Book of World Records attempt dreamt up by the rector. Approximately ten million pages later, an unidentifiable corpse is discovered in a grave in the churchyard. Change-ringing patterns, sluices, canals, and all manner of water management are enough to drive any reader mad. With that in mind, the final revelation of the murder (manslaughter?) weapon can only make sense.