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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
This is a traditional 1930's murder mystery novel, taken from the `Golden Age’ of crime fiction as they call it. It features Lord Peter Wimsey and a remote Fenlands Village, Fenchurch St Paul where Lord Peter fetches up one New Years Eve (with butler in tow of course). They’re just about to ring the New Year in with an extended peal of bells and the bells do take on their own personality in the book, it’s a classic book if you happen to like bell ringing – and even if you don’t actually. I've always thought the bells on New Years Eve have a timeless antiquity about them, particularly as its midnight at the darkest time of the year and you know people have listened to those same peals for centuries. It really does bring a tingle to the spine and Sayers brings that part of the story to life very well.
Anyway then comes the body in the churchyard and the hunt for his killer. The story is tied up with the mysterious theft of some emeralds twenty years before. The book flounders a little at this point I thought, the character of Lord Peter doesn’t do anything for me, good socialist that I am. All that doffing of caps and yes m’Lord and no m’Lord, and smug superiority…I half expected the criminals to say `It’s a fair cop guv….I’m just a common oik!.. .I’d always avoided Dorothy Sayers books for that reason but I know it’s very much of its time and you can hardly criticise her for being stranded when the national zeitgeist moves on. Its better written than Agatha Christie say, although Christie at her best has more pizzazz than Sayers.
The book has an excellent ending when its connection with the bells is wrapped up neatly. It’s a good description of the desolate fens too, and so timeless it seems that Cromwell’s and the Dutchmen's efforts to drain the fens was almost just round the corner instead of three hundred years previously. Not an area of the country I know at all, should visit one day….
Anyway then comes the body in the churchyard and the hunt for his killer. The story is tied up with the mysterious theft of some emeralds twenty years before. The book flounders a little at this point I thought, the character of Lord Peter doesn’t do anything for me, good socialist that I am. All that doffing of caps and yes m’Lord and no m’Lord, and smug superiority…I half expected the criminals to say `It’s a fair cop guv….I’m just a common oik!.. .I’d always avoided Dorothy Sayers books for that reason but I know it’s very much of its time and you can hardly criticise her for being stranded when the national zeitgeist moves on. Its better written than Agatha Christie say, although Christie at her best has more pizzazz than Sayers.
The book has an excellent ending when its connection with the bells is wrapped up neatly. It’s a good description of the desolate fens too, and so timeless it seems that Cromwell’s and the Dutchmen's efforts to drain the fens was almost just round the corner instead of three hundred years previously. Not an area of the country I know at all, should visit one day….
I think this is one of the better Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. The cast of characters was interesting and very differentiated, and the topic of bell-ringing was entirely new to me. I found the solution to the mystery genuinely surprising, in a good way. I had suspected a piece of it from the beginning, but the way in which the pieces fit together was new and worked very well. I also really liked the descriptions of community togetherness during the flood. It was nice to read about for obvious current-events reasons.
While I found the murder mystery aspect competent, if not very compelling, I was disappointed in how little presence Wimsey had. He didn't feel very fleshed out as a character; I don't need all my detectives to be Poirots, full of quirks and cute little sayings, but a little personality to identify with would be nice. This, coupled with a slow start that went into far too much description about bells and an ending that made me think that Sayers had been reading too much George Elliot, made for a bit of a disappointing read for me. On the plus side, I did like the gentle Rector very much, and had figured out a couple of major bits long before they were revealed-- always a good feeling. :)
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
For me the fenland environment is one of the main characters in this Lord Peter Wimsey novel. It's a slow burner that takes a year to be resolved. But that adds a level of realism that is usually missing from the whodunnit genre.
Really solid interesting mystery but all the bell ringing details dragged this down a bit for me.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I think it was a case of wrong book wrong time. Feeling very grossed out and depressed, which is NOT the normal reaction to Sayers!
Between an interminable opening act that seems determined to pack in as much information about English bell-ringing as Moby Dick does about whaling, and an ending that wanders in from "Mill on the Floss," there's a pretty good parlor detective novel here -- although the lingering doubt about cause of death puts all of the characters in the preposterous position of failing to notice the single most striking aspect of the situation.
Sayers is probably the strongest stylists of the classic detective writers, and much of her technique here comes from the more accessible reaches of the "Ulysses" arsenal. For many folks, her mashup of the literary novel and series detective fiction makes Sayers the bee's knees. The combination leaves me a bit cold, however; I generally feel that she has failed to be successfully either fish or fowl. I feel like I SHOULD like Lord Peter, but I just haven't warmed to him.
2025: I was looking forward to revisiting The Nine Tailors, which is after all one of the most beloved works from the mystery canon. It's a classic that the "The Greatest Books" list compiler ranks as the 599th best book (of any kind) of all time.
Unfortunately, I still find the long opening act about bell-ringing stultifying, and the crime and detecting setup is still contrived and dumb. The writing is terrific, but seems wasted on the content. Fortunately for me, there are 598 better books in the world.
Sayers is probably the strongest stylists of the classic detective writers, and much of her technique here comes from the more accessible reaches of the "Ulysses" arsenal. For many folks, her mashup of the literary novel and series detective fiction makes Sayers the bee's knees. The combination leaves me a bit cold, however; I generally feel that she has failed to be successfully either fish or fowl. I feel like I SHOULD like Lord Peter, but I just haven't warmed to him.
2025: I was looking forward to revisiting The Nine Tailors, which is after all one of the most beloved works from the mystery canon. It's a classic that the "The Greatest Books" list compiler ranks as the 599th best book (of any kind) of all time.
Unfortunately, I still find the long opening act about bell-ringing stultifying, and the crime and detecting setup is still contrived and dumb. The writing is terrific, but seems wasted on the content. Fortunately for me, there are 598 better books in the world.
One of the best mysteries I've ever read, but the story stumbled when it got into too many details about the Fens, ringing changes, the engineering challenges of scouring the river bottom, etc. etc.
I _loved_ the fictional description of the church, the bells, the village history, and much of the Fens history, but the conversations went too long, just too long. Otherwise, I'd live it a 5-star rating.
I _loved_ the fictional description of the church, the bells, the village history, and much of the Fens history, but the conversations went too long, just too long. Otherwise, I'd live it a 5-star rating.
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