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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers
Read on audio
Narrator: Stephen Jack for RNIB
Pub. 1932, 499pp
Victor Gollancz
___
I picked up this novel for the continuation of the relationship between private detective Lord Peter and novelist Harriet Vane that started in Strong Poison, and I’m looking forward to going on to her famous novel Gaudy Night after this one as they appear together again there.
This novel has a grisly murder (or was it suicide?) centred around a seaside town that Harriet’s visiting. She discovers the body on the beach and Lord Peter hot foots it down to help her try to figure out the details and ensure she’s not considered a suspect. Throughout the mystery Lord Peter and Harriet seem to have more creative ideas than the local police and Harriet even moves into the victim’s old lodgings!
The victim, Alexis, was a dancer at a large hotel and had been engaged to be married to one of the wealthy guests, and the mystery concerns the question of why would he have contemplated suicide when he had a secure life ahead of him?
There are so many quirky little moments to lighten the mood as things progress, such as this description of a policeman taking notes during an interview:
“The pencil happened to be an indelible one and had left an unpleasant taste in the mouth.he passed a pink tongue along his purple stained lips, looking to Mr Perkins’s goblin-haunted imagination like a very large dog savouring a juicy bone .”
Lord Peter continues to try to romance Harriet and she is still not having any of it, resulting in some amusing exchanges between them and this book is strongest when they’re interacting.
I also enjoyed the description of Harriet reading through the books on the victim’s shelves as she tried to jog her subconscious for her detective novel, then turning to crosswords to try to get her writing going again.
The eventual solution was rather long winded with an overlong description of solving a cipher (which was tedious on audio), but otherwise entertaining. It took me a long time to read and the ending was rather abrupt, with Lord Peter and Harriet solving the mystery then speeding off to London to go out to lunch! A good read but not my favourite of hers so far.
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Ingenious solution, which I will say that I only guessed half of.
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Folks, this was a fun one! Imagine my delight upon realizing that our narrator was the one and only Harriet Vane herself 😍 I absolutely loved seeing this mystery through Harriet’s eyes. And speaking of the mystery, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Good twists, good discoveries, good characters, good conversations — especially between Harriet and one Lord Peter Wimsey. Some fraught stuff in there, y’all! If you, like me, love some will-they-won’t-they, “oh I couldn’t possibly,” yearning business, add this to your TBR!
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So long and got a bit boring but was nice to read before bed
emotional
lighthearted
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
I have read this so many times but I don't get tired of it - and I even read the cipher section with delight the first time round (I'll confess to skipping it now).
Here, DLS shifts her focus from Wimsey to Harriet Vane, the accused in Strong Poison. She is the protagonist here, as she is in Gaudy Night, and she is off on a walking holiday when she discovers the body of a young Russian dancer on a lonely rock with his throat cut. It looks like suicide, except for a few small details...
The developing relationship between Peter and Harriet is anything but boring - and it's cleverly written so that the reader can see that Harriet has feelings for Peter but her past bad experiences and self-esteem issues get in the way. The scene where Harriet eyes him up on the beach and when riding a horse are fun.
It's rather interesting to approach this (on the umpteenth reading) as a social commentary on feminism in the 1930s, though this theme is less obvious than it is in Gaudy Night. I've noticed a pattern that all the rich old ladies in DSL's books violate social norms for women in one way or another, whether it's Lady Dormer in Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club defying her family and eloping or Mrs Weldon in this book wanting to marry a much younger man.
I still have questions about the solution and would love to talk to a doctor about it; however, it was probably based on the best forensics of the day, so I can forgive any glitches.
Here, DLS shifts her focus from Wimsey to Harriet Vane, the accused in Strong Poison. She is the protagonist here, as she is in Gaudy Night, and she is off on a walking holiday when she discovers the body of a young Russian dancer on a lonely rock with his throat cut. It looks like suicide, except for a few small details...
The developing relationship between Peter and Harriet is anything but boring - and it's cleverly written so that the reader can see that Harriet has feelings for Peter but her past bad experiences and self-esteem issues get in the way. The scene where Harriet eyes him up on the beach and when riding a horse are fun.
It's rather interesting to approach this (on the umpteenth reading) as a social commentary on feminism in the 1930s, though this theme is less obvious than it is in Gaudy Night. I've noticed a pattern that all the rich old ladies in DSL's books violate social norms for women in one way or another, whether it's Lady Dormer in Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club defying her family and eloping or Mrs Weldon in this book wanting to marry a much younger man.
I still have questions about the solution and would love to talk to a doctor about it; however, it was probably based on the best forensics of the day, so I can forgive any glitches.
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-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
Charming and twisty