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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
It's another Lord Wimsey and Harriet Vane combo and I enjoyed their interactions here. Nothing like a murder, eh? I have to confess to being slightly overwhelmed by the constant barrage of evidence being placed in front of the reader but I solved that by mostly letting it wash over me and not worrying too much about keeping up with all the twists (sorry Ms Sayers). The emotions ran true even if the details were a bit much.
The spelling of "carcase" had me confused for a little but it does mean carcass.
The spelling of "carcase" had me confused for a little but it does mean carcass.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
mysterious
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Reread. I still get bogged down in the mystery, but enjoy the Lord Peter/Harriet angst. I wish PBS or someone would redo this series for television. I have the dvds from way back in the 80s and the acting is good, but stilted. And videotape! Ugh.
Proud of myself for figuring this one out about halfway through!
In order to have a solitary holiday with no mail or phones Harriet sets out on a walking tour of the coast. One day after lunch and a nap she comes across a corpse on a rock. It is the body of a young man and his throat has been slit. Knowing that the tide will come in soon and wash the body away Harriet does some investigating, finds the razor used and takes pictures of the body to give to the police. When she finally is able to reach a phone she calls the police and then the press, thinking that she should try to control the media story as much as possible. The next day Peter, who was notified by his reporter friend, arrives at her hotel in Wilvercombe to help in sorting out crime, be it murder or suicide.
This is definitely my least favorite of the quartet of books with Harriet in them. It is loooong and the mystery is a complex puzzle. I felt that part dragged a bit. However, as far as the development of Peter and Harriet go it was a good read.
This is definitely my least favorite of the quartet of books with Harriet in them. It is loooong and the mystery is a complex puzzle. I felt that part dragged a bit. However, as far as the development of Peter and Harriet go it was a good read.
A missing corpse makes for a pretty modern paean to forensic science, especially for 1932: take that, CSI franchise! Harriet Vane, who takes center stage for much of this book, is such a great voice for Sayers herself: a lot less archetypal than Wimsey, who ends up reading kind of camp in his aristocratic Britishness. But the bit that really stole my heart in this installment was the cryptography shenanigans. Swoon! Tl;dr : Dorothy Sayers is an unsung Agatha Christie, and I will go full gospel choir to make it known.
Short Review: Harriet Vane is back and it really helps. The interaction between Vane and Wimsey is what the books have needed. This is a very complicated murder, so the book drags a little bit at times. But on the whole it is very enjoyable and the slow working through the clues really does make sense to the story. Overall this and Strong Poison are the two best books of the series to date (and both include Harriet Vane.)
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/have-his-carcase/
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/have-his-carcase/
Clever and enjoyable, yet the plot was convoluted at times. The ending was somewhat anti-climactic but interesting all the same. A strong point is the likeable Harriet Vane as one of the novel’s central protagonists
Have His Carcase could have done with some fine-tuning around the areas where readers likely glazed over and lost interest. The pages with code were a little too thorough, for example, but an impressive feat from Sayers all the same. Same thing with the list-making and meta literary jokes/devices—impressive and funny, but I’m sure many a reader was lost.
All in all, a good read with little problems. Probably a 3.5 if I could give a half star. I would describe Have His Carcase as a smoothly paved road riddled with speed bumps.
Have His Carcase could have done with some fine-tuning around the areas where readers likely glazed over and lost interest. The pages with code were a little too thorough, for example, but an impressive feat from Sayers all the same. Same thing with the list-making and meta literary jokes/devices—impressive and funny, but I’m sure many a reader was lost.
All in all, a good read with little problems. Probably a 3.5 if I could give a half star. I would describe Have His Carcase as a smoothly paved road riddled with speed bumps.