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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
What a great premise and what an unsatisfying ending!?
The unwrapping of layer after layer of confusion and misdirection starts to get a little old right as the mystery is wrapping up, so I didn't really feel it drag, but the ending felt totally lacking to me.
The unwrapping of layer after layer of confusion and misdirection starts to get a little old right as the mystery is wrapping up, so I didn't really feel it drag, but the ending felt totally lacking to me.
Spoiler
Yes, Harriet and Wimsey tell us who did it, but what about actually proving it and wrapping it up so the murderers aren't wandering around England inheriting 130,000 pounds? Because of the way the Kindle edition was formatted it ended at 85% for me and indeed I was expecting another several chapters to actually wrap things up. At least just tell me if they got away with it or not! This probably could've been a 4 star book for me had it not ended so abruptly.
I loved the opening scenes, with Harriet Vane discovering the body/scene of the crime and doing some excellent detective work, and I wish she had taken a more active role in the rest of the investigation as well. Overall: not enough Harriet, and a case that felt overlong and with a payoff that didn't justify its plodding nature.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
This was a fair Wimsey novel – banter (especially between Him and Her), with the mystery being less important than the people. The strong focus on their non-relationship detracted a bit from my carefree enjoyment, though, and made me read the book more through a historian's lense: Gender roles, social norms, and general expectations have changed *so much*, and Dorothy L. Sayers' take on them is fascinating and utterly foreign to me.
slow-paced
Harriet is back! And my STARS the flirting in this book is just...perfection. The chemistry between Peter and Harriet. 100% yes. I couldn’t care less about the murder mystery when they were both on the page.
As much as I have loved this series overall so far--the characters, the voice, the almost cozy, meandering way the mysteries are solved--the books take such a long time for me to get through. Something about the pacing or the style just does not hold my attention for long spans, even though I tend to enjoy the story while I’m reading. So this took me a while.... But I did it! And I did guess a few things before Wimsey got to them, so perhaps I’m getting a bit of a feel for Sayers’s writing.
So far, my favorite of the Harriet Vane/Wimsey books. I loved seeing Harriet act as a full participant in the investigation, bringing her expertise in writing mysteries and her experiences as a former suspect to drive her. I can't ever be mad about a long tangential on Peter Wimsey researching elite shaving razors when Ian Carmichael is narrating, either.
It wasn't my favorite Wimsey book. Probably too long and it seemed to end rather abruptly. I really didn't need the detailed description of how the cipher was solved. But, I did like the interactions between Wimsey and Harriet Vane. So, still enjoyable.
See my review here: [b:Have His Carcase|37906597|Have His Carcase (Lord Peter Wimsey #8)|Dorothy L. Sayers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1515620585l/37906597._SY75_.jpg|2721970]
This book started off with verve and great promise. I quickly fell for the keen-eyed lady mystery writer Harriet Vane, and the arch Peter Wimsey and was all set to watch them puzzle out a seaside murder. Excellent set-up. But then it went on for several hundred pages of musings and asides and alternative scenarios that kept me from the mystery's conclusion. Both Harriet and Wimsey and various Inspectors were confounded/baffled/puzzled/flummoxed by each new development and so forth, and they humbly said so time and again in chapter after chapter. Good lord. By the time I made it to the end I was beyond caring who slit whose throat or impersonated so and so and just how brilliant it supposedly was. Despite it all, I WOULD read another Harriet Vane mystery just to see if a firmer editorial hand resulted in a spiffier narrative pace. If you're interested in learning how to write coded messages in cipher, by the way, this is the book for you: it spends dozens of pages painstakingly details just how to go about it.
Additional review from 1/13/20
...since we have devoted a great deal of time and thought to the case on the assumption that it was a murder, it's a convenience to know that the assumption is probably correct.
~Have His Carcase (1932) by Dorothy L. Sayers
As I mention in my previous review (HERE), the Lord Peter mysteries are comfort reads for me. I have read them numerous times and enjoy them thoroughly each time. It has been nine years since I last read this one (before Mount TBR or my Vintage Mystery challenges existed). But I'm not sure that I have much that is new to say. Although I will mention that the depressing atmosphere of the "watering hole" hotel struck me more forcefully this time round. How very sad to travel from hotel to hotel (or to pick one for the summer) and look for romance among the paid dancing partners. The Mrs. Weldons of the world--making themselves up to try and appear young again, grasping for a youth that is gone (or perhaps they never had).
I enjoyed Harriet's interactions with Antoine, the other dancing partner, very much this time. Antoine is very wise in the ways of the the world...and has a realistic outlook on the life he leads and the ladies he has to entertain. He also sees straight through the pretenses--even Harriet's.
A lovely reread--I'm glad several of my challenges gave me an excuse to do so.
Review from 10/3/11:
Dorothy L Sayers is always a comfort read for me. I've had a love affair going on with Lord Peter for about 30 years now. And I return to his stories whenever I need a pick-me-up. And, boy, did I need a pick-me-up after making my way through Middlemarch!
Have His Carcase was just the tonic that the doctor would have ordered (had I consulted him). We have Harriet Vane, mystery writer and recently acquitted of murdering her former lover, on a walking tour to shake off the horrors of having been on trial for her life. She takes a break from walking to have lunch on a beach and discovers a body on a local rock formation--known as the Devil's Flat Iron. The man's throat has been cut and the blood has not even begun to clot and there are no footprints in the sand except Harriet's and the man's. It's obvious that the tide is coming in quickly and there will be no time to fetch help before the body will be washed away into the sea. Harriet, using her detective novelist skills, notes as much about the man as possible, gathers up various items (shoe, hat, etc) and takes a whole roll of film on her travel camera to record the scene. She then makes her way to the nearest phone (after much travail) to report the incident to the police.
Enter Lord Peter Wimsey. Who comes "as a bird to its mate"--to the body, Harriet, to the body. His friend Salcombe Hardy has tipped him the wink about Harriet's adventures and Peter is all set to get to the bottom of the mystery (and, incidentally, ask Harriet to marry him). And mystery there is--what looks to be a simple suicide soon becomes very complicated. Why did the man sit on the rock for over two hours before killing himself? Why did he wear gloves...and buy a return train ticket...and take his door key when he didn't take anything else with him? Where did he get the razor--a man who never shaves certainly doesn't need one. Matters become even more mysterious--with Bolsheviks and communist school teachers, jealous lovers (of the man's former girlfriend), and a future son-in-law who was none too keen on having "a lounge lizard" papa. There's the suspicious camper in Hink's Lane and the mare that got loose and the fisherman who was in a boat in sight of the beach at the relevant times--and who is definitely not telling all he knows. And an itinerant barber who has an odd little tale to tell. There are 300 pounds of gold coins to be found and a secret code to be broken. Things certainly aren't dull in the watering hole at Wilvercombe.
I just plain love reading the Sayers novels. There is so much wit and humor throughout that it really is a comfortable sort of book to sink into. Especially since this is the umpteenth reread and I really didn't have to use up brain power trying to follow all that "decipher the code" business. That would be one of my quibbles with this particular story (with the previous book, Five Red Herrings, it was the time tables)--way too much time spent on the intricate methods of deciphering this particular cipher. I have to confess that I skimmed right through that part this time 'round. I think the filmed version with Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter does an excellent job of condensing this scene down--although, it may make it seem a little too easy.
My favorite bits are when Peter finally gets to dance with Harriet, their stroll along the beach looking for clues, and when she thinks she may have been kissed by a murderer. I also like the wrap-up at the end when Harriet begins offering up various other fictional detectives (Roger Sheringham, Dr. Thorndyke, etc) and their methods as possible ways to find the solution. Exciting stuff all around and an excellent read. Four stars.
Favorite quotes:
Darling, if you danced like an elderly elephant with arthritis, I would dance the sun and the moon into the sea with you. I have waited a thousand years to see you dance in that frock. (Lord Peter to Harriet)
When I kiss you it will be an important event--one of those things which stand out among their surroundings like the first time you taste li-chee. (Lord Peter to Harriet)
Like all male creatures Wimsey was a simple soul at bottom.
...since we have devoted a great deal of time and thought to the case on the assumption that it was a murder, it's a convenience to know that the assumption is probably correct.
~Have His Carcase (1932) by Dorothy L. Sayers
As I mention in my previous review (HERE), the Lord Peter mysteries are comfort reads for me. I have read them numerous times and enjoy them thoroughly each time. It has been nine years since I last read this one (before Mount TBR or my Vintage Mystery challenges existed). But I'm not sure that I have much that is new to say. Although I will mention that the depressing atmosphere of the "watering hole" hotel struck me more forcefully this time round. How very sad to travel from hotel to hotel (or to pick one for the summer) and look for romance among the paid dancing partners. The Mrs. Weldons of the world--making themselves up to try and appear young again, grasping for a youth that is gone (or perhaps they never had).
I enjoyed Harriet's interactions with Antoine, the other dancing partner, very much this time. Antoine is very wise in the ways of the the world...and has a realistic outlook on the life he leads and the ladies he has to entertain. He also sees straight through the pretenses--even Harriet's
Spoiler
and realizes long before she will ever be ready to admit it that loves Peter. We've got a whole other book for her to get through before she's ready to admit thatA lovely reread--I'm glad several of my challenges gave me an excuse to do so.
Review from 10/3/11:
Dorothy L Sayers is always a comfort read for me. I've had a love affair going on with Lord Peter for about 30 years now. And I return to his stories whenever I need a pick-me-up. And, boy, did I need a pick-me-up after making my way through Middlemarch!
Have His Carcase was just the tonic that the doctor would have ordered (had I consulted him). We have Harriet Vane, mystery writer and recently acquitted of murdering her former lover, on a walking tour to shake off the horrors of having been on trial for her life. She takes a break from walking to have lunch on a beach and discovers a body on a local rock formation--known as the Devil's Flat Iron. The man's throat has been cut and the blood has not even begun to clot and there are no footprints in the sand except Harriet's and the man's. It's obvious that the tide is coming in quickly and there will be no time to fetch help before the body will be washed away into the sea. Harriet, using her detective novelist skills, notes as much about the man as possible, gathers up various items (shoe, hat, etc) and takes a whole roll of film on her travel camera to record the scene. She then makes her way to the nearest phone (after much travail) to report the incident to the police.
Enter Lord Peter Wimsey. Who comes "as a bird to its mate"--to the body, Harriet, to the body. His friend Salcombe Hardy has tipped him the wink about Harriet's adventures and Peter is all set to get to the bottom of the mystery (and, incidentally, ask Harriet to marry him). And mystery there is--what looks to be a simple suicide soon becomes very complicated. Why did the man sit on the rock for over two hours before killing himself? Why did he wear gloves...and buy a return train ticket...and take his door key when he didn't take anything else with him? Where did he get the razor--a man who never shaves certainly doesn't need one. Matters become even more mysterious--with Bolsheviks and communist school teachers, jealous lovers (of the man's former girlfriend), and a future son-in-law who was none too keen on having "a lounge lizard" papa. There's the suspicious camper in Hink's Lane and the mare that got loose and the fisherman who was in a boat in sight of the beach at the relevant times--and who is definitely not telling all he knows. And an itinerant barber who has an odd little tale to tell. There are 300 pounds of gold coins to be found and a secret code to be broken. Things certainly aren't dull in the watering hole at Wilvercombe.
I just plain love reading the Sayers novels. There is so much wit and humor throughout that it really is a comfortable sort of book to sink into. Especially since this is the umpteenth reread and I really didn't have to use up brain power trying to follow all that "decipher the code" business. That would be one of my quibbles with this particular story (with the previous book, Five Red Herrings, it was the time tables)--way too much time spent on the intricate methods of deciphering this particular cipher. I have to confess that I skimmed right through that part this time 'round. I think the filmed version with Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter does an excellent job of condensing this scene down--although, it may make it seem a little too easy.
My favorite bits are when Peter finally gets to dance with Harriet, their stroll along the beach looking for clues, and when she thinks she may have been kissed by a murderer. I also like the wrap-up at the end when Harriet begins offering up various other fictional detectives (Roger Sheringham, Dr. Thorndyke, etc) and their methods as possible ways to find the solution. Exciting stuff all around and an excellent read. Four stars.
Favorite quotes:
Darling, if you danced like an elderly elephant with arthritis, I would dance the sun and the moon into the sea with you. I have waited a thousand years to see you dance in that frock. (Lord Peter to Harriet)
When I kiss you it will be an important event--one of those things which stand out among their surroundings like the first time you taste li-chee. (Lord Peter to Harriet)
Like all male creatures Wimsey was a simple soul at bottom.