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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
lighthearted
medium-paced
Of the Wimsey alone books (no Harriet Vane), a pretty good entry. The dialect is a little challenging, and given when these were written there is, of course, sexism and classism. At the same time, there is some acknowledgement and poking at that, as well. I enjoyed the setting in Scotland and there were more investigators to follow. Bunter would have been nice to see more of, of course. Still, a good entry in this classic series by Sayers.
The main course of this odd entry into the Lord Peter series is the making and breaking of alibis, and to that end five is far too many red herrings. Two would have illustrated the point perfectly well. By meticulously tracing and confirming the movements of so many suspects, this novel is methodical to the point of being tedious, made worse by Lord Peter's frequent absence from his own book.
I love a clever jigsaw of a story, but this ingenious plot was often at the expense of character and emotion, and I found it hard to be invested in the long unbroken passages about train schedules and bicycle availability. However, this does feature Bunter's best showing, and his bizarre, stiff mannerisms add a lot of the typical humor I was missing. The final madcap stretch in which the crime is reconstructed in real time is a great reminder of why I fell in love with these books in the first place, especially because it finally puts Lord Peter's unique brand of bullshit front and center. It's so good it makes this overlong and overcomplicated book worth it.
funny
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:
Complicated
My first Dorothy Sayers book. I wanted to love it! The Scottish setting and premise with the painters seemed so promising. But I found it kind of a long and tiresome read. The suspects all blended together and the lengthy discussion of train timetables was difficult to follow. Maybe I'm just out of practice at reading mysteries!
A very fun entry in the Wimsey series, set in a real location, with an ingenious plot and a minimum of the racism, anti Semitism and sexism that tends to stain these otherwise wonderful books.
lighthearted
mysterious
This one was torture. DNF at 30% because I'd rather never know who killed Campbell than have to struggle through one more page of this.
By all means read it if you love train schedules and timetables, and lots of speculation over which train, leaving from which station at which time, might have got which suspect to which destination. And then speculation over how any of the given suspects might have gotten to the train station, leading to a lot of questions about which bicycle was where at which time. As a matter of sad fact there was even a bike that took a train. No lie.
You will definitely not want to miss this if you love reading an author's representation of a dialect, not just here and there but in at least half of the conversations throughout the book. Even in some of the thoughts! An example: "'Ill tak' ma aith,' said Dalziel to himself, 'she kens fine there is some importance tae be attached tae the bicycle, and she disna ken whether tae say her man had it or no. Wha could ha' tell't her? It's no that Lord Peter, for he's clever, wi' a' his bletherin' talk. And it's no Macpherson, he'd never let oot a word. There's some yin is expectin' yon bicycle tae be found in a queer place, I reckon.'"
The most maddening part of it all is the moment, at the crime scene, that Wimsey realizes what might look like an unfortunate accident must actually have been murder. He searches the dead man's pockets and his near surroundings for some object, the not finding of which leads him to conclude the man must have been killed. A police officer is mystified and asks what it is they should be looking for. And rather than allow Wimsey to answer, the author instead interjects this:
By all means read it if you love train schedules and timetables, and lots of speculation over which train, leaving from which station at which time, might have got which suspect to which destination. And then speculation over how any of the given suspects might have gotten to the train station, leading to a lot of questions about which bicycle was where at which time. As a matter of sad fact there was even a bike that took a train. No lie.
You will definitely not want to miss this if you love reading an author's representation of a dialect, not just here and there but in at least half of the conversations throughout the book. Even in some of the thoughts! An example: "'Ill tak' ma aith,' said Dalziel to himself, 'she kens fine there is some importance tae be attached tae the bicycle, and she disna ken whether tae say her man had it or no. Wha could ha' tell't her? It's no that Lord Peter, for he's clever, wi' a' his bletherin' talk. And it's no Macpherson, he'd never let oot a word. There's some yin is expectin' yon bicycle tae be found in a queer place, I reckon.'"
The most maddening part of it all is the moment, at the crime scene, that Wimsey realizes what might look like an unfortunate accident must actually have been murder. He searches the dead man's pockets and his near surroundings for some object, the not finding of which leads him to conclude the man must have been killed. A police officer is mystified and asks what it is they should be looking for. And rather than allow Wimsey to answer, the author instead interjects this:
(Here Lord Peter Wimsey told the Sergeant what he was to look for and why, but as the intelligent reader will readily supply these details for himself, they are omitted from this page.)
What??? Why? I am making myself re-angry just thinking about it.
Some of the language is hard to follow. Really enjoyed the reveal at the end.
lighthearted
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
funny
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:
Yes
It's not my favorite Sayers novel, there's too much fussing with timetables, but it's Lord Peter, so what more can I say? Brilliant detective story.