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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
A dozen very well plotted short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. These stories were the perfect length to pick up and enjoy when I needed a break from the events of the day.
All pretty enjoyable because Sayers is a good writer, but the mysteries themselves are mixed quality. The crossword one is really impressive and a few of the others are interesting and comment on the mystery genre itself but the longest story is a bit silly (one of the main elements had no use at all and was actively dangerous to the plan, which relied upon a really major but highly unlikely thing another person did that everyone else in the story tried to stop, and that going exactly according to how they wanted it as well). Enjoyable but not a stellar collection. Worth reading if you enjoy mystery stuff though cause Sayers is great, even if she has her own ridiculous prejudices. She can convincingly write a charming detective and funny dialogue (not laugh out loud funny, but smile-raising), which is rare among detective writers.
A side note, an example of the bizarrely twisted morality at work in these sorts of books: an uncle makes a will leaving all his money to his sister and his niece, but hides it. His niece is a socialist and he doesn't like her. He makes an easily findable will that leaves all his money to an organisation promoting the Tories. Lord Peter Wimsey thinks this is hilarious and doesn't see why he should help find the first will, cause he doesn't like socialists (the author whines about socialism in other books in the series too, sadly). Yet there's no mention of the uncle's sister doing anything "wrong", and in fact she's disabled and needs an expensive operation! She was in fact a witness to the easily findable will, where she was given a silver teapot. That's it. The uncle seems like a cruel man who punishes his sister for no reason at all but I guess a woman possibly dying cause her rich brother is arbitrarily cruel to her is all fun and games to Lord Wimsey? Christ. It's just obnoxious. It's not like any of the golden age detectives cared much about this stuff other times.
A side note, an example of the bizarrely twisted morality at work in these sorts of books: an uncle makes a will leaving all his money to his sister and his niece, but hides it. His niece is a socialist and he doesn't like her. He makes an easily findable will that leaves all his money to an organisation promoting the Tories. Lord Peter Wimsey thinks this is hilarious and doesn't see why he should help find the first will, cause he doesn't like socialists (the author whines about socialism in other books in the series too, sadly). Yet there's no mention of the uncle's sister doing anything "wrong", and in fact she's disabled and needs an expensive operation! She was in fact a witness to the easily findable will, where she was given a silver teapot. That's it. The uncle seems like a cruel man who punishes his sister for no reason at all but I guess a woman possibly dying cause her rich brother is arbitrarily cruel to her is all fun and games to Lord Wimsey? Christ. It's just obnoxious. It's not like any of the golden age detectives cared much about this stuff other times.
mysterious
reflective
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
funny
mysterious
relaxing
This is one of my favourite titles, but not one of my favourite books, unfortunately. It's a set of short stories, ranging from 2 to 4 stars, mostly 3.5, I'd think, but rounding down so as not to mislead re quality. I love Lord Peter, most of the time, but these stories just didn't work for me the way the novels do. In many of them he doesn't seem like himself, he seems like whatever generic pulp hero is required for making the plot work out--the final story is especially frustrating and wildly unbelievable.
If you go your whole life only reading the novels, and then check this out for completeness' sake (as I've done), that's about right. Don't start here! Start with Strong Poison and then read forward from there, dipping back into Unnatural Death if you want a taste of a pre-Poison book (it's one of my favourites, owing to so much Miss Climson).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
If you go your whole life only reading the novels, and then check this out for completeness' sake (as I've done), that's about right. Don't start here! Start with Strong Poison and then read forward from there, dipping back into Unnatural Death if you want a taste of a pre-Poison book (it's one of my favourites, owing to so much Miss Climson).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
A hit-or-miss collection of short stories. Some are interesting, some clever—some overly clever—and some just meh. Almost all have some variety of -isms of the kind one expects to find in literature of the era, unfortunately.
Short story mysteries are often less satisfying than longer novels because the culprit isn't a character we've come to know over the course of several chapters. That's the fundamental problem with many of these whodunnits. Some are deft, clever riddles, but I'd rather read a full-length Lord Peter novel.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-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