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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The mystery is intriguing, but I can’t get into the writing style. And lots of posh slang from 100 years ago isn’t helping.
Narrated by BJ Harrison on the classic tales podcast, I quite enjoyed this murder mystery - more of a howdunnit than a whodunnit. While it shows its age a bit, the characters are very personable and the post-war themes are quite interesting.
I read and re-read a lot of *Dorothy L. Sayers* in German when I was a kid, around 10. I loved those books to bits, so I started wondering if they were as good as I remembered. I started my re-read in the beginning, with **Whose Body?**, and it turns out: yes. The books are as good as I remembered, or even better, now that I get to read them in English *and* have an Internet at my fingertips to look up all the more and less obscure literary allusions – which there are many of. The writing style is charming, and has a very distinctive voice of its own, and lends very realistic, nearly audible voices to each and every character on cast.
Dorothy L. Sayers is best known for her Lord Peter Wimsey detective novels, and this is one of them. Lord Peter is the younger brother of the Duke of Denver, and, having returned from WW1, he spends his time collecting first editions of rare books and solving mysteries. He does so with a charming, distracted air, pretending to be a babbling aristocratic idiot much of the time, which is more enjoyable than it has any right to be. He's followed around by his man/butler/ex-seargant Bunter, who is smooth, clever, polite, a tremendous help, and will also stop Lord Peter from wearing unacceptable things – and takes care of him when the Shell Shock (PTSD) gets too much. Both of them are gems, as is Lord Peter's police inspector friend Charles Parker, a devout Christian who is into critical theology in his free time. This gives the book a good chance to look at class privilege and separation, which I'm happy to report it does.
The best character though is the Dowager Duchess, Lord Peter's mother. She can ramble for pages, just like him, in a delightfully distracted manner – but she's even sharper than her son, with the unfortunate habit of reading mystery books and knowing the solution by page 12 (or maybe 22, if it's a good author). She habitually provides relevant clues in her distracted manner, and is even more sarcastic than Lord Peter.
The mystery itself is somewhat besides the point. I'm not a huge reader of mysteries, so I won't even attempt to judge it. I enjoyed that the reader is kept up to date, and left to draw obvious solutions that won't be spelled out. The solution mirrors Sayers' ethical values without being obnoxious about it, which is a nice change from other Christian writers at the time (C.S. Lewis, I'm looking at you!). The victim was Jewish, which leaves space for a lot of anti-semitic commentary – which is always presented as saying something about the people commenting, and/or about society, not as spreading anti-semitic sentiment. Uncomfortable, but necessary.
I think the most interesting part is how well-drawn the characters are, and how charming the sharp, play-acting, always-in-motion Lord Peter appears. He is very much **Miles Vorkosigan**, and I was happy to see that he is widely cited as an influence on Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm a big fan of Lois McMaster Bujold's character writing, so please take this as an enthusiastic endorsement.
Dorothy L. Sayers is best known for her Lord Peter Wimsey detective novels, and this is one of them. Lord Peter is the younger brother of the Duke of Denver, and, having returned from WW1, he spends his time collecting first editions of rare books and solving mysteries. He does so with a charming, distracted air, pretending to be a babbling aristocratic idiot much of the time, which is more enjoyable than it has any right to be. He's followed around by his man/butler/ex-seargant Bunter, who is smooth, clever, polite, a tremendous help, and will also stop Lord Peter from wearing unacceptable things – and takes care of him when the Shell Shock (PTSD) gets too much. Both of them are gems, as is Lord Peter's police inspector friend Charles Parker, a devout Christian who is into critical theology in his free time. This gives the book a good chance to look at class privilege and separation, which I'm happy to report it does.
The best character though is the Dowager Duchess, Lord Peter's mother. She can ramble for pages, just like him, in a delightfully distracted manner – but she's even sharper than her son, with the unfortunate habit of reading mystery books and knowing the solution by page 12 (or maybe 22, if it's a good author). She habitually provides relevant clues in her distracted manner, and is even more sarcastic than Lord Peter.
The mystery itself is somewhat besides the point. I'm not a huge reader of mysteries, so I won't even attempt to judge it. I enjoyed that the reader is kept up to date, and left to draw obvious solutions that won't be spelled out. The solution mirrors Sayers' ethical values without being obnoxious about it, which is a nice change from other Christian writers at the time (C.S. Lewis, I'm looking at you!). The victim was Jewish, which leaves space for a lot of anti-semitic commentary – which is always presented as saying something about the people commenting, and/or about society, not as spreading anti-semitic sentiment. Uncomfortable, but necessary.
I think the most interesting part is how well-drawn the characters are, and how charming the sharp, play-acting, always-in-motion Lord Peter appears. He is very much **Miles Vorkosigan**, and I was happy to see that he is widely cited as an influence on Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm a big fan of Lois McMaster Bujold's character writing, so please take this as an enthusiastic endorsement.
mysterious
medium-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:
Yes
Lord Peter Wimsey is charming, intelligent aristocrat who keeps occupied as a rare book collector and an amateur sleuth. Set in post-World War I Britain, he occasionally suffers from PTSD from his war years. Wimsey enlists the help of his valet, Mervyn Bunter, in the detective work, and the dry British wit. I did enjoy the humor shared between the duo. Wimsey's mother, the Dowager Duchess of Denver a socialite who fits the voices of 1920s upper class.
A body naked except for a pair of gold pince-nez is found in the bathtub of an acquaintance of Wimsey's mother. On the same day Reuben Levy, an important Jewish financier, is reported missing. The corpse has a mild resemblance to Levy. Wimsey, Bunter, and the competent Inspector Parker from Scotland Yard work together to solve the cases. A confessional letter by the criminal at the end of the book detailed why the corpse was found in the tub.
I love the old school mysteries especially from British writers. The wit and comfy feel to them that keep you engaged into the whodunit throughout.
A body naked except for a pair of gold pince-nez is found in the bathtub of an acquaintance of Wimsey's mother. On the same day Reuben Levy, an important Jewish financier, is reported missing. The corpse has a mild resemblance to Levy. Wimsey, Bunter, and the competent Inspector Parker from Scotland Yard work together to solve the cases. A confessional letter by the criminal at the end of the book detailed why the corpse was found in the tub.
I love the old school mysteries especially from British writers. The wit and comfy feel to them that keep you engaged into the whodunit throughout.
A good friend with impeccable taste loves this series, so I decided to give it a try. It took a little more focus on my part to get into it, because of the old-fashioned language & milieu, but I'm quite glad I did. I read the first three books in the series in one weekend. Lord Peter is so amusing, Parker is adorably earnest as his straight man, and Bunter is awesome. I love Lord Peter's mum as well, what a treat she is.
This book was so much fun. The characters were hilariously drawn (in the best possible way) and I enjoyed the intellectual puzzle of the murder mystery without all the gore and darkness. I will definitely pick up more when I need a satisfying mystery to puzzle out with Lord Peter.
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
3.5 stars!! It was very dialogue heavy but still a good mystery.
