Take a photo of a barcode or cover
bowienerd_82 's review for:
Whose Body?
by Dorothy L. Sayers
I was feeling the urge to revisit Lord Peter, and decided to start at the beginning. I tend to think of this one as one of the weaker books of the series, but I was surprised to find it better than I remembered (not quite four stars, but definitely three and a half), and that all of the characters are in line with their later showings, which is pretty rare in a series written over many years.
Some of the things this book does very right:
1) Allowing the reader to get to know Lord Peter naturally through the text, and consistently showing, not telling. We learn who Peter is through his actions and his relationships, and though subtle, they speak volumes. One of my favorite bits was actually the brief scene of Peter with his older brother. Sayers makes it very clear that Gerald doesn't understand Peter, is frustrated by him, but loves him anyway (and the feeling is mutual). Siblings are great for context.
2) Not making this an origin story. We get bits and pieces of Peter's history, but the text is concerned with the here and now of the story. Peter is already established as an investigator (as is Bunter), he's already known to the police (and friends with Parker). Sayers is able to get right into this story without unnecessary buildup or infodumping.
3) The mystery itself. I actually remembered whodunnit and why quite well, but even so, it's a creative story that still stays within the bounds of reasonable and plausible.
Really, the only thing I found clunky was the ending, which was an unnecessary villain confession infodump. It definitely could have been wrapped up without that level of detail. There were also a few odd POV switches, but those were fairly minor, and this was after all a first book.
And in the end, I was quite impressed at how present and well developed Peter was as a character, even in just this one book.
Some of the things this book does very right:
1) Allowing the reader to get to know Lord Peter naturally through the text, and consistently showing, not telling. We learn who Peter is through his actions and his relationships, and though subtle, they speak volumes. One of my favorite bits was actually the brief scene of Peter with his older brother. Sayers makes it very clear that Gerald doesn't understand Peter, is frustrated by him, but loves him anyway (and the feeling is mutual). Siblings are great for context.
2) Not making this an origin story. We get bits and pieces of Peter's history, but the text is concerned with the here and now of the story. Peter is already established as an investigator (as is Bunter), he's already known to the police (and friends with Parker). Sayers is able to get right into this story without unnecessary buildup or infodumping.
3) The mystery itself. I actually remembered whodunnit and why quite well, but even so, it's a creative story that still stays within the bounds of reasonable and plausible.
Really, the only thing I found clunky was the ending, which was an unnecessary villain confession infodump. It definitely could have been wrapped up without that level of detail. There were also a few odd POV switches, but those were fairly minor, and this was after all a first book.
And in the end, I was quite impressed at how present and well developed Peter was as a character, even in just this one book.