kjboldon 's review for:

The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Paton Walsh
3.5
mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
I've read this book before, so I'm not sure why there isn't a review here, but on my second read, in 2025, I recalled that I didn't much care for this book, the first Wimsey/Vane novel by Jill Paton Walsh that wasn't constructed around existing material by Dorothy Sayers. I preferred the prior two, Thrones, Dominations and A Presumption of Death. On both reads, I thought the subject was a curious choice. More than once throughout Sayers' Wimsey novels, she mentioned that the Attenbury Diamonds had been Peter's first case. So for Paton Walsh to construct an entirely new old mystery, of emeralds, and have that continue into the present of 1951, seems to be to be rather more retconning, i.e., retroactively creating continuity among stories, than is required. And yet, it was a strong mystery, that had me turning pages and finishing the book in a short time. JPW is respectful both of the Sayers oeuvre and of the characters themselves. I think that's why I'm a fan and champion of these continuations. They let me live a little longer with these fictional people I've come to love, and I can tell that JPW loved them too, and had brains enough to play in this high-level sandbox, if I can torture a metaphor. 

The framing is a bit mannered. One Lord Attenbury dies, another is...appointed? elected? chosen? So Peter and Bunter narrate the early mystery to Harriet over several chapters until the newly hatched Lord A turns up asking for assistance with the emeralds once again. The missing jewels is a nod to the plot of The Nine Tailors. The murderer  is a nod to
Mary Whittaker from Unnatural Death, whose anger, murderousness, and eventual prison suicide are all mirrored here.
There are at least two coincidences that had me struggling to suspend my disbelief, which I'm usually quite willing to part with:
that DuBerris inherited the emerald and the family had it all along, and that Ada and Verity went to the same party that got bombed. Oh, a third is that the custodianship of the jewel should change just as the jewel was swapped out... And, to learn that St. George was killed in the Battle of Britain is just sort of tossed off--I wished for more time to mourn that beloved character's death.


I found the book rather an inverse of Sayers' style, more heavy on plot, with less development of characters. And yet, there were still many moments and scenes that I loved. I enjoyed Bunter, Peter, and the Dowager Duchess reminiscing on Peter's fragility after the war, and the practicalities of overcoming it. I was very moved by a scene late in the book set at Duke's Denver, and how that changed many, many things. The character interactions and dialogue around this section were superb, I thought. 

Rereading these first three JPW books again I'm reminded, that each of them brings something unique and focused from the Wimsey/Vane world and adds to its universe. Thrones, Dominations interrogated the reality of a marriage of true minds meeting, A Presumption of Death showed how the class walls came down and ethics were upended with the onset of WWII, and the Attenbury Emeralds shows a major shift in the character's realities, one that was both surprising and yet felt inevitable. 

So, not as good as the first two JPW's, but I'm glad to have read it, and I barreled right along into The Late Scholar before taking even a breath to write this review. And I do mean barreled. I'm halfway through it. So, from me to you, if you are a Wimsey fan and haven't read this JPW books, I enjoyed them. I think they're not only worth it, but also add some really delicious bits that DLS didn't manage. 
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