A review by sarahmatthews
Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers

medium-paced

Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L Sayers

Read on audio

Narrator: Stephen Jack for RNIB Talking Books 

Pub. 1937, 409pp

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This is the final Peter Wimsey novel in the series and he goes out on a high! The mystery is ingeniously entertaining but really this book is about the relationship of lord Peter and Harriet Vane as we follow their first days as husband and wife, which of course are complicated by a murder on their honeymoon! The book starts with some beautifully written diary entries by several people close to the couple on the run up to the wedding in Oxford and then they travel to their new home in the small village where Harriet grew up.

Bunter, Peter’s loyal servant/companion, goes with them and has some excellent scenes (including one where he loses his temper with a meddling neighbour), and I loved this bit about his powers of efficiency:

“‘…no situation finds Bunter unprepared. That he should have procured The Times this morning by the simple expedient of asking the milkman to request the post mistress to telephone to Boxford and have it handed to the bus conductor, to be dropped at the post office, and be brought up by the little girl who delivers the telegrams is a trifling example of his resourceful energy.’”

I won’t go into the details of the murder mystery but this story was striking as at the end when Lord Peter Wimsey has solved the crime we follow it through to the trial and his involvement in the court case. There’s a description of how a convicted criminal is sent to prison and, as this book was published in 1937, what was to be the ultimate consequence of being found guilty of murder at that time. We see how this affects Lord Peter which was very unusual and very moving. It’s been alluded to in previous books that he suffers from PTSD following WW1 and here we see how it resurfaces due to the weight of sending someone to their death.

I enjoyed this mystery but it’s not my favourite of the series so far. It’s now time to go back and read the ones I’ve missed.