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Crime Fan

Sayers' best known. I was prepared to be awed

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2016

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As the author is one of the luminaries of 'The Golden Age of Detective Fiction', Dorothy Sayers' novels are a must for fans of crime of any era. Yet I had never read one before, so to further my crime genre education, bought the first in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, Sayers' best known. I was prepared to be awed, but it took me some time to get into this book. This was due to some of the 1920s conventions which have become rather dated and jarred with this modern reader: the 1920s slang; the British aristocratic mannerisms; the matter-of-fact and even amused attitude of the detectives towards the horrific murders.
However, from the beginning I admired the elegant and deft prose, the cool wit and the confident unfolding of the byzantine plot which begins when an unidentified body is found in an architect's bath and a City of London financier goes missing. By the time I was half-way through I was fully acculturated to the 1920s and loved every aspect, especially how a darker tone is very gradually introduced and takes over by the end. The characters who had at first seemed generic stereotypes, were gradually revealed to be complex human beings, moulded by class, but credible individuals of any era. The 1920s context is expertly sketched and I became at least as familiar with it as I would if I'd read a social history of the period. An Appendix where Lord Peter's uncle pens his interpretation of his nephew's character is a neat touch. Sayers' novels are for those who read to coolly solve an extremely tricky puzzle, rather than those who want an emotional roller-coaster of fear and suspense which so many 21st century crime writers aim to provide.
'Whose Body' is highly recommended for students of the crime genre and lovers of beautifully wrought prose.

One of the greats among mystery writers

Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2017

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Dorothy Sayers was one of the great British mystery authors, writing with verve and humour. She was associated with C.S. Lewis and the Inklings. She also attended meetings of the Socratic Club. C. S. Lewis said that he read Sayers' The Man Born to be King, a play about Jesus, every Easter. Sayers knew J. R. R. Tolkien who read some of the Wimsey novels but disliked the later ones, such as Gaudy Night.

Whose Body was written in the early 1920's. It reflects attitudes toward Jews which were common in Britain at the time. Today, the book would be considered insensitive by the politically correct while anti-Semitics would condemn it for being favorable to Jews. The rest of us can simply accept it as a slice of life in the 1920's.

In my opinion, this first Peter Wimsey novel is a very good mystery but not as strong as subsequent works such as The Nine Tailors. Sayers herself considered her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy to be her greatest work.

Note: There were no fingerprint or DNA data bases in 1923. There was no easy way to identify a body.

Brandon

Worth the initial effort, a bit grimy around the edges but the bones beneath the husk render it unforgettable

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2017

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The dialogue of sir wimsey is definitely a hardship on more casual readers, but I found embracing it to be the best way to enjoy the first 1/4 of the book. He tends to speak in a very flippant manner, almost condescending but jovial in presentation so instead of trying to pick it apart, just roll with his mannerisms and try to imagine yourself as a well to do bloke with time to spare and a penchant for mystery, it becomes quite fun actually. Somewhere along the middle of the book things really pick up pace and the language becomes much clearer and easier to follow. Its not a perfect story by any means but think of this particular insert as the foundation for something grand and enchanting, you will definitely be reading more of sir wimsey I'm sure. If you are more inclined to the fast paced modern era of mystery/who-done-its, you might be better off steering clear of this one until you've steeled yourself against the inevitable hardship of breaking through this stories rough outer shell, but once you do, the juicy meats will keep you enticed until the later installments and by then you'll be hooked.

Me_Mo

Time to meet Lord Peter Wimsey, archetype of amateur gentleman detective & his sidekick, the invaluable valet Bunter.

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2017

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“Bunter!”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Her Grace tells me that a respectable Battersea architect has discovered a dead man in his bath.” “Indeed, my lord? That’s very gratifying.”
“Very, Bunter. Your choice of words is unerring. I wish Eton and Balliol had done as much for me."

I did not really have any expectations, this book having been my first from Dorothy L. Sayers, just some curiosity of how she compares to my beloved Agatha Christie. Having said that much, I was still pleasantly surprised at how much enjoyed reading it.

I loved the all characters: Lord Peter Wimsey, Bunter, detective inspector Parker & the Dowager Duchess of Denver (Lord Peter's mother).

In the beginning, Bunter read very much like Jeeves to Lord Peter's Bertie Wooster:

Lord Peter Wimsey: "It’s much easier to work on someone else’s job than one’s own—gives one that delightful feelin’ of interferin’ and bossin’ about, combined with the glorious sensation that another fellow is takin’ all one’s own work off one’s hands."

Bunter: "Yes, Mr. Graves, it’s a hard life, valeting by day and developing by night—morning tea at any time from 6.30 to 11, and criminal investigation at all hours."

"I’m off. With a taxi I can just—” “Not in those trousers, my lord,” said Mr. Bunter, blocking the way to the door with deferential firmness. “Oh, Bunter,” pleaded his lordship, “do let me—just this once. You don’t know how important it is.” “Not on any account, my lord. It would be as much as my place is worth.”

Their exchanges are funny and a nice comic relief, but as the story continues both characters -along with DI Parker - gather depth. Nothing too elaborately detailed, but rather through some nice little touches you learn that a seemingly flippant, offhand Lord Peter served in WW I and suffered a nervous breakdown due to shell shock from which he never recovered completely. Sometimes he has relapses, especially if his investigations -like here- lead to someone (even though a murderer) losing their life.
We also learn that Bunter served under Lord Peter's command & during his relapses he takes care of him conscientiously & effectively.

Detective Parker seems to be another sidekick to Lord Peter.

“It affords me, if I may say so, the greatest satisfaction,” continued the noble lord, “that in a collaboration like ours all the uninteresting and disagreeable routine work is done by you.”

He is thorough, cautious, clever & well-educated (reminds me a bit of Lt. Arthur Tragg in the Perry Mason series). He likes reading biblical commentary as a chill-out before going to sleep.

One of the most interesting parts of the book was a conversation between Lord Peter & Parker which highlights their characters even more:
“Look here, Peter,” said the other with some earnestness, “suppose you get this playing-fields-of-Eton complex out of your system once and for all. There doesn’t seem to be much doubt that something unpleasant has happened to Sir Reuben Levy. Call it murder, to strengthen the argument. If Sir Reuben has been murdered, is it a game? and is it fair to treat it as a game?” “That’s what I’m ashamed of, really,” said Lord Peter. “It is a game to me, to begin with, and I go on cheerfully, and then I suddenly see that somebody is going to be hurt, and I want to get out of it.” “Yes, yes, I know,” said the detective, “but that’s because you’re thinking about your attitude. You want to be consistent, you want to look pretty, you want to swagger debonairly through a comedy of puppets or else to stalk magnificently through a tragedy of human sorrows and things. But that’s childish. If you’ve any duty to society in the way of finding out the truth about murders, you must do it in any attitude that comes handy. You want to be elegant and detached? That’s all right, if you find the truth out that way, but it hasn’t any value in itself, you know. You want to look dignified and consistent—what’s that got to do with it? You want to hunt down a murderer for the sport of the thing and then shake hands with him and say, ‘Well played—hard luck—you shall have your revenge tomorrow!’ Well, you can’t do it like that. Life’s not a football match. You want to be a sportsman. You can’t be a sportsman. You’re a responsible person.” “I don’t think you ought to read so much theology,” said Lord Peter. “It has a brutalizing influence.”

When finding out who the murderer is, Lord Peter gets also thrown into a moral dilemma that brings on one of his relapses.

You can guess who the perpetrator is relatively quickly. Sayers places her clues inconspicuously, but they can be discovered without much difficulty and yet it does not really diminish the merits of the book. It stays enjoyable from beginning to end.

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M. Dowden

Introducing Lord Peter Wimsey

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2018

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First published in 1923 Dorothy L Sayers had a hit on her hands with her fictional sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, who appeared in more novels and short stories by the author, although she didn’t write as much crime fiction as some of her peers. Agatha Christie is better known these days than Sayers, but it has to be admitted that in writing style, Sayers is the more literary.

Hearing about a body appearing in a bath in an architect’s flat, so Wimsey goes to have a look, although the case is being handled by Inspector Sugg of the Yard. It is certainly something out of the ordinary, if you were to walk into your bathroom and find a corpse in your bath, wearing only pince-nez. But for Wimsey, he has other things on his mind, as his friend Inspector Parker is investigating the strange disappearance of a financier. Could both the cases be somehow connected?

I admit I have read the Wimsey books many times, and so I already knew who the killer is here before I even opened the book, but although it isn’t that hard to work out, the solution of what actually took place, and all the inns and outs do make for an interesting read.

If you have never read a Wimsey book before, then you should be in for a bit of a treat, and it is fun to see the way that our amateur detective treats and gets along with his valet, Bunter, who used to be his batman in the army. Considering the time this was written it is good that Sayers shows her main character suffering with shell shock, something that was still skirted around in polite society at the time.

This isn’t a particularly long book and is something that is great to relax with when you have some peace and quiet.

cherry blossom

Whimsey starting out.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2017

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It is 45years since I was loaned a book called gaudy night. I adored it so much I went to the beginning and this is it.
If you find today's authors of detective novels too scary/vicious/psychological/or just plain nasty then why not wallow in a little gentlemanly detection.
Exceptionally clever, amusing and well written these will fill a lovely gap for reading.
Titled sleuth, time and money on his side sounds upsetting, but this man was buried alive in W W 1 is looked after by his old sergeant and suffers from nerves when he works out the murderer. Add a clever detective sidekick, a mother who any one would like to know and a glimpse of how the other half lives, what could be better.
I find Sayers makes it easier to make sense of clues so you can follow Whimsey's thoughts ..occasionally!
Easy to read, extremely hard to put down.
They are all good but there are favourites. You need to find your own, but Gaudy still holds a place in my heart. Will have to hunt out my bookcase and re-read them all now. Then onto Allingham's Campion books.

Richmonde

Flawed, but a rippin' read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 30, 2017

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Lord Peter is superhumanly talented and knows about everything, but Bunter is even more of a superman. Was Sayers sending up the conventions? Very likely. I loved these books when I read them first in my teens. They (and Christie) were the first adult books I'd read, and I lapped up the details of how adults live. I didn't really understand that the 20s were a long time ago... But then I became a historian.

Lord Peter becomes politer in later books. He is horribly rude here to Inspector Sugg, and to Thipps' neighbours who have pretentions to gentility. He is unfailingly kind to Thipps, however, the discoverer of the body and a previous acquaintance.

Just one question. A naked corpse is found in Mr Thipps' bath, at the same time a well-known financier, Sir Reuben Levy, goes missing. One detail makes it impossible for the corpse to be Levy. Wouldn't the murderer have thought of that?

By the way, Lord Peter's "huntin', shootin, bally old whatsit" accent belongs to the aristocracy – it isn't an affectation.

R. A. Bentley

Reads pretty well to me

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 11, 2014

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This may be, as another reviewer has said, an 'apprentice piece' but it's still a better book than some crime writers ever achieve. It's true that Lord Peter comes across as a little bit of a caricature compared with later works, but it was necessary to establish, in quite a short novel, at least the basics of his character and background, plus craft a decent mystery. Not an easy task. One might have hoped for a bit more suspense, but the detectin' is all there, and is satisfyingly plausible. As for the lack of the abstruse classical references that pepper her later work -- maybe that is not such a grievous loss! If I'd come to 'Whose Body' first instead of reading Sayers' entire crime oeuvre before trying it, I'm sure I should certainly have wanted to read more. In fact, I rather regret that it wasn't my introduction to this thoroughly engaging sleuth.

One small criticism. The little potted biography of Peter Wimsey that appears at the end of the book refers to almost the entire series and is, in places, a little bit of a 'spoiler.' If you plan to read more of them, I'd recommend avoiding it.

Book Maniac

Love the Wimsey stories

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2020

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I read this in paperback many years ago and as I like Dorothy L Sayers erudite writing style was happy to add this to my collection of Kindle books.

Whose Body is an engrossing detective story and the characters impressively portrayed. Sugg, the police detective, is an idiot and gives he police force a bad name. He and Wimsey clash and Sugg hates Wimsey as he always makes him look like an incompetent fool. I love Parker; I think he's a wonderful sidekick for Wimsey. The inestimable Bunter is awesome and he seems to know just about everything, even pre-empting Wimsey's requests for gadgets and information when they are in sleuthing mode.

Wimsey is not a tall, dark and handsome hero and he suffers from what we now call PTSD; he has terrible nightmares when he thinks he is back in the trenches. These nightmares are triggered when his conscience is at war with itself because he shrinks from what his meddling will lead to for the murderer, i.e., the death penalty. He abhors the necessity for it because he values human life but his duty is clear and he has to notify the police of the killer's identity.

The only criticism I have with this story is that it is a bit prosy and lecturing, at times, and repetitive when the killer writes a letter of confession in which he explains how he did it. We already know, pretty much, how he did it when Wimsey reveals it to Parker so the letter was just a longer winded way of explaining the crime and really not at all necessary. Maybe it was used to give the publisher the number of words required in the story but that is just speculation on my part. Despite these negatives it still makes for a jolly good read.

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