Lord Peter Wimsey Series Review

Welcome to SGL, my friends! I’ve decided to collect all the books from this series that I shared over several months and compile them into one post. Hopefully this makes it easier to look it over and decide if you want to give it a read!

Whose Body? (#1) - It wasn’t unusual for a man to be naked in a bathtub, but the rest of the circumstances were. The man was dead, for one. And he was wearing a pair of pince-nez and his face had been shaved after death. Lord Peter Wimsey doesn’t agree with the police that it is a popular financier and sets out to prove his theory.

Clouds of Witness (#2) – When Peter’s brother-in-law-to-be turns up dead at the Wimsey retreat and the accused murderer is Peter’s brother, it’s enough to shake the unflappable Lord Peter. And that’s not to mention the other aspects of the case that are truly puzzling…

Unnatural Death (#3)- The fact that Agatha Dawson had died wasn’t surprising to anyone, but Lord Peter was curious about how she died rather sooner than expected and dives into this case, even though he doesn’t have any leads or clues. When Agatha’s maid ends up dead as well, Peter knows his time is short to catch the killer.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (#4)- No one quite knew what time ninety-year old General Fentiman had died but that detail figured in a half million pound inheritance. Lord Peter Wimsey will need all his wits about him as he tries to unravel the mysteries of the lack of a poppy on the old man’s outer coat, how the club’s telephone was repaired without a repairman and how the old man’s knees swung freely when the rest of him was rigid with rigor mortis. His friend’s future is on the line – this is one case that he can’t get wrong.

Lord Peter Views the Body (#5) – a collection of short stories

Strong Poison (#6) by Dorothy L. Sayers- When a man mysteriously dies from poison, it is his former lover that is investigated. Harriet Vane, mystery writer with a knowledge of poisons, is about to be charged with murder, because the man’s death is eerily similar to a death in one of her books. But Lord Peter Wimsey is determined to prove her innocence.

The Five Red Herrings (#7)- While Wimsey is visiting the Scottish coast with some friends on a painting retreat, the hated Sandy Campbell is found dead. But although it looks like an accident on the cliffs, Wimsey is certain that there’s something wrong with the death and starts to investigate.

Have His Carcase (#8)-We meet Harriet Vane for the second time in this series and this time around, it’s she that finds the corpse. This inevitably unites her with Peter Wimsey again and they set off to solve the lethal mystery. As they do so, avoiding danger as a matter of course, they find themselves becoming more than sleuthing partners.

Hangman’s Holiday (#9)- a collection of short mysteries where amusing and appalling things happen around Lord Peter and the working-class sleuth, Montague Egg.

Murder Must Advertise (#10)- Lord Peter Wimsey is called in to investigate a death that originally looked like an accident. At Pym’s Publicity, a respectable London advertising agency, ad man Victor Dean died after falling down a set of office stairs. But Wimsey soon learns that there’s more to copywriting than meets the eye- a bit of cocaine, blackmail and of course, the five brutal murders that occur in quick succession. This case will require all of Wimsey’s wit and cleverness to avoid being corpse number six.

The Nine Tailors (#11)- A disfigured corpse is found in a country parish, leaving the rector worried. He pleads with Lord Peter to investigate how the man died, who he was and how he came to be laid to rest…in the unfortunate place he was found.

Gaudy Night (#12)- Harriet Vane, murder mystery author, once accused of murder – only acquitted because of evidence found by Lord Peter Wimsey- puts aside her lingering shame of the trial and goes back to her alma mater – Oxford’s Shrewsbury College. But she soon realizes that her life is in danger again, when she receives the first poison-pen letter. It merely calls her names but they grow ever more threatening and dangerous. Harriet calls in Peter Wimsey to help her- for a killer is hiding among the Shrewsbury College dons.

Busman’s Honeymoon (#13)- At long last, Lord Peter Wimsey has succeeded in his ardent pursuit of his love. They get married and immediately depart for their honeymoon in a picturesque farmhouse. But as soon as they get there – things are not as they anticipated. And when the previous owner is found dead in the cellar, more questions arise. Their honeymoon suddenly interrupted, the newlyweds are on the case as they try and find the identity of the murderer.

Lord Peter– a collection of all the Lord Peter Wimsey stories compiled – I found a copy of this at the thrift store (!!) and while it has some of the short stories from the other collection (#9), it doesn’t have all of them – and of course, has a whole lot more than that book.

~Side note, articles I’ve read, share that if one skips the short stories and reads only the full-length novels, you won’t miss much. (subjective of course, that).

Review:

I originally ran across this series thanks to a hardcover copy of Murder Must Advertise at a library book sale. I loved it so much that I found all the audiobooks and quickly ‘read’ through them- I mostly listened to these on audiobooks, narrated by Ian Carmichael.

In my reviews of each book, these are the things that stood out to me. In the first three, I mention that there are race issues (period accurate and not a huge point of the story but still there). In book #3, there are some…sexual preferences mentioned, but so subtle that I almost missed it. Books #4 and #6, I got a bit confused throughout but still enjoyed them. #11 was quite slow… #8, #10 and #13 were absolute favorites.

I’ve been reading the short stories and they are fun little delightful snippets of adventures!

Lord Peter Wimsey reminded me of a bit of an easy-going cousin to Scarlet Pimpernel (if you’ve not read him, check out this post). He’s not a professional detective, but he thinks outside the box and gets a thrill from chasing down clues. He has assistance from his butler, Bunter, his detective friend, Parker, and some other well-chosen friends as he chases down criminal after criminal.

I liked seeing his character development from book one through to the end of the series. Learning about his past – from childhood events to his time spent in the war- explained so much and created such a deeper, complex character.

Sayer’s style reminds me of Agatha Christie, but with, of course, a different voice, a different way of revealing the villains/who-done-it’s.

A bit about the author:

Dorothy L. Sayers was born in Oxford in 1883. She graduated from Somerville College with first class honors in medieval French, and worked as an advertising copyeditor from 1922 until 1929, when her success as an author brought her financial independence. In 1923, her first novel, Whose Body?, was published. Between then and 1939, she wrote ten more novels featuring the amateur-sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey.

Sayers brought the detective fiction genre from pure puzzles that lacked depth, and was recognized as one of the ‘Queens of Crime’ of the 1920s and 1930s – along with Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh.

In the 1930s, Sayers wrote religious-themed plays that were performed in cathedrals and on BBC broadcasts. In the 1940s, she was translating Dante’s Divine Comedy into everyday English. But, before she could finish the third book, she unexpectedly died at age 64 in 1957, in her home in Essex.

I am now curious to read the other ‘Queens of Crime’. I have, of course, been reading Christie these past few years, but the other two names are new to me!

Have you read any of Sayers’ books or any of the ‘Queens of Crime’? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

~Laura