The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries Volume One: Whose Body?, Clouds of Witness, and Unnatural Death

Lord Peter Wimsey #1-3

by Dorothy L. Sayers

A special three-in-one edition of Dorothy Sayers’s acclaimed Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series, books one through three

In Whose Body?, Lord Peter Wimsey spends his days tracking down rare books, and his nights hunting killers. Though the Great War has left his nerves frayed with shellshock, Wimsey continues to be London’s greatest sleuth—and he’s about to encounter his oddest case yet. A strange corpse has appeared in a suburban architect’s bathroom, stark naked save for an incongruous pince-nez. When Wimsey arrives on the scene, he is confronted with a once-in-a-lifetime puzzle. The police suspect that the bathtub’s owner is the murderer, but Wimsey’s investigation quickly reveals that the case is much stranger than anyone could have predicted.

In Clouds of Witness, after three months in Corsica, Lord Peter Wimsey has begun to forget that the gray, dangerous moors of England ever existed. But traveling through Paris, he receives a shock that jolts him back to reality: His brother Gerald has been arrested for murder. The trouble began at the family estate in Yorkshire, where Gerald was hunting with the man soon to be his brother-in-law, Captain Denis Cathcart. When Cathcart is found dead, Gerald is presumed to be the only one who could have fired the fatal shot. The clock is ticking, and only England’s premier sleuth can get to the bottom of this murky mystery. 

And in Unnatural Death, three operations failed to rid the aging Agatha Dawson of her cancer, but she refused to give in. As her body began to weaken, she accused lawyers, nurses, and doctors of trying to kill her and snatch her fortune. The town physician, an expert in cancer, gives her six months to live. Three days later, she is dead. Though the autopsy reveals nothing surprising, the doctor suspects that Agatha’s niece had some hand in the old woman’s death. When Lord Peter Wimsey, the dashing gentleman detective, looks into the matter, he finds that death stalks all those who might testify. How can he continue his investigation when every question marks another innocent for murder?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Ebooks, Historical Fiction, Classics, Crime

803 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 18, 2013

About the author

The detective stories of well-known British writer Dorothy Leigh Sayers mostly feature the amateur investigator Lord Peter Wimsey; she also translated the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.

This renowned author and Christian humanist studied classical and modern languages.

Her best known mysteries, a series of short novels, set between World War I and World War II, feature an English aristocrat and amateur sleuth. She is also known for her plays and essays.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy...

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTF

[Alicea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very conflicted. On the one hand, I think Lord Peter Wimsey is hysterical (and especially love his relationship with his valet Bunter). He was a really fun character to read.

However, Sayers is racist and bigoted. Like flagrantly so. In the first book in this volume she has some choice (and very unsavory) feelings about Jewish people which is rampant through the entire book. (I read she makes these comments throughout her books in fact.) And then in the third book she really leans into hatred and prejudice against Black people even going so far as using the N-word. The characters made comments in the vein that Black people were dangerous and untrustworthy. It felt like she stuck that in there for no reason other than to be inflammatory and spew her own disgusting beliefs.  It naturally made me very uncomfortable and it was so unnecessary.

Such a shame as I really did love her writing of the eccentric amateur detective. In conclusion, this will be the only Sayers I read. 

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three mysteries- three reviews:

Whose Body? 4 stars
I've been meaning to pick up a Dorothy L Sayers book for a long time. I have no idea why it's taken until now since I enjoyed the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries years ago when they were on PBS Mystery. Oh well, better late than never, I guess.

Whose Body? is the first of the Lord Peter books set in the 1920's London and English countryside. Lord Peter, younger brother of a duke and WWI vet, is something of a rattle at times, but he's also a keen amateur detective when he's not being an idle man about town who collects rare books and journals and plays the piano exceptionally well.

With the help of his Scotland Yard detective friend, Parker, and his redoubtable valet, Bunter, Lord Peter tackles a startling case of a dead body wearing only a pair of gold pince nez found in his mother's architect's bathtub. Parker is working on the case of a missing Jewish financier and they pair up to help solve each other's cases.

Whose Body? is dated as it was written in 1923 and will reflect the thinking of the times. I enjoy reading a contemporary from the past to see how people thought and I especially enjoyed reading a mystery by a Golden Age of Mystery author that I have not attempted before. This was bright with witty dialogue and colorful characters. The mystery was a little clever and it could have gotten dark when the gruesome truth came out, but stayed light almost like a cozy mystery.

Mark Meadows narrated and I found his voices amusing and the way he narrated brought out the humor. His style is more voice acting than narration and I had a good time listening.

I will be picking up more Lord Peter mysteries and would definitely recommend these to mystery lovers who enjoy something with a classic feel.

Clouds of Witness 4 stars
Hi ho, Lord Peter fans! He’s off to tackle another mystery and this time it hits close to home. Set post WWI during the exciting Roaring Twenties, Lord Peter’s personality is larger than life and was fun to see him among his family and friends rootling out the truth that both his siblings are working to hide for their own secretive reasons.

Clouds of Witness is the second book in the series and would work fine standalone.

A body is discovered near the conservatory door of the Duke of Denver’s hunting lodge where he’s hosting a hunting party. Unfortunately, Denver is discovered with the body and the coroner’s court determines to arrest him. Lord Peter hies it home from his travels in the Med to help out his brother from going to the gallows and solve it for his little sister’s sake since the deceased was her fiancé.

Loved the atmospheric York moors and the phlegmatic Yorkshire people getting to be the backdrop for this whodunit country house party murder. Sayers doesn’t limit her cast of suspects to the houseparty themselves, but include the possibility of the unknown when Peter and Parker detect clues that hint at outside night-time visitors to the lodge.

The first half of the book was light and fun and loaded with lots of Peter detecting with the help of his valet Bunter and his friend in Scotland Yard Inspector Parker. I enjoyed seeing Peter interact with the younger sister he realizes he barely knows now and his older brother, Gerald who can be pompous. The Dowager duchess is a hoot and is the source of all Peter’s personality.

But the second half around the three-quarter mark really slowed down when the court scenes began. There is a background suspense of Peter still pulling together clues as the clock is ticking. But, there were two things that were entirely superfluous and dragged the story to a grind. First, the letter read in court was read in its entirety in French and then entirely in English. It wasn’t short- it was necessary, but not two times worth. Secondly, after all the evidence and what should have been a quick wrap up, instead we got the lawyer retelling a redundant whole history of the case. All stuff the reader got from the previous pages. Then at the end, the lawyer finally hit on new details and the book wrapped up with a hilarious scene.

Mark Meadows was a solid narrator and did great with Lord Peter’s antics, the thick Yorkshire accents and the French with all the cast of characters easily distinguished.

All in all, I enjoyed this fun historical cozy murder mystery written during the Golden Age of British Mysteries. Definitely recommend when readers want a classic.

Unnatural Death 3.5 stars
Returning to the world of Lord Peter Wimsey, this latest case began by a chance conversation at a restaurant when a doctor shares that he thinks a murder was done and the body was even autopsied, but there was absolutely no evidence of foul play. Was there a murder? If so, how was it done so cleanly? Another fun Dorothy Sayers conundrum.

Unnatural Death is a standalone mystery originally written in 1927 and set in that period. Lord Peter, his friend Inspector Parker of Scotland Yard, his valet, Bunter, and a new member of the detecting team, old Miss Climpson are on the hunt for clues that death was done to old Miss Dawson who left all her money to her niece, Mary Whittaker.

I thought it was an interesting enough premise. Lord Peter believes young Dr. Carr when he suspects his patient, who was already dying of cancer, was finished off a tad early, but there was no proof. Peter gets the facts of the case and comes up with ample opportunity, but the means and motive elude him. Mary Whittaker was already living in the home and drawing from the funds and she was to inherit it all so she had no reason to kill the old lady, but there are oddities in her actions and slowly other people and motives are dug up.

Unnatural Death got rolling slowly and picked up speed to an exciting ending. It was a slow grind for the detecting group to inch forward bit by bit with the case, but they got there eventually. I knew who, how, and as soon as a certain fact was brought up, I knew why. I even saw the twist that baffled them for so long, but I simply enjoyed seeing Peter and the others put it all together.

Just in fair warning, there was a scene late in the story when a character’s race was all a couple individuals and the press needed to know to determine guilt. I’m not talking about subtle racial profiling, but overt assumption that people of color are born with a bent toward crime. The main characters were not the ones to show this attitude, in fact, they had met the man of another race, showing both liking and respect for him, thought he was innocent and planned to prove this so I chose to read on.

The narrator continues to be Mark Meadows and I love his way of bringing the Lord Peter characters to life, in particular, a vibrant, charming Lord Peter.

Falling in the historical cozy mystery genre, the Lord Peter Wimsey series are light and entertaining with some good puzzlers to tackle.

[Karen C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried reading these as they are considered classics and I love British authors. But I just could not get into them.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Unusual British Lord

It took me some time to get used to his vocabulary. It did not seem like that if a lord, but the I tried to think of the 1920’s slang & it made more sense.

[Michael crage]

I did not read this book the site decided to make it look like I did.

[The Marvelous Ms. Kaia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t much like the Dorothy Sayers books. I came to them because I liked Agatha Christie, but they’re really hard for me to keep reading. I’m sure they’re a good Murder, but it’s so tedious to read it. 15+

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three books in one volume.

[Mica Huffman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just read the first one of this series. I couldn't go on.

[KF-in-Georgia]

Reading this triple-volume, while listening to the Audible radio production of the books.

[Doug Wykstra · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOTE: While this collection covers the first three Wimsey novels, this review is exclusively for the third, Unnatural Death.

If Clouds of Witness presented a tragic situation that it tried to make comic, even going so far as to end in the possibility of a future marriage, Unnatural Death goes the other way. It starts with that mots benign of detective story openers, the detective happening to overhear a fellow patron at a bar with some problem they cannot figure out themselves. But when Lord Peter Wimsey begins to investigate what looks to be a diverting question of inheritance and a missing person, in inadvertently inspires another murder, and then the bodies start falling in earnest.

In a more modern detective novel, the resulting tale would almost feel like an indictment of Wimsey’s habit of sticking his nose in other people’s business—this being a more traditional story, it turns out his skills are necessary to solve the case, and it maybe turns out that he wasn’t to blame for the initial death after all. Ah, well. Unnatural Death was published in 1927, meaning audiences wouldn’t have to wait long for true subversions of the detective novel to appear in print. And as an example of the “impossible murder” case, where people keep dying off with what looks like natural causes but feels like murder, it works well.

Of the many things Sayers does well in these novels, the one most worth noting is how the discovery of the culprit rarely ends the novel. Rather than taking the criminal’s capture for granted, Lord Peter and Mr. Parker must go through the logistics of successfully hunting them down, a process which is far more involved (and more gruesome) here than in many other detective novels.

One thing Sayers does here that has aged rather poorly and which I cannot discuss without getting into serious, major, book-breaking, DO NOT READ PAST THIS IF YOU DON’T WANT IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE MURDERER REVEALED-type spoilers, is her novel’s treatment of the eventual culprit, which might well be one of the first examples of the “murderous lesbian” trope, and is certainly the earliest I have come across. It’s never overtly described as such, but the stereotypes are all there, right down to one of the lesbians attempting ot seduce and murder Lord Peter, in a sequence so absurd that I’d rather it had been played for laughs than for the bathetic scene it becomes.

But even here, Sayers is doing something that she seems to return to in later stories and novels: using the detective story to explore the lives of people who are overlooked by society, such as old women who stay unmarried and occasionally move in together. Unnatural Death’s most entertaining character is another such woman, an old Catholic spinster named Miss Climpson, who Lord Peter regularly employs for reconnaissance, because, after all, who better to find out everything about everyone than an old woman who likes to know all the local gossip? Just as the murderers are overlooked by the police the same way they are overlooked by society, Miss Climpson proves a fearfully good detective because her position causes everyone to look on her as a harmless old gossip. Like Miss Climpson, Sayers does sometimes appear a little old-fashioned in her opinions. But, like Miss Climpson, this does not prevent her from having a clear-eyed understanding of how the world works.

[Rebecca Mulligan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Best of the Best

Dorothy L. Sayers definitely rates a five star review for this marvellous trilogy of Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. I had, or course, often heard of her as the Queen of mystery authors but had never read her before. What a treat! Her mysteries are all intricately and cleverly plotted, and her protagonist, Lord Peter Wimsey, is a delightful, is a somewhat pompus, highly intelligent member of England's upper class. Being independent wealthy, he has nothing better to do than exercise his formidable genius solving odd murder cases. Aided by his "man" Bunter, he takes on one sly, brilliant murderer after another. These books are thoroughly emjoyab!e reads and if you've never read Ms. Sayers give yourself a great and indulge in some of the finest mysteries you'll ever read.

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wimsey is certainly no Poirot, but the stories in this collection get progressively better. I adore Miss Climpson and wish she was in all of Lord Wimsey’s cases. Unnatural Death was a solid mystery in all aspects. Sayers is a fair novelist, leaving all the information available to the reader; no cheats from her. I did call several details of that book, but not every aspect of the solution—which is just how I like a good murder mystery!

I would recommend to Sherlock, Fr. Brown, and Christie fans. While Lord Wimsey doesn’t have quite the pull as the other famous detectives, the stories and writing are fun and insightful.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read two out of the three stories and as I started the third I found several pages which seemed to be background information of the main character. Boring! The book is now done. I found there are pages and pages of boring description of newspaper articles of a trail or even several pages of a letter written in French. More boring! Peter Whimsy is a slightly interesting character but the stories are wordy and in some places just plain wordy and too long. Some people might enjoy it but I on the other hand do not!

[Pfotenstaben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know all three books well; Dorothy Sayers is one of my favourite authors of all time, and I've read the German translations countless times. Lately, after a re-watch of some of the filmings, I started reading also the first novels in English for the first times - the most recent ones I've first read in English. So far, I've finished "Whose Body", mostly read, about 10% listened to the audio book, and loved it even more than the translation. More than every my favourite mystery novel author.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 3-in-1 volume of Dorothy L. Sayers's first few mysteries from the 1920s was compiled by the Doubleday Crime Club in 1962. In WHOSE BODY?, Lord Peter identifies the murderer of a naked body discovered in an architect's bath-tub. In CLOUDS OF WITNESS, Lord Peter flies the Atlantic to obtain materials exonerating his brother, the Duke of Denver, of the murder of their sister Lady Mary's fiance. In UNNATURAL DEATH, Lord Peter exposes a mass murderess.

[Satu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't start very promisingly, but definitely improved a lot after the first book. They didn't feel dated other than the N-word used in the third book. If I'd have to guess I wouldn't thought that these have been written in 1920s.

I didn't care for the first murder mystery, but the second and third mysteries are quite interesting. I didn't guess the murderers or plot twists. I think I will continue reading this series.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reasonably fun, quick reads, although unfortunately in some respects I'm afraid haven't aged all that well. The first and third books in this collection contain some mild tinges of antisemitism and racism. Also the Kindle edition features a number of typos and formatting errors, maybe down to OCR gone awry.

[Kevin Megill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wimsey! What else do I need to say.

Not everyone will be entertained by this, but I really enjoy them. Sayers writes expecting you'll really grapple with the mystery. You don't have to pretend not to know what's really going on to enjoy it. She has a tendency to be a little ostentatiously erudite.

[Airsucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an interesting mystery. The lengthy how it was done at the end was overly lengthy. There is definitely a difference in how novels were written then, versus how people write now. I;m used to getting inside a character's head, and the distance from the main character is some of these older mystery novels is a little off-putting for me.

[John Considine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fun detective stories

Even when you think you know what really happened, and you are right, the gathering of evidence may take some time. Lord Peter is persistent, clever and adept at laying traps. Sayers tells a good story without sensation. I hope to read several more of Lord Peter stories.

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read the first of the three books and decided not to read the others. It wasn't horrible, but parts of it haven't aged well at all, and I didn't really like or care about the characters or the mystery.

[Gary and Sandra Sims · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very British murder mystery

Written in the first half of the twenty century the dialogue takes a bit of getting use to and the reference to certain people and places you need to look up to better understand the story. Overall a great mystery.

[Debra Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is 2nd time reading vol 1 and I enjoyed it again. I love these great characters of Lord Peter and his mother, Bunter and Parker, as well thought out writing with a touch of humor that sometimes makes me burst out laughing, and I love the time period of these stories.

[Beverly Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read one of the novels to get an idea of Dorothy Sayers writing style. I struggled with the language because she wrote in the 1920's in the style of the British upper class or an idealized version of that. The plot was ok but the language was too distracting and cumbersome for my taste.

[Night Owling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thisr volume contains additional info in between mysteries and there are several spoilers for future volumes in between stories!!!! Skip the biographies and the letter if you dont want to know what will happen next.

[Phillip Mclaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best of the best

Who cannot love a good mystery? Dorothy Sayers at the start, three novels and short stories to capture the reader and carry their imagination to new heights.
Must have more…..

[Tomasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were FUN. Yes, fun set in the English 1920s, with all the attendant classist, racist, and sexist baggage, but, hell, Lord Peter is a perfect amateur sleuth, with all the skills and neuroses necessary. There's a bit of safe social satire, too, so it's not all irredeemable, OK?

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to hear, very racist and male chauvenist. Understandably from the 20's, but still quite difficult to abide. I finished the first but had to quit the series. Enjoyed Wimsey's turn of phrase on occasion and his butler is quite indispensable.

[Shary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whose Body: 3 stars
Clouds of Witness: 4 stars
Unnatural Death: 3.5 stars