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Lord Peter Wimsey #1-11 +
The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries
A massive collection of novels and stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, British gentleman and amateur detective. Includes novels such as Whose Body?, Murder Must Advertise, Striding Folly, and Gaudy Night. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
3952 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 23, 2016
30 people are currently reading
149 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy L. Sayers
703 books2,993 followersThe 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 20, 2023
2023-07: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club: 3 stars.
General Fentiman is found dead by Peter Wimsey at the Bellona Club. An inheritance is up for grabs, and Wimsey must prove first whether the elderly general dies of natural causes, or was murdered, then which of the remaining heirs are responsible.
Wimsey digs, and by the time he found the culprit, Sayers had lost my interest.
2023-01: Strong Poison: 4 stars.
This is the first Peter Winsey mystery that I have enjoyed. Harriet Vane, a mystery writer, is on trial for the alleged poisoning murder of her former boyfriend, who died of arsenic poisoning, like a character in one of her books. All the evidence points her way, but Wimsey is positive she's not guilty. He decides to investigate, because he's smitten with Harriet (which he tells her about, and his desire to marry her once she is cleared of all charges.)
Wimsey engages Chief Inspector Charles Parker, his partner, of sorts, on the police, and Miss Munchinson and Miss Climpson in his efforts to clear Harriet. This loose team finds other possible suspects and motives. Peter figured out what was really going on, and who was responsible, but really, Miss Munchinson and Climpson made the book for me.
2022-09: Unnatural Death: 3.5 stars.
So, an elderly, wealthy and I’ll woman dies a little earlier than expected, and her grand niece collects. The elderly woman’s doctor feels something is off, it nothing appears wrong. Peter gets involved, dragging Parker along, and various other bodies turn up before the murder method is divined.
There was no doubt who the murderer was, but this mystery worked better for me, so though it still dragged, was more enjoyable than Sayers’ previous Wimsey books.
2022-08: Clouds of Witness: 2 stars.
When a dead man shows up at Peter’s older brother’s place, Peter jumps in to clear Denver’s name. Unfortunately, their sister Mary muddies the facts and her knowledge of the people involved by recounting a story full of holes, then refuses to clear things up.
Peter and Scotland Yard detective Parker begin digging into the pasts of everyone at Denver’s house at the time, and determine some unsavoury facts about the dead man, as well as Mary’s paramour.
Denver refuses to explain why he was wandering outside at night when 5e murder occurred, forcing Peter to uncover what Denver was actually doing.
And Parker is infatuated with Mary.
I didn’t really enjoy this story (particularly that bigoted comment from Parker about an "obese" Jew,) and only liked this one statement uttered by the Wimsey siblings’ mother:
2022-08: Whose Body?: 3 stars.
This was ok, but nothing more. We have a naked dead man found in a tub, and no one knows who he is. Lord Peter Wimsey pushes his way into the crime scene, and searches for clues. He asks a bunch of useful questions, and ends up eventually investigating for real when asked to by someone affected by the case. The baddie is super easy to deduce, and Wimsey asks more good questions and figures his way to the killer's identity.
The story was a bit rough in places, and dragged in others, but I'm intrigued by Golden Age mysteries, so I shall push on to book two soon.
General Fentiman is found dead by Peter Wimsey at the Bellona Club. An inheritance is up for grabs, and Wimsey must prove first whether the elderly general dies of natural causes, or was murdered, then which of the remaining heirs are responsible.
Wimsey digs, and by the time he found the culprit, Sayers had lost my interest.
2023-01: Strong Poison: 4 stars.
This is the first Peter Winsey mystery that I have enjoyed. Harriet Vane, a mystery writer, is on trial for the alleged poisoning murder of her former boyfriend, who died of arsenic poisoning, like a character in one of her books. All the evidence points her way, but Wimsey is positive she's not guilty. He decides to investigate, because he's smitten with Harriet (which he tells her about, and his desire to marry her once she is cleared of all charges.)
Wimsey engages Chief Inspector Charles Parker, his partner, of sorts, on the police, and Miss Munchinson and Miss Climpson in his efforts to clear Harriet. This loose team finds other possible suspects and motives. Peter figured out what was really going on, and who was responsible, but really, Miss Munchinson and Climpson made the book for me.
2022-09: Unnatural Death: 3.5 stars.
So, an elderly, wealthy and I’ll woman dies a little earlier than expected, and her grand niece collects. The elderly woman’s doctor feels something is off, it nothing appears wrong. Peter gets involved, dragging Parker along, and various other bodies turn up before the murder method is divined.
There was no doubt who the murderer was, but this mystery worked better for me, so though it still dragged, was more enjoyable than Sayers’ previous Wimsey books.
2022-08: Clouds of Witness: 2 stars.
When a dead man shows up at Peter’s older brother’s place, Peter jumps in to clear Denver’s name. Unfortunately, their sister Mary muddies the facts and her knowledge of the people involved by recounting a story full of holes, then refuses to clear things up.
Peter and Scotland Yard detective Parker begin digging into the pasts of everyone at Denver’s house at the time, and determine some unsavoury facts about the dead man, as well as Mary’s paramour.
Denver refuses to explain why he was wandering outside at night when 5e murder occurred, forcing Peter to uncover what Denver was actually doing.
And Parker is infatuated with Mary.
I didn’t really enjoy this story (particularly that bigoted comment from Parker about an "obese" Jew,) and only liked this one statement uttered by the Wimsey siblings’ mother:
‘My dear child, you can give it a long name if you like, but I’m an old-fashioned woman and I call it mother-wit, and it’s so rare for a man to have it that if he does you write a book about him and call him Sherlock Holmes.’
2022-08: Whose Body?: 3 stars.
This was ok, but nothing more. We have a naked dead man found in a tub, and no one knows who he is. Lord Peter Wimsey pushes his way into the crime scene, and searches for clues. He asks a bunch of useful questions, and ends up eventually investigating for real when asked to by someone affected by the case. The baddie is super easy to deduce, and Wimsey asks more good questions and figures his way to the killer's identity.
The story was a bit rough in places, and dragged in others, but I'm intrigued by Golden Age mysteries, so I shall push on to book two soon.
March 7, 2020
I'm a completionist, so it really satisfying for me to have access to all the books in one place and be able to read them in order.
That said, in terms of the stories themselves? Some were really satisfying, others dragged BADLY. So four or five stars for some, three or even two stars for others. Rounded off to three.
That said, in terms of the stories themselves? Some were really satisfying, others dragged BADLY. So four or five stars for some, three or even two stars for others. Rounded off to three.
October 4, 2024
I mean mysteries aren't really my thing...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews