Have His Carcase

Lord Peter Wimsey #8

by Dorothy L. Sayers

The second Dorothy L. Sayers classic to feature mystery writer Harriet Vane, Have His Carcase. Harriet’s discovery of a murdered body on the beach before it is swept out to sea unites her once more with the indomitable Lord Peter Wimsey, as together they attempt to solve a most lethal mystery, and find themselves become much closer than mere sleuthing partners in the process.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Classics, Mystery Thriller, British Literature, Detective

499 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1932

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

[Jaline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth George wrote an introduction to this novel upon its reissue in 2003 and I found it very moving. She talks about Dorothy L. Sayers’ willingness to explore so many different and interesting areas of life – from bell ringing to unusual uses of arsenic to architecture, cryptology, vinology, and so many others that we either never hear about any more or hear about only rarely. Then she goes on to say, ”What continues to be remarkable about Sayers’ work, however, is her willingness to explore the human condition.”

And that, my friends is what draws me back again and again to reading her novels.

In addition, despite the fact that women in novels were (at the time) popularly showcased as sweet, innocent, somewhat dim-witted domestic goddesses, Dorothy L. Sayers was brave enough to write against the stream. The women in her books are strong, smart, independent and very capable on many levels. In other words, they are very real people rather than fantasies.

This novel is the first one where Harriet Vane plays a major role. First, she finds the body, then she takes actions that are brilliant and time-saving. By the time Lord Peter gets there, all there is left for him to do is form a partnership with Harriet to try and figure out who did the deed and why. Well, that – and his daily proposals of marriage to Harriet. Two novels after they meet and he is still convinced she must marry him and she is just as determined not to. Their relationship adds a lot of spice and interest to an already fascinating murder case.

While I will leave you to discover it for yourself, I will say that it is one of Dorothy L. Sayers’ most complex plots yet. Lord Peter and Harriet Vane are up against a very intelligent adversary and there is even a chapter devoted to a specific code used in a certain communication to the victim. As the chapter moves on, we follow Lord Peter and Harriet on their quest to crack the code. There are even diagrams showing how they eventually deduced the solution, and it is brilliant.

This is one of the best novels I have read in this series. It has all the ingredients one could wish for in a great mystery story. And just when I thought we had it all figured out, the whole mixture gets shaken up again and we all put our thinking caps back on for more effort. By “we”, I am of course talking about Lord Peter, Harriet, and myself. I have no idea how she did it, but Dorothy L. Sayers had me involved as if I were somewhere right in the middle of the sleuthing process.

This was an excellent read and would be particularly enjoyable for all fans of Dorothy L. Sayers’ writing – and particularly her Lord Peter Wimsey series.

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while) · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCERPT: She was within a few yards of the rock now, gazing up at the sleeper. He lay uncomfortably bunched up on the extreme seaward edge of the rock, his knees drawn high and showing his pale mauve socks. The head, tucked closely down between the shoulders, was invisible.

'What a way to sleep!' said Harriet. 'More like a cat than a human being. It's not natural. His head must almost be hanging over the edge. It's enough to give him apoplexy. Now, if I had any luck, he'd be a corpse, and I should report him and get my name in the papers. That would be something like publicity. "Well Known Woman Mystery-Writer Finds Corpse on Lonely Shore." But these things never happen to authors. It's always some placid laborer or night-watchman who finds corpses. . . '

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Mystery writer Harriet Vane, recovering from an unhappy love affair and its aftermath, seeks solace on a barren beach -- deserted but for the body of a bearded young man with his throat cut.

From the moment she photographs the corpse, which soon disappears with the tide, she is puzzled by a mystery that might have been suicide, murder or a political plot.

With the appearance of her dear friend Lord Peter Wimsey, she finds a reason for detective pursuit -- as only the two of them can pursue it.

MY THOUGHTS:😍😍😍😍.5 stars for this delightful Whimsey novel that had my brain bouncing all about my head, rather like the ball inside a pinball machine!

We have an older woman, desperate for love; her younger lover who wants an empire; and a son who sees his inheritance disappearing into the clutches of a gigolo. And so the scene is set for a murder. Simple? It could have been, but.......

This is one of the most complicated murders I have ever read. But also one of the most entertaining. We have the involvement of the Russians, a little reminiscent of the missing Russian Princess Anastasia, and a whole plethora of red herrings for Lord Peter and Miss Vane to fish through.

The missing .5 of a star is due to the numerous pages devoted to cipher codes, which I admit to skimming. With that small exception, this remains one of my favorite Lord Peter Wimsey novels.

THE AUTHOR: Dorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned British author, translator, student of classical and modern languages, and Christian humanist.

Dorothy L. Sayers is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between World War I and World War II that feature English aristocrat and amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. However, Sayers herself considered her translation of Dante's Divina Commedia to be her best work. She is also known for her plays and essays.

DISCLOSURE: I own my copy of Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers, published by Open Road Media. I read this book in 2016 as part of a Goodreads Group Read. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this installment was far superior to the previous The Five Red Herrings. Although there is a bunch of code-breaking which I allowed to just flow by me as I did all the train schedule details in that previous volume. The difference was very much due to Miss Harriet Vane, an intelligent and spirited match for Wimsey.

In fact, it is her sharp observations on the station of women during this time period that made the book for me. She realizes that, if she remains single, it doesn't matter how well she does for herself writing detective novels, she will always be an object of pity and derision. Hell, we're barely past that state even in 2020! I can't tell you how many people are ready to twist an ankle in their hurry to pity me! Despite the fact that I have traveled a great deal, supported myself quite successfully, and arranged to retire at a reasonably young age. But because I've never married, some would consider my life a failure. It makes me laugh, but it seems to make Harriet bitter. She realizes, while watching Mrs. Weldon, that marriage and widowhood may not rescue a woman from this fate.

I think the author herself was coming to realize this situation for herself. She was educated, supporting herself (and an illegitimate son), writing successful novels that are chock full of witty observations and complicated plots, but she was still a woman and therefore not admitted into the top circles of the literary field. It didn’t help that she wrote mysteries, part of the despised genre fiction. That snobbery remains strong.

I love Harriet ogling Wimsey when he dons a bathing costume to search around the infamous Flatiron Rock, where Harriet discovered the corpse that gets this story rolling. She reluctantly (?) teams up with His Lordship when he makes his appearance on the scene, and we witness her gradual conversion (or Peter wearing down her objections) to matrimony. Mind you, she hasn't consented just yet!

Well written, if a bit convoluted, but I did appreciate the final conclusions re: time of death, and kicked myself for not thinking of the solution! One got so used to thinking of the murder victim as a poser, it was hard to think that he might just have some basis for his beliefs!

Cross posted at my blog:

https://wanda-thenextfifty.blogspot.c...

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the eighth book featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. We first meet Harriet Vane, crime writer and previously on trial for murder, in, “Strong Poison.” She then vanished in the next novel, “Five Red Herrings,” which I struggled with, and so I was pleased to become re-acquainted with her in this story.

The book opens with Harriet Vane on a walking tour, when she finds the body of a man on a beach. His throat has been cut and, with the tide coming in, Harriet attempts to contact the police – but this involves such a long journey that the body has vanished by the time she manages to alert anyone. The next morning the police and press are all gathered at the seaside watering place where Harriet is staying, and then Lord Peter Wimsey arrives.

The victim turns out to be a Russian professional dancer who, not only was paid to dance with the elderly ladies who visit the hotel, but had actually proposed marriage to one of them – a very wealthy, and seemingly heartbroken lady, named Mrs Weldon. As the investigation unfolds though, nothing seems to be clear cut – there are disappearing witnesses, letters in ciphers and even tales of Bolsheviks…

I enjoyed this far more than the previous, “Five Red Herrings.” Harriet Vane was more involved in this plot, but she did not take over and Lord Peter Wimsey had a large part in the investigation. Dorothy L.Sayers did not only create a fantastic sleuth in Wimsey, but gave him a good array of friends and family to flesh out the books; so we have the intrepid Bunter tailing a suspect and a mention of his new brother in law, Parker, as well as lots of local police input. Overall, an enjoyable addition to the series and I look forward to reading on.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

LPW Buddy Read through 2022/23
4.5 ⭐️

Now I remember as a child my mother had paperbacks of a number of the Dorothy L Sayers Lord Peter books on a shelf and I always used to look at their bright colours. Later as a teenager I investigated those brightly covered books and thoroughly enjoyed the stories that I read. 40+ years later I remember little of the stories, but I am certain that I never read this story, as it was a complete unknown to me.
And a really enjoyable unknown it was as well. A great story, with some wonderful interaction between LPW and the love of his life Harriet Vane. This story starts with Harriet Vane on a walking holiday discovering a dead body perched on a rock in the middle of a seaside bay where the tide is out. It appears to be suicide as there are no footprints leading away from the rock, but it is a mystery as to why he is there and why he would commit suicide.
The body gets washed out to sea before the police can get involved and so the inquest is delayed and so Harriet Vane has to stay locally as the discoverer of the body.
Lord Peter hears about this state of affairs through his friends in the press and motors down to assist , only to discover that it could be murder after all, but why and by whom ?

All in all an excellent story with a number of twists and turns, some excellent deduction from Lord Peter, some wonderful detective work by Bunter and wonderful interplay of characters.

[kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harriet Vane is going on a walking-tour of the coasts when she stumbles across the throat-slit corpse of Paul Alexis Goldschmidt. Realizing the sea is coming in for high tide and threatens the crime scene, she collects evidence and photographs and hikes her way to phone the police—and the press because she's well aware of how the story could be spun if she doesn't get ahead of it.

Her only mistake: the press rat her out to Lord Peter Wimsey who arrives at the coastal village the next day, ready to investigate this body of Vane's (pun...somewhat intended). And then: all the PLOT, CLUES and ALIBIS you could ever want, and then some.

(Is this entire review me quoting huge swathes of this book? MAYBE IT IS.)

1. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS:

"By all means," said Harriet. "Where do you come from?"

"From London—like a bird that hears the call of its mate."

"I didn't—" began Harriet.

"I didn't mean you. I meant the corpse. But still, talking of mates, will you marry me?"

"Certainly not."

"I thought not, but I felt I might as well ask the question. Did you say they had found the body?"

CAN YOU BELIEVE?

2. I think one of my favorite things in this is Harriet so clearly refusing to engage with her lust because she is just AWARE of Peter in a way that vaguely bothers her but not enough to make her STOP LOOKING, y'know? 'And he strips better than I should have expected,' she admitted candidly to herself. 'Better shoulders than I realized and, thank Heaven, calves to his legs.' GORL WHY YOU THANKING HEAVEN FOR CALVES IF YOU AIN'T PLANNING TO PUT THEM TO USE I ASK YOU.

(and then she goes on to ogle him as he rides the horse: Harriet mechanically picked up his hat and stood squeezing the crown absently in and out, with her eyes on the flying figure. I MEAN I FEEL IT IN THE AIR TONIGHT.)

3. I am also dying at the fact that the thing that truly slays Harriet Vane is the realization that PETER WIMSEY KNOWS HOW TO RIDE A HORSE. Harriet was silent. She suddenly saw Wimsey in a new light. She knew him to be intelligent, clean, courteous, wealthy, well-read, amusing and enamored, but he had not so far produced in her that crushing sense of utter inferiority which leads to protestation and hero-worship. But she now realized that there was something godlike about him. He could control a horse. AND THEN SHE GOES ON TO IMAGINE HIM ON A BIG OLD HORSE AND PUTS HERSELF ON AN EVEN BIGGER STEED "AT HIS SIDE, AMID THE RESPECTFUL ADMIRATION OF THE ASSEMBLED NOBILITY AND GENRTY." SHE WANTS TO BE HIS PARTNER, YO.

The fact that his horse-riding (something that is a presumed norm for someone in his station) is what truly stops Harriet Vane in her tracks is...beautifully sad, encompassing (what she views as) the unbreachable divide between them. Because Harriet Vane, too, is intelligent and clean and can be courteous when she chooses and is well-read and perhaps not wealthy but not entirely a pauper, and—but horses! A new world!

4. Harriet literally has so many feelings about how she feels and also how PETER should be feeling and it's just A LOT: Silence for a few moments. Harriet felt that Wimsey ought to be saying, 'How well you dance.' Since he did not say it, she became convinced that she was dancing like a wax doll with sawdust legs. Wimsey had never danced with her, never held her in his arms before. It should have been an epoch-making moment for him.

And honestly the ENTIRE fight but specifically: The fact that, until five minutes earlier, she had felt perfectly happy and at ease with this man, before she had placed both him and herself in an intolerable position, she felt somehow as one more added to the list of his offenses. She looked round for something really savage to do to him. OH HARRIET YOU ANGRY, INJURED STARFISH.

AND THE PICNIC when she very much asks herself WHAT WOMAN COULD POSSIBLY NOT PICK LORD PETER HONESTLY nevermind why she's so cranky to Lord Peter IT DOESN'T MATTER: The curious inhibitions which caused her to be abrupt, harsh, and irritating with Lord Peter did not seem to trouble her in dealing with Henry Weldon. [... Henry Weldon] really imagined that, placed between Lord Peter and himself, a woman could possibly—well, why not? How was he to know? It wouldn't be the first time that a woman had made a foolish choice.

5. Lord Peter is in this, too, I guess, and he proposes ALL OVER THE PLACE ("Miss Vane, Harriet, if I may call you so, will you marry me and look after my socks, and, incidentally be the only woman-novelist who ever accepted a proposal of marriage in the presence of a superintendent and inspector of Police?" / "Not even for the sake of the headlines.") and also races to make sure Harriet is OK after suffering the 'disgusting embraces' of a potential murderer.

(Also this because WHAT EVEN IS THIS MAN: Wimsey raised his eyebrows, or, to be more accurate, the one eyebrow which was not occupied in keeping his monocle in place.)

[Madeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Gaudy Night and hearing Peter and Harriet refer to "the Wilvercombe affair", I was intrigued and naturally wanted to read more about these two crazy kids solving another mystery. Rather misleadingly, the book that details this case is not called "The Wilvercombe Affair", and doesn't even have the word Wilvercombe in the title. It's called "Have His Carcase", because Dorothy Sayers wants to make us work for our fun, dammit.

Anyway, the mystery in a nutshell: Harriet Vane, a couple years after she is found innocent of murdering Philip Boynes, goes on a walking holiday by herself. She's wandering along the beach one day when she spots what looks suspiciously like a dead body. Because she is Harriet Vane, and this is a Sayers mystery, here's what she thinks next: "Now, if I have any luck, he'd be a corpse, and I should report him and get my name in the papers. ...'Well-Known Woman Detective-Writer Finds Mystery Corpse on Lonely Shore.' But these things never happen to authors. It's always some placid laborer or night-watchman who finds corpses."

Of course it's actually a corpse, and Harriet, realizing quite sensibly that she can't move the body and that the tide might come in before she can find help, photographs the crime scene and looks for evidence. It looks a lot like a suicide, but a Highly Suspicious One. When there's something strange / In your neighborhood / Who you gonna call?

LORD PETER!

Yes, his lordship the delightful Peter Wimsey skips into town, and he and Harriet start solving the mystery while having marvelous romantic tension, witty banter, and one explosive fight that was very upsetting for me, even though I've read Gaudy Night and know it all turns out okay.

Let me repeat what I say in every single Dorothy Sayers review that I write: I. Love. Peter. Wimsey. He is absolutely divine, and I won't just let you take my word for it and will let him speak for himself.

First, to Harriet: "And I could kiss you for it. You need not shrink and tremble. I am not going to do it. When I kiss you, it will be an important event - one of those things which stand out among their surroundings like the first time you tasted li-chee. It will not be an unimportant sideshow attached to a detective investigation."

And then, to a man who insults Harriet: "Manners, please! ...You will kindly refer to Miss Vane in a proper way and spare me the boring nuisance of pushing your teeth out at the back of your neck."
(Madeline, from the balcony: "OH SNAP!")

Advice for a future reader, however: make sure you read the Harriet-Peter mysteries in the correct order, so you can fully appreciate them in a way I wasn't quite able to. Strong Poison is first, then Have His Carcase, and then Gaudy Night. Also I think there's another one that takes place after Gaudy Night, but I'm not sure.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life lessons:

check the facts, the columns on which your life, your theories, your stories are built on. A continuous occasional check therein after might not be a bad thing.

[Veronique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carrying on with my chronological read through this excellent series, and weirdly this has changed my opinion on this title. I didn’t love it before, but now, seeing the developments Sayers features not only in Wimsey but also in the interactions between him and Vane, I enjoyed it much more. There is the banter of course while the two are investigating this rather complex murder mystery, but also their own perceptions and feelings.

My paperback edition also included an introduction by Lee Child, positing how Sayers may have changed her approach to her detective, finding now solace in this writing since real life was problematic...

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's good but at times in this the Harriet/ Lord Peter banter just got too, too for me. Come on, I know she keeps him off for years yet, but her push/pull gets a bit arrogant and conceited to say the least.

The case is good but this one for me was just overlong. Bunter is off on his own doing some inquiries too. And travel abounds all around. The part at the beginning when Harriet is just "thinking" on her walk was 5 star.

I like these more when they are majority "in company" I think. Having read about 1/2- I don't seem to like the roving ones as much as the ones with 7 or 8 characters at "dinner" or some event or house party or hunt etc. Some of the language is truly dated and it holds completely different meanings now- but that was not a deterrent to me, just an observation. Dago being a favorite and meaning more than just being French or dark Mediterranean or Italian but beyond that "foreign" - only in capital letters.

To tell you the truth, this one with all the varying logistics for "no footprints" and "fresh blood" etc. in 25 different "maybes"- started to bore me. Not my favorite, but not the poorest- at least this one raised some witty eye brows and didn't have half the dialogue in dialect.

There's a pivotal point within all of this crux that I am fairly sure differs (now in this decade, with more chemical and elemental property's knowledge about the biologic) from the forensics established here in this tale as "true" in the late 1920's. I might be wrong. Yet in time when I have more access, I'm going to look it up or ask a doctor who has done autopsies. Hmmmm!

[Simona B · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plotting is brilliant, and a great example of how a single detail can trigger, domino-like, an unimaginable cascade of errors, misunderstandings, and unexpected consequences, all of which, when skilfully handled, greatly contribute to the making of a delightfully complicated and clever plot, especially in murder mysteries. In the case at hand, it was the execution, I think, which spoiled it all for me. At one point, the investigation started dragging, and I found myself wanting to skip to the end. This is a particularly bad sign, for me, because in mysteries I normally enjoy the chase as much as the denouement. With Have His Carcase, I didn't care nearly enough. Also, there are so few Wimsey/Vane moments! Although the few that are there are really lovely and thoughtful and heart-wrenching, honestly.

In this regard, allow me to express my deep admiration for Sayers' characterization of Harriet Vane. She is free-spirited and independent, keenly aware and critical of the double standards and difficulties which women have to face in her society, and Sayers clearly meant to use her as a mouthpiece for these concerns (but never in an overly didactic or moralistic sort of way). And yet, she isn't at all ashamed to take notice of how fit Wimsey looks in his bathing suit when they go hunting for clues on the shore, and Sayers isn't ashamed to openly let us know that yes, she's ogling him, something the matter with that? This was written in 1932. And I think it's all to Sayers' credit that Harriet's character, so genuine and fierce and unapologetic, still feels so fresh and refreshing today.

So, all in all, while this is not the best Wimsey I've read so far, it definitely has its moments. And I hear the next books, especially Nine Tailors and Gaudy Night, are the very best of Sayers', so I'm staying hopeful.

[W.R. Gingell · Rating 5 out of 5]

thoroughly fun. murder and bolsheviks and horses galloping madly across the sands.

(plus Peter's constant, "...and oh by the way WILL YOU MARRY ME?"s will never fail to delight me)

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where I got the book: my bookshelf. Continuing my re-read of the Wimsey books.

The plot: novelist Harriet Vane takes a walking vacation along the south coast of England to work on the plot of her latest murder mystery, but finds the body of a young man instead. Her suitor Lord Peter Wimsey is quickly on the scene, but the investigators are puzzled. All the signs seem to point to a particular perpetrator, but his alibi for the time of death is rock solid. Something is wrong with the picture--but what?

Having waded through Five Red Herrings, I now feel like I'm on the downhill slope of this reading marathon. And what delights are before me--Have His Carcase, Murder Must Advertise, The Nine Tailors and Gaudy Night are, imho, the Golden Age of the Wimsey books.

Sayers simply seems to hit her stride with Have His Carcase and the energy doesn't quit till Busman's Honeymoon, where Wimsey and Vane simply become too quotation-ridden to be believable. One of the beauties of Have His Carcase is the introduction of the inside of Harriet Vane's head, which is a delightfully down-to-earth counterpart to Wimsey's flights of fancy. She is practical, forthright and yet never overly wonderful--her insecurities and mistakes are laid bare for all to see, and she's definitely not always reasonable where Wimsey is concerned. The introduction of a fully-rounded character into the Wimsey books forces Sayers to make Wimsey himself more vulnerable, even as the list of his accomplishments stretches toward the exaggerated.

The only place where my attention flags a bit in this book is the long explanation of the code-cracking, although it is very clever and no doubt puzzle buffs must thoroughly enjoy it. I noticed, for the first time, that my 1977 edition was typeset the old-fashioned way, making the code grids rather wobbly. I'm so glad I kept it, because it reminds me of how books used to be before all this newfangled computer stuff came in. I would truly like to own the yellow-jacketed Gollancz hardbacks (the form in which I discovered the series, in my school library) but I imagine they are collector's items and priced accordingly.

If I thought really hard about this novel I would probably discover its flaws; Sayers herself cheerfully admitted that she screwed up sometimes. But I was too busy reading it...

[Lightreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would say ‘another Lord Peter mystery,’ but it’s more accurate to say, ‘a Sayers book, marking the transitional point in the series where we stop having Lord Peter mysteries.’ And start having Peter-and-Harriet books, I mean.

Not as enjoyable as I was expecting. Peter and Harriet are, of course, rubbing along very complexly here, with suppressed romantic sentiment (mostly Peter, but not all) and resentment (mostly Harriet, but not all). There is only one real eruption between them; the rest of the time they take carefully calculated shots, watch each other too closely, and very rarely get wrapped up in the puzzle and accidentally slide towards partnership.

And the puzzle. I realize that the endless back-and-forth with layered theories and time tables and who-done-its and how-done-its is how this book works. It’s all about how mysteries are made, with Harriet applying her writer’s eye to the problem of constructing a solution that isn’t just possible, but balanced and right. Unfortunately, I find that style with the endless theorizing extremely tedious. But I think my real problem is that after all that commentary, those layered narratives and fictions, Peter does what Peter does – what a golden age detective does – and tootles off into the sunset, crime and victim(s) slotted in as just another pretty puzzle, just another story. That sort of thing rubs me exactly the wrong way. It’s the opposite of the modern TV crime drama problem, where every episode has a connection to the investigator’s tragical past so that the investigator is the real victim. It’s not like I’m fond of that, but in the golden age tradition, there were no victims at all, because it’s just an intellectual game. And this book didn’t interrogate that, the way it did most other parts of the mystery form.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently I have read this before! I had vague senses of deja vu at the various reveals, and even at some of the jokes and now I know why! I kept dismissing it bc there was so much I didn’t remember- including the ultimate solution thank goodness. This just goes to show you when I don’t write a review it all fades from my mind.

My three star opinion is a bit changed. With context and many more Wimsey books under my belt and a few more years in age, I’d want to give it another (I won’t for a reason I give below, but I’d like to). I suspect that my three star opinion was based on the pacing, the fact that this goes on rather (as Wimsey himself would say), and is a bit too fascinated with what I expect she’d call local color for someone reading many decades and a continent away. I wasn’t hearing the accent she was trying to evoke, and the slices of country life and characters she sketched in passing are done so frequently in interwar novels that I read that it did not feel worth the time she gave it. I also felt that she did let Peter spin out a few too many full “here’s how it might have happened, but didn’t” red herring stories.

Undoubtedly clever, all of it. Turns of phrase that made me smile. The best of that sort of thing was when she let her writing just be pages of free association allusions, threaded through Peter’s speech and her narrative structure. If you’ve raised yourself on Brit lit classics, it’s quite a lovely performance. The best part was when she did that bit with them on the shore as Russian novel dialogue. That was my literal LOL of the book- because unlike the provincial characters she sketches, I can hear that and hear the layers under it, but I don’t think I would have needed to to find it funny. The part where she lets herself talk about the impossibility of casting Richard III and the part where Wimsey makes up rhymes for the policeman to remember. The same. The codes part was great. There were several of those bright spots I loved.

Not to mention there’s some very female gaze scenes where Harriet is allowed to appreciate Peter’s body openly in addition to his mind. And the fight they have about why he came down to help her felt like they may as well have been speaking naked. He reminded me of a couple of extremely smart men I dated or almost dated in high school and college, and how when the feeling switch flips... the kind of people underneath are often incredible. I know the core of this guy, with a few less tinsel decorations on him.

But again... all the things I said above are true. I found myself impatient by the end. And here we come to the other reason I’m not raising the star rating: There is also, you should be aware, a very casual use of the N word early on, and by a character who we’re not exactly supposed to respect as the sharpest, but who ends up on Team Good, with enough merit in him, were that excused, to be regarded with fond tolerance. Which is, indeed, how the characters regard him. To be fair, she also goes out of her way to make fun of xenophobic and yet pro-empire people in the court scenes at the end, and on a couple of chance witnesses in between. I don’t love that it was very much in the spirit that some northern Democrats speak about southern stereotypes in the south, but for her class and education, seems about par.

Anyway. Some dazzling, lovely moments. Delightful to see Harriet again. I love her more and more as I age. When she’s loose and free and has had a few, or is completely buckled down laser focus with Wimsey, I love it. It’s just the rest, you know. You can’t discount it.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better book than its off-putting title; the only worse novel title I know, Gogol’s Dead Souls, another comic novel whose title denies comedy. (See my review.) While the sequel Gaudy Night finds dozens of suspects but few murders, this one begins with a beach picnic punctuated by a body.

Sayers often cited as a great mystery writer, but she should also be known as a comic novelist, hilarious at points of high tension. Walking miles from her reluctant discovery to find police and report, Harriet Vane overtakes various people who later feature as suspects; but not one old, deaf man whom Vane asks,
“Has he got a telephone?”
“Not till tonight. He’s over Heathbury market..”
“A telephone,” she repeated,”Has he got a telephone?”
“Oh, ay, you’ll find her somewhere about.”
When she fails to flag a passing car, “Oh bother! I might have stopped that if I hadn’t wasted my time on this old idiot.”
“You’r quite right, miss,” agreed Old Father William, catching the last words with the perversity of the deaf, “Madmen I call ‘em. There ain’t no sense in racketing along at the pace” (20).

When Harriet Vane confesses she was kissed by a murderer, the son of the older woman who had fallen for her young dance teacher (also, the carcase), Lord Peter despairs, “Tell me who this bone-headed, dissipated murderer is, who can’t even keep to his murdering”(234).

Sayers’ learning did not cease as an Oxford language major. Here she writes an impenetrable chapter decoding cipher, refers often to harnesses and horses (a “cob,” short-legged riding horse, “gees” are…), she tallies the minute differentiations of Lord Peter’s wine preferences, and even car mechanics. (Since my grandfather traded a dozen chickens for a 1917 Model T, I know about magnetos mentioned.) I sense she studied these as she wrote. Much about barbers here, and an old-fashioned straightedge razor such as the one I inherited from my Maine grandfather.

As always in English mysteries, a wealth of British slang, especially about dress—“mufti” for a police officer in civilian dress (47). “Saloon” for “limousine,” “Reach-me-down” for “hand-me-down”(suit, 171), “pantiles” for “tiles” though Chief Inspector asks what the devil they are (287).

Query: Did Prohibition in the U.S. hinder detection and help crime? Lord Peter Wimsey interrogates in pubs, and Sayers opines, “it’ll be black day for detectives when beer is abolished”(347).

Delighting me, a Shakespearean for forty years, Wimsey often uses the Bard in everyday speech, as “seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon’s mouth”(404) from HV, my most cited article arguing H5 is comedy, ending like his others in marriage but adding regional accents of the Welsh Fleuellen, the Irish soldier Macmorris, the Scot Ramy, and of course the French.

Sayers’ writing always adds insight, as in her imaginative verbs. Skeptical of film, she writes “The film shuddered to its close”(388).

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024 Review - 4 stars
The code breaking still eluded me but I enjoyed the plot much more this re-read. It is a bit bloated, but the dynamic between Lord Peter and Harriet is my favorite.

2014 Review - 3 stars
While I totally love Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, this book got tedious. It's too long. I skimmed through the code breaking portion because it made my head swim (it was also late at night, not the wisest time to solve a mystery)
A great mystery, though, fun to read and track. I look forward to more!

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

After her highly-publicized near-conviction in the murder trial of her former lover (in Strong Poison), mystery writer Harriet Vane decides to get away from it all by taking a solitary walking tour in the countryside. While lunching on the beach, she stumbles upon a corpse. There are no one else's footprints in the sand, but other evidence suggests this was not suicide...

Harriet doesn't want to ask Lord Peter, who cleared her name once before, to do it a second time, but he shows up anyway. As the two investigate the young dancer's death, one odd detail and after another piles up and the case becomes more complicated rather than less.

This is the type of mystery that has a lot of precise time calculations and decoding of ciphers, which I'm not too interested by, but the dialogue is tightly written and often quite funny. Sayers has a remarkable ability to shift quickly and smoothly from snide asides one moment and intense emotion a minute later.

[Jersy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet and Lord Peter are again delightful, the case is a lot of fun and full of turns and there is so much humor in the book as well.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved rereading this one. I knew I would, when I revisited the opening lines...

The best remedy for a bruised heart is not, as so many people seem to think, repose upon a manly bosom. Much more efficacious are honest work, physical activity, and the sudden acquisition of wealth. After being acquitted of murdering her lover, and indeed, in consequence of that acquittal, Harriet Vane found all three specifics abundantly at her disposal; and although Lord Peter Wimsey, with a touching faith in tradition, persisted day in and day out in presenting the bosom for her approval, she showed no inclination to recline upon it.

The way Harriet and Peter interact is brilliant (and oh, how good it is to have Harriet saying no to Peter so determinedly, neither falling in love with him instantly because he's that perfect, nor agreeing to him to stop him pestering her which it is implied she did with her previous lover, nor playing him for a fool: she is as honest as she can be about how she feels and doesn't feel, and he doesn't expect or want to play on the clichés of gratitude and so on either), and their (sometimes strained) partnership as a crime-solving duo is awesome. Bunter gets some very good moments too, and the whole scenario is satisfyingly convoluted.

Granted, if you've read it before, you do get the urge to shake Peter for making certain assumptions, and the code-breaking part becomes even more boring, but overall, it stands up well to a second (or third) reading.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the seventh novel featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and was first published in 1932. It is also the second novel in which Harriet Vane appears and the events in the novel are part of Wimsey's courtship to wed Miss Vane. The novel follows the events of Strong Poison , the first novel to feature Miss Vane who has still refused to marry Wimsey. The novel starts out with Vane taking a walking tour along the Southwest coast of England. After eating her lunch near the sea and taking a nap, she discovers a body of a man lying on an isolated rock who is bleeding out from having his throat cut by a razor lying close to the body. Because the blood is still wet and running, it appears that he was killed just prior to Vane's discovery of the body. Vane sees no one else in sight who could have killed him so did the man commit suicide? Lord Peter finds out about the body and rushes to the scene to start the investigation along with Harriet. So is the death really suicide? Of course, Wimsey feels otherwise but can he and Harriet prove murder?

This one was really a very convoluted murder mystery with a myriad of false clues and alibis. How could the man have been murdered if there was no one there at the time of death immediately before Harriet discovered the body? The story involves some interesting characters including the murdered man who is a Russian immigrant and was working as a dancer at a nearby hotel (the novel states that he is a gigolo because he dances with older women and in fact was engaged to one). The story also involves some mysterious letters that were written in code that may be the clue needed to solve the case. I thought this one was a little long and somewhat contrived but overall still enjoyable. I have been binge reading the Wimsey novels and I look forward to more . . . will Wimsey and Vane eventually get together?

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can call me Wimsy cuz I’m obsessed with Harriet Vane

[Pamela Shropshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one has so much of my catnip! Harriet Vane, on a walking tour of the West Country. English country village life. A beach. Witty banter and sexual tension between the principal players. And it has a terrific opening sentence:

The best remedy for a bruised heart is not, as so many people seem to think, repose upon a manly bosom. Much more efficacious are honest work, physical activity, and the sudden acquisition of wealth.

Harriet, while on her walking tour, spies a lovely deserted beach whereon to eat her lunch. It's a warm day and as it often does, her meal has a soporific effect and she falls asleep. She's awakened by a cry that she first interprets as being emitted by a seagull filching her sandwich remains. She goes dancing and capering along the beach for the sheer joy of life and comes near a large flat rock. She notices something on the rock that she initially thinks is seaweed, then a sleeping man, and finally, she sees that the man is dead, with his throat cut from ear to ear.

What follows is a very complicated murder investigation, full of alibis and disguises and secret identities. And yet it is very interesting, unlike Five Red Herrings. I do admit to skimming over the cipher bits - we have computers nowadays to crack codes.

Still not as much of Bunter and Charles Parker - and no Dowager Duchess - as I would like, but I did adore the letter that Charles wrote to Peter.

‘Talking of bigamy, Mary sends her love and wants to know whether you are any nearer committing monogamy yet. She says I am to recommend it to you out of my own experience, so I do so—acting strictly under orders. Affectionately yours, CHARLES.’

Some of the witty and intelligent banter between Peter and Harriet:

'Miss Vane, Harriet, if I may call you so, will you marry me and look after my socks, and, incidentally be the only woman-novelist who ever accepted a proposal of marriage in the presence of a superintendent and inspector of police?'

'Not even for the sake of headlines.'

*******
They have been searching the beach for any clues to the murder and now meet to review and discuss their findings. Harriet found, among other things, half a Bible.

Peter: All right; keep it; we'll call it a clue. How about the Holy Writ?
Harriet, in a marked manner: You can keep that; it might be good for you.
Peter: Very well. (In a still more marked manner) Shall we begin with the Song of Songs?
****
Peter: Oy!
Harriet: Hullo!
Peter: I just wanted to ask whether you'd given any further thought to that suggestion about marrying me.
Harriet (sarcastically): I suppose you were thinking how delightful it would be to go through life like this together?
Peter: Well, not quite like this. Hand in hand was more my idea.
Harriet: What is that in your hand?
Peter: A dead starfish.
Harriet: Poor fish!
Peter: No ill-feeling, I trust.
Harriet: Oh, dear, no.
*****

Some more memorable bits:
'What about Miss Vane?' demanded Wimsey, sharply. Then he thought: 'Damn being in love! I'm losing my lightness of touch.'
*******
Strong opinions on immigration are nothing new. Here, a juror at the coroner's inquest shares his thoughts:

'With 2 million British-born workers unemployed, [I think] it a scandalous thing that this foreign riff-raff was allowed to land at all.'

*******
"...six foot of elm with brass handles."
(I haven't heard this euphemism for a coffin or death before.)
*****
(Peter) 'My back aches, and a drowsy numbness stills My brain, as though of hemlock--'
This is a misquote of Ode to a Nightingale
"My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains/My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk..."
*******
'Ain't she the snail's ankles?' asked Mr. da Soto, admiringly.
*******
"Mademoiselle, I tell you frankly that to have a healthy mind in a healthy body is the greatest gift of le bon Dieu, and when I see so many people who have clean blood and strong bodies spoiling themselves and distorting their brains with drugs and drink and foolishness, it makes me angry."
*******
(Peter) 'Tell them to bring up a bottle of Scotch and a siphon and some beer, for malt does more than Milton can to justify God's ways to man.' - reference to Paradise Lost and A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad
*******
'You don't want ever again to have to depend for happiness on another person.' (Peter)
'That's true. That's the truest thing you've ever said.' (Harriet)
*******
(Peter to Harriet) 'Grateful! Good God! Am I never to get away from the bleat of that filthy adjective? I don't want gratitude. I don't want kindness. I don't want sentimentality. I don't even want you to love – I can make you give me that - of a sort. I want common honesty.'
...
'Why do you suppose I treat my own sincerest feelings like something out of a comic opera, if it isn't to save myself the bitter humiliation of seeing you try not to be utterly nauseated by them? Can't you understand that this damned dirty trick of fate has robbed me of the common man's right to be serious about his own passions?'
*******
"...useful as a raincoat under machine-gun fire."
*******
Wimsey considered, rightly, that when a woman takes a man's advice about the purchase of clothes, it is a sign that she is not indifferent to his opinion.
*******
(Peter) '... he drove me to the indescribable vulgarity of reminding him who I was and why I did not require anybody's money.'
*******
Harriet checks Lord Peter out in his bathing suit. '...he strips better than I should have expected...Better shoulders than I realized, and, thank Heaven, calves to his legs.'

Wimsey, who was rather proud of his figure, would hardly have been flattered could he have heard this modified rapture, but for the moment he was happily unconcerned about himself.
*******
"...sleek with breakfast, sunshine and sentiments..."
*******
'I'm getting old,' said Lord Peter. 'My hair is turning grey over the temples.'
Mr. Endicott emitted a concerned cluck. 'But that's nothing...Many ladies think it looks more distinguished that way.'

This is still true nearly 90 years later.
*******
'It is a little early to be sure, but I always drive more mellowly on a pint of beer.'
Whoops! Better not say this today!
*******
...said Harriet. 'Where did you come from?'
'From London -- like a bird that hears the call of its mate.'
'I didn't-' began Harriet.
'I didn't mean you. I meant the corpse. But still, talking of mates, will you marry me?'
'Certainly not.'
'I thought not, but I felt I might as well ask the question.'
*******
"A solitary rock is always attractive. All right-minded people feel an overwhelming desire to scale and sit upon it."

One of my favorites of the series!

[Julie Durnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars but rounded up for the delightful banter between Harriet and Lord Peter- not to mention his persistent marriage offers and the inevitable “certainly not!” Harriet reply! The murder mystery plot is one of the most convoluted ones I have come across in some time- I truly despaired it ever being solved. But solved it is- and in a quite unique manner. Sayers is a great mystery writer but this could’ve used some editing.

[Andree · Rating 5 out of 5]

2019 Reread #2

Somehow these have become my no-stress reading. It seems reasonable to me. Ignoring the murder plots themselves, it's really striking me on this reread how very much Strong Poison is Peter's book, and how it's really all about him falling in love with Harriet and how it affects him. It's less about her. (His strolling into jail and promptly proposing is a case in point, as is how obvious it is to everyone around him that he's been profoundly affected.)

I bring it up, because I think this book is Harriet's book in much the same way. She gets to be on far more of an equal footing in this (i.e. she's not being convicted of murder and entirely beholden to him). And while this book doesn't show Harriet developing feelings for Lord Peter (well, perhaps a bit), it does do a fairly good job of showing her becoming, well, accustomed to having him around. We do get to watch her enjoying his company (even as she's determined not to). I particularly enjoyed on this reread the sense of how well they work together at solving the case, particularly in terms of the actually detecting, and how their minds complement each other. Also, enjoy that while his instinct is definitely to go to her when he believes her to be in trouble, hers is to do likewise. Peter is one of the few people in this that she trusts.

Also, when they're walking along the beach in parallel looking for clues.
Peter: Oy!
Harriet: Hullo!
Peter: I just wanted to ask whether you'd given any further thought to that suggestion about marrying me.
Harriet (sarcastically): I suppose you were thinking how delightful it would be to go through life like this together?
Peter: Well, not quite like this. Hand in hand was more my idea.
Harriet: What is that in your hand?
Peter: A dead starfish.
Harriet: Poor fish!
Peter: No ill-feeling, I trust.
Harriet: Oh, dear no.

And as always, the fight is excellent.

2019 Reread

Continue to prefer this one to Strong Poison, mostly because Peter and Harriet can interact in less constrained circumstances. Also there is more Bunter. These are also good reading on the train.

2019 Reading Challenge - A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover

2017 Reread
I may have liked this one better than Strong Poison this time around. That may mostly be due to the fight (which is still spectacular), but I also find that I enjoy Harriet as narrator, and as fellow semi-sleuth, and I enjoy she and Peter detecting together (off and on). Also, there is dancing.

2016 Reread
4.5 stars, but I'm rounding up. Been reading this one off and on for the last few weeks.

I do really like this one. I think I just like how everything is random and really complicated, and nothing makes sense. I like the ever-more complicated theories to try and make sense of the facts. I particularly like the moment where Harriet points out that everyone's theories are terrible, for that reason. No one would do the things that needed to be done to make the facts (as they stand at any given point in time) work.

And I obviously love the Lord Peter/Harriet interactions. Especially the fight.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 8th novel in the Lord Peter Wimsey series of 1930s British mysteries, although the first one I have read. It is set in a fictional seaside town in the South of England.

Harriet Vane comes across a dead body on the beach, later found to be that of Paul Alexis, a Russian dance instructor. She soon finds Lord Peter has arrived to help her solve the crime and before long they are knee deep in confusing and conflicting details, uncovering the details of Paul’s proposed marriage to wealthy older widow Mrs Weldon, a relationship hotly opposed by her financially strapped son Henry, and then there is his alleged connection with Russian royalty and possible suspicious involvement of Bolsheviks.

I found this an enjoyable story, particularly the fiercely independent Harriet and her daily refusals of Lord Peter’s marriage proposals. Although he is very British, at times in an exaggerated and foppish way, the banter between them is priceless. The actual mystery was far more detailed and convoluted than it needed to be. I don’t think I really had to know where all 24 of a certain batch of razors ended up, or all the alphabet combinations in the code, or even the ten different versions of the probable time frame for the crime. Despite all that this was a fun read, and in terms of strong female characters well ahead of its time. 3.5 stars

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books that make me chortle and Wimsey's continued proposals of marriage to Harriet Vane in Have His Carcase delighted me every time. The mystery was complicated (until it was solved, of course!) Even though I'm good at logic puzzles, the carefully explained cipher deciphering was completely lost on me. Still, I'd gladly re-read this for the lovely banter.

The opening paragraph is a good example: "The best remedy for a bruised heart is not, as so many people seem to think, repose upon a manly bosom. Much more efficacious are honest work, physical activity, and the sudden acquisition of wealth. After being acquitted of murdering her lover, and, indeed, in consequence of that acquittal, Harriet Vane found all three specifics abundantly at her disposal; and although Lord Peter Wimsey, with a touching faith in tradition, persisted day in and day out in presenting the bosom for her approval, she showed no inclination to recline upon it."

[Gwen Testa · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Listen, Harriet. I do understand. I know you don’t want either to give or to take. You’ve tried being the giver, and you’ve found that the giver is always fooled. And you won’t be the taker, because that’s very difficult, and because you know that the taker always ends by hating the giver “. Pg. 54

“Always suspect the man with the cast-iron alibi”- was not that the very first axiom in the detective’s book of rules? Pg. 257

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Additional review from 1/13/20
...since we have devoted a great deal of time and thought to the case on the assumption that it was a murder, it's a convenience to know that the assumption is probably correct.
~Have His Carcase (1932) by Dorothy L. Sayers

As I mention in my previous review (HERE), the Lord Peter mysteries are comfort reads for me. I have read them numerous times and enjoy them thoroughly each time. It has been nine years since I last read this one (before Mount TBR or my Vintage Mystery challenges existed). But I'm not sure that I have much that is new to say. Although I will mention that the depressing atmosphere of the "watering hole" hotel struck me more forcefully this time round. How very sad to travel from hotel to hotel (or to pick one for the summer) and look for romance among the paid dancing partners. The Mrs. Weldons of the world--making themselves up to try and appear young again, grasping for a youth that is gone (or perhaps they never had).

I enjoyed Harriet's interactions with Antoine, the other dancing partner, very much this time. Antoine is very wise in the ways of the the world...and has a realistic outlook on the life he leads and the ladies he has to entertain. He also sees straight through the pretenses--even Harriet's and realizes long before she will ever be ready to admit it that loves Peter. We've got a whole other book for her to get through before she's ready to admit that.

A lovely reread--I'm glad several of my challenges gave me an excuse to do so.


Review from 10/3/11:
Dorothy L Sayers is always a comfort read for me. I've had a love affair going on with Lord Peter for about 30 years now. And I return to his stories whenever I need a pick-me-up. And, boy, did I need a pick-me-up after making my way through Middlemarch!

Have His Carcase was just the tonic that the doctor would have ordered (had I consulted him). We have Harriet Vane, mystery writer and recently acquitted of murdering her former lover, on a walking tour to shake off the horrors of having been on trial for her life. She takes a break from walking to have lunch on a beach and discovers a body on a local rock formation--known as the Devil's Flat Iron. The man's throat has been cut and the blood has not even begun to clot and there are no footprints in the sand except Harriet's and the man's. It's obvious that the tide is coming in quickly and there will be no time to fetch help before the body will be washed away into the sea. Harriet, using her detective novelist skills, notes as much about the man as possible, gathers up various items (shoe, hat, etc) and takes a whole roll of film on her travel camera to record the scene. She then makes her way to the nearest phone (after much travail) to report the incident to the police.

Enter Lord Peter Wimsey. Who comes "as a bird to its mate"--to the body, Harriet, to the body. His friend Salcombe Hardy has tipped him the wink about Harriet's adventures and Peter is all set to get to the bottom of the mystery (and, incidentally, ask Harriet to marry him). And mystery there is--what looks to be a simple suicide soon becomes very complicated. Why did the man sit on the rock for over two hours before killing himself? Why did he wear gloves...and buy a return train ticket...and take his door key when he didn't take anything else with him? Where did he get the razor--a man who never shaves certainly doesn't need one. Matters become even more mysterious--with Bolsheviks and communist school teachers, jealous lovers (of the man's former girlfriend), and a future son-in-law who was none too keen on having "a lounge lizard" papa. There's the suspicious camper in Hink's Lane and the mare that got loose and the fisherman who was in a boat in sight of the beach at the relevant times--and who is definitely not telling all he knows. And an itinerant barber who has an odd little tale to tell. There are 300 pounds of gold coins to be found and a secret code to be broken. Things certainly aren't dull in the watering hole at Wilvercombe.

I just plain love reading the Sayers novels. There is so much wit and humor throughout that it really is a comfortable sort of book to sink into. Especially since this is the umpteenth reread and I really didn't have to use up brain power trying to follow all that "decipher the code" business. That would be one of my quibbles with this particular story (with the previous book, Five Red Herrings, it was the time tables)--way too much time spent on the intricate methods of deciphering this particular cipher. I have to confess that I skimmed right through that part this time 'round. I think the filmed version with Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter does an excellent job of condensing this scene down--although, it may make it seem a little too easy.

My favorite bits are when Peter finally gets to dance with Harriet, their stroll along the beach looking for clues, and when she thinks she may have been kissed by a murderer. I also like the wrap-up at the end when Harriet begins offering up various other fictional detectives (Roger Sheringham, Dr. Thorndyke, etc) and their methods as possible ways to find the solution. Exciting stuff all around and an excellent read. Four stars.

Favorite quotes:

Darling, if you danced like an elderly elephant with arthritis, I would dance the sun and the moon into the sea with you. I have waited a thousand years to see you dance in that frock. (Lord Peter to Harriet)

When I kiss you it will be an important event--one of those things which stand out among their surroundings like the first time you taste li-chee. (Lord Peter to Harriet)

Like all male creatures Wimsey was a simple soul at bottom.

[Abigail Bok · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this entry in the Lord Peter Wimsey series of detective novels, we find the woman he loves, Harriet Vane, back on the scene. In fact, the story opens with her on a solitary walking tour in Cornwall, discovering a body on the shore. Lord Peter, guessing that this may mean trouble for her (since she has previously been mixed up in murder), flies heroically to her rescue.

Not that his heroism—or their romance—is portrayed in the sort of terms that are recognizable to most present-day readers. He lounges about, mingling with locals and constabulary, and treats the whole mystery like a game, all the while tossing “How about a spot of matrimony, what?”-style lines Harriet’s way. She treats these offhand inquiries with all the respect they deserve, so the reader has to read both the tension and the romance between the lines. One must be attentive to realize that the police are regarding Harriet as a suspect, and to see how much she relies on Lord Peter’s devotion and esteem while appearing to reject them.

About the mystery: a young man of possibly noble Russian lineage, who works as a paid dancer at a resort, has either committed suicide or been murdered by razor across the throat. Upon discovering the corpse, Harriet has the presence of mind to realize that the rising tide will soon wash the body away, so she gathers what evidence she can before leaving the scene to try to contact the police. A good thing, too, because the body is indeed gone by the time the police arrive.

The police and our amateur detectives delve into the young man’s life and associates, and a fairly typical investigation ensues for most of the book. Toward the end, though, Sayers’s mania for complexity is unleashed, and she lost this reader’s interest a bit with her endless detail about coded clues and descriptions of all the highly improbable planning that went into the commission of the crime. Only one person had a serious motive for murder, which made it not very mysterious for me; all the other suspects seemed to have little reason to be involved.

Still, I very much enjoyed the characters and especially the subtle dance between Harriet and Lord Peter.