Four Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Novels: Whose Body? / Clouds of Witness / Murder Must Advertise / Gaudy Night

Lord Peter Wimsey #1,2,10,12

by Dorothy L. Sayers

The elegant and urbane Lord Peter Wimsey, rare book expert, stunning cricketer, well-known London and Paris bon vivant, shows his true essence – master detective – in these four absorbing Dorothy L. Sayers novels.

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

736 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1982

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

[Joe Vess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good and hard to put down.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, hell, I knew it would be hard to try and write something coherent about this omnibus edition. It was my first exposure to Dorothy Sayers and Peter Wimsey, a statement that says a lot. My 21st-century, terribly-American sensibilities find a lot here that is plain confusing, or in many cases uncomfortable. I read a lot of British novels and watch a lot of British TV, etc&etc, but these books have some of the most British British humor that I've ever stumbled upon--some of it is a bit much even for me, and I love dry, self-mocking humor.

The first novel felt a lot like the author stretching her wings. The dialogue was often run-on to the point of being unintelligible, and while I appreciated that it was to help build up the personalities of certain characters, it still made for choppy reading (especially when that new-fangled invention the telephone was thrown in. "'Ello? 'Ello?"

The second introduced us more to Peter's family, urgh. The mystery plot felt like a disappointment, but I enjoyed the pacing and structure more than Whose Body?

Murder Must Advertise was start to finish my favorite of the four novels, and Sayer's biting criticism on modern society wasn't subtle by any means. I loved all of the personalities in this one.

I thought I would really enjoy Gaudy Night, but I have to admit I started skimming sections of it. Large parts of it were a love song to Oxford; some of that was social commentary but a lot of it just felt like deep nostalgia. Not having come from that type of school system, it was hard to find a common ground to connect with the characters. I've spent more years than I want to admit working on three degrees, but I found myself sympathizing more with the serving staff. And Sayer's classicism (or should I say early 20th century classicism and let her off the hook?) is more overt than usual in this one.

And it's terrible, because I'm in love with the idea of Harriet, but find her very uncomfortable in practice. Actually, I think that's true for a lot of Sayer's characters and stories. Hmmm.

Anyway, just when I was ready to chuck the book in a fit of frustration I would come across a passage of gorgeous subtlety and wit that would take my breath away and I'd be back at it. So let's just say that my relationship with Dorothy Sayers is complicated and leave it at that.

[Halli Villegas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I have been properly introduced to Dorothy Sayers. This compendium starts with the earliest and ends with the latest dated of the stories, and that is about how well I liked each one. The first two, written in the twenties, are fun, typical British cozy type mysteries. The characters are interesting, but not very well developed, except for P. Wimsey, but even he is fairly shallow. In the second two stories, written in the thirties, the characters have gained depth, and through the mystery itself, Sayers is looking at societal problems, philosophical questions, and letting her humour take a wider view then just bon mots by her star detective/aristocrat. Gaudy Night was the best of them all; more of an exploration of reconciling love, work, intellectual pursuit, family, the fear of loss of self that comes from a match with an equal, feelings of personal obligation, then a mystery. Gaudy Night is one that will go in my permanent collection and be reread. Even the fact that the heroine in this story begins to work on a paper on Sheridan Fanu, and there is a brief discussion of his take on horror thrilled me. I will now hunt out her other books and read them in the hopes that there are more glimpses of her particular magic to be found.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Dororthy L Sayers. I can't say it any better than that. I could read her Wimsey novels any time and I've already read them many times (more than I can count). I reach for Sayers when I need a pick-me-up, a soothing read, good writing, great quotes and references, a good dose of golden age mystery, any or all of the above. My only quibble is that I have already read them all and I have no new stories to look forward to. Oh to be in the position to pick up a Sayers for the first time--that would be bliss.

[Micebyliz]

Read and loved them.

[Lindig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whose Body; Clouds of Witness; Murder Must Advertise; Gaudy Night

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-read Gaudy Night in 2014 for Mystery Loves Company Now and Then book group. Paired with Defending Jacob for discussion.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-reading Gaudy Night. A pleasure.