Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our May 22 challenge read of Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

This takes us full circle as the first Peter Wimsey book was also the first book in our first ever challenge, quite a few years ago now!

The stark naked body was lying in the tub. Not unusual for a proper bath, but highly irregular for murder -- especially with a pair of gold pince-nez deliberately perched before the sightless eyes. What's more, the face appeared to have been shaved after death. The police assumed that the victim was a prominent financier, but Lord Peter Wimsey, who dabbled in mystery detection as a hobby, knew better. In this, his first murder case, Lord Peter untangles the ghastly mystery of the corpse in the bath.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

As it is a sunny, Bank Holiday weekend, let's open this a day early.

Great idea, Susan, and thanks for setting up the threads.

The link to the spoiler thread is below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Who is reading this one? I have just finished it - I'd read it 3 times before and will admit I didn't enjoy it as much this time around, but it was interesting to go back to the beginning again and see what Wimsey is like on his first appearance.

Yes, I enjoyed the re-read. I am definitely in the 'early Wimsey' camp.

I enjoyed it very much, and have also read it a few times. This time I opted for the audiobook, to change things up a bit, very entertaining. Peter’s rather dithering, chatty dialogue comes across better in audiobook, reading it, you think people around him would’ve wanted to smack him!

I have read 'Whose Body' many times over the years. It's not her best IMO although I always enjoy it, Right now I am going through the Harriet Vane stories and really love them, I have just reached the end of 'Presumption of Death' and starting on the 'Wimsey Papers' alfter which I wIll read 'The Late Scholar' and 'The Attenbury Emeralds' by Jill Paton Walsh before starting with 'Whose Body' again! Her continuation of the Wimsey stories are almost seamless although there are times that don't seem to me to ring true
In this neck of the woods it's our very late Autumn and getting cooler. We don't have 'Bank Hp;idays' like you although we have plenty of statutory hoidays. We had Easter a couple of weeks ago and last weekend was Anzac Day which was another long weekend, they are not always so close together. Then we have Queens Birthday weekend at the beginning of June and on 24 June a new Stat Holiday, Matariki,, the Maori New Year which will move around late june and early july as it is connocted to the reappearance of the Pleiades star cluster above the horizon which Maori have always taken as the New Year. Then it's a long run to late October when we have Labour Weekend which celebrates the 8 hour working fay (what 8 hour day?)

Keith wrote: "I have read 'Whose Body' many times over the years. It's not her best IMO although I always enjoy it, Right now I am going through the Harriet Vane stories and really love them, I have just reached..."

I'm in the US and spring is arriving. Daffs and tulips are blooming.

Sandy wrote: "Keith wrote: "I have read 'Whose Body' many times over the years. It's not her best IMO although I always enjoy it, Right now I am going through the Harriet Vane stories and really love them, I hav..."

I’m in the Upper American South (North Carolina), daffodils and tulips have been out for several weeks, and now azaleas (flowering bushes), and dogwood, cherry and redbud trees are a riot of color!

I think I read this a long time ago but don't remember what happened, so this is technically a re-read.

Jackie wrote: "I think I read this a long time ago but don't remember what happened, so this is technically a re-read."

Enjoy!

This was at least my third read of this book and all the Wimsey novels. This time I noticed the humor more: Peter playing the silly ass, Bunter investigative techniques, and conversations with his mother.

If there are any first-time readers, how do you feel Peter is portrayed on a scale from spoilt nobility looking for amusement to crime fighter keeping Britain safe? I'm wondering because of a comment from the spoiler thread and my opinion is colored by later reads.

I will be joining you for this one and my copy is "in transit" from the library. I read all the Wimsy books many many years ago and look forward to a reread-I remember loving them at the time, but was disappointed on my Allingham reread with this group to find that my tastes and definitely changed on that series, so will see how this one holds up for me.

how do you feel Peter is portrayed on a scale from spoilt nobility looking for amusement to crime fighter keeping Britain safe? I'm wondering because of a comment from the spoiler thread and my opinion is colored by later reads.

Sandy, I will answer this before I go read the spoiler thread since I just finished my re-read.

I would say 99% crime fighter keeping Britian safe especially since we learn (view spoiler)[ the Major served in WWI and is still dealing with the aftermath (hide spoiler)]

It's interesting he talks about that himself: is he just a rich man amusing himself or is he doing something useful? - in conversation with Parker, a very good character who almost deserves his own book. I thought the same thing about Bunter.

In 'Whoxe Body', Peter is only just introduced to us, He is effectrively a two dimensional carfboard cut out, the beginning of his development as a full three dimensional character which expands ove thr whole series, Give Sayers time to develop him! (or give HIM time to develop)
Sayers is a scholar and her writing shows that which is why I love the whole series, includitngthe continuation by Jill Paton Walsh who takes the characters and keeps them whole. While Walsh is not Sayers, she manages to keep the 'flavour' of the charaters and the criticism of her writing is I think uncalled for - but that is not the subject of this thread is it?
Certainly this story shows Peter as a silly ass trying to find his metier, and Sayers shows him to perfection, His PTSD is clearly explained and is the reason for his behaviour.
I hope that we will have the opportunity to discuss the rest of the whole series, including JPW's continuations later on, I have some opinions on them!

Keith wrote: "In 'Whoxe Body', Peter is only just introduced to us, He is effectrively a two dimensional carfboard cut out, the beginning of his development as a full three dimensional character which expands ov..."

Keith, the group read all of the Wimsey series as our first challenge in 2016, continuing with Jill Paton Walsh in 2017 and all our comments are still around, probably under "group challenges". I agree with you about the continuations.

As a fairly new member I probably don't know my way round this site well enough yet but I have been unable to locate the earlier 2016/7 discussions on the Peter Wimsey' books by Sayers and Walsh

Keith wrote: "As a fairly new member I probably don't know my way round this site well enough yet but I have been unable to locate the earlier 2016/7 discussions on the Peter Wimsey' books by Sayers and Walsh"

I'm on a laptop and the other versions may be different. Go to the top of this page and you'll see this thread is part of the larger Group Challenges thread. Click on Group Challenges, go down to the bottom of that list where you can pull up previous pages. You want the oldest, 3 and 4.

P.S. Good luck. A demo would be much better than written instructions

Or go the Goodreads page for the book you are interested in, and at the bottom of the page is a list of topics. You will find the Reading the Detectives discussions there (you may have to access 'more topics')

Keith wrote: "As a fairly new member I probably don't know my way round this site well enough yet but I have been unable to locate the earlier 2016/7 discussions on the Peter Wimsey' books by Sayers and Walsh"

Here's the "oldest" Group Challenges page, Keith:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
Several of the Wimsey's discussions are on there. At the bottom, if you click on Page 3, you'll find more of them, etc. HTH!

Many thanks to all of you who helped here, what would I do without you guys?
Gaudy Night is much more than a mystery novel. much more cerebral and scholarly really, I have read it several times and each reading reveals more 'layers' to discover, Admittedly all the references and quotatopns etc could well be over the head of many who have a more 'modern' education, the last three words in the book are a case in point! I still have to see what is said about JPW, I;ll leave that to tomorrow

While I did not enjoy my read of Gaudy Night, I did like this story quite a bit. Peter felt like the right blend of effete gentleman and serious detective. Plus, I have great comradery with any fellow book collector.

thanks for posting the link, Sid; I'd like to read the older threads.

The Wimsey series were our first group challenge - quite a while ago now! It is hard to find a single author whose books encompass an entire year, but we have read Dorothy L Sayers, PD James and Ngaio Marsh - albeit over more than one year...

I have started. It has been a very long time since a read this book but I do remember who did it.

I now have a copy of an Annotated 'Whose Body' which at first sight appears to be aimed at American readers explaining the intricacies of British society. It will be interesting to see how it turns out for me, an Englishman now domiciled in New Zealand - and from what I see on TV our location in the South Pacific is a mystery! Either we are competely omitted from your maps or we are moved to the Indian Ocean west of Australia, In fact, we are about the same area of land as the whole of the British Isles.

I lost my way in this challenge with Ronald Knox... but I'm back now for Dorothy Sayers. Im happy to meet up with Peter again