Unnatural Death (1927)

Another comforting reread. Less comforting here, in that the villain is a young woman who some people read as a lesbian or asexual, with that behaviour being part of what makes her a character to be suspicious of, and in that Sayers has a rare character of colour here, the Reverend Hallelujah, who she doesn't handle particularly well.

It also doesn't help that once the medical part of the mystery is solved, a lot of the tension -- e.g. is Wimsey wrong? what on earth is happening here? -- goes out of it. I already solved the mystery the first time, through unfortunately having watched an NCIS episode with that exact cause of death just before I read it, and since then I've also listened to the radio play... The tension is, consequently, quite low for me.

Still, it's Sayers, which means it's otherwise well-written, and it involves Lord Peter, Bunter, Parker and Miss Climpson quite prominently, which is entertaining. ( )

Lord Peter Wimsey can be a lot of fun. I love the way he takes lines from poetry and mangles them for his own purposes. The relationship between Wimsey and the grumbling copper Parker is always amusing. The mystery itself is entertaining, and there are a few twists. The most difficult thing in this book is the racism of all the characters, in this Britain of the 20s. ( )

Still not seeing much of Lord Peter as a character, to date. In fact, looking back over it, this book didn't really spend much time with him at all, at least not much time of any consequence -- even less than in Clouds of Witness, though there was, of course, a family connection there. It doesn't seem strongly tied to the other books: there's little reference to Peter Wimsey's family, or Parker's interest in Lady Mary, or such things. I could have wished for more of Bunter, too. I'm not sure if it's my interest in the characters making me expect them to be included more, or whether there's genuinely less of them.

It's an interesting little mystery, anyway, and I probably wouldn't have figured out the cause of death if I hadn't seen a similar scenario in NCIS a couple of days ago. A lot of the mystery in this is in figuring out how it was done. Again, there was a nice sense of me being able to figure things out, with enough mystery left behind that I needed to keep reading.

Fun to read, like the others. ( )

This is another good one, the one that introduces the delightful Miss Climpson, Wimsey's version of the Baker Street Irregulars. ( )

I'm still rationing my reading of Sayers' Lord Peter series but it's hard. I liked this one a lot too. Almost the perfect murder. An very clever villain, Parker and Peter, on the road, staying in pub, kicking themselves under the table to stop the other one from making a mistake. Bunter being just Bunter. So, story, this great old lady died of natural death and left her money to her great niece. The doctor makes a fuss because even if his patient was very ill (cancer) she wasn't on death's door. Lord Peter sends one of his best informer Climpson, an old maid finding a new way to make a difference. Sayers' description of women's conditions in this book is quite varied and balanced. On one hand, we have Miss Climpson, even if she's unmarried and past middle age is still making a difference, very involved and not a shrinking violet. We have the Gotobed sisters. Both young women had a career, improved their conditions, both were married or engaged. Then we have the "couples": Miss Clara Whittaker and Mis Agatha Dawson. Both very unusual for their times. Clara, business woman, living a man's life and Agatha sharing her life. It's not said but it's understood that Clara and Agatha were together. Both very devoted to each other. Clara leaving all her belongings to Agatha, spoiling her brother. The other couple : Mary Whittaker and Verna Findlater is more of a dysfunctional relationship, the infatuation of a young woman with someone very strong willed and cunning. As Clara and Agatha relationship was described as strong and healthy, Mary and Verna's relationship is shown as nefarious and damaging. Balanced views all thru the book. So far, the best of the novels in the series, than again I've only read three. Lots to look forward. ( )