Lord Peter Views the Body (1928)

Ian Carmichael really is the perfect voice for Lord Peter Wimsey -- and the perfect voice to read out Sayers' stories. This is an unabridged reading of the stories from the Lord Peter Views The Body collection, rather than one of the BBC radioplays. It's quite a lot of fun, though I remembered the stories and got a little impatient to get to the end. I think I prefer dramatisations, even if they're abridged, even if Ian Carmichael was the perfect narrator. ( )

Spending a bit of quality time with Lord Peter Wimsey always makes me cheerful. I prefer him in the full-length novel environment where his intelligence, wit, humour and humanity can shine to their fullest extent, but there's nothing wrong with meeting him in the short story format. It's rather like having a friend drop by for a quick visit. You may prefer to have him stay for the weekend so you can catch up properly, but a cup of tea or even a chat on the phone is better than not seeing him at all.

Lord Peter appears in all twelve stories in this collection, which was originally published in 1928. Some of the stories are distinctly better than others. However, all of them are readable and all of them are of interest to a true fan of the sophisticated and urbane amateur detective and his equally fascinating creator. A number of the stories play with themes which are central in Lord Peter Wimsey novels published during the 1930s: for example, how a person found on a beach could have been murdered when there is only one set of footsteps to be found in the sand comes up again in [b:Have His Carcase|246231|Have His Carcase (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries, #8)|Dorothy L. Sayers|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173107650s/246231.jpg|2721970], which was published in 1932.

This short story collection is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys the novels of Dorothy L Sayers and is a fan of Golden Age British crime fiction. Anyone who hasn't read Sayers would be better advised to start with the novels and casual readers should know the following. The resolution of one of the stories depends on Lord Peter having a superior understanding of the French language and early in that story there is a long section of dialogue in French without translation. In another, the solution to the mystery involves working out a complicated crossword puzzle (which completely lost me!). In another, much is made of various types and vintages of French wine. None of this will come as a surprise to Sayers fans. Other readers have been warned!
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I think I like Wimsey best in small doses. Sayers is great at crafting clever little puzzles that require some poking to unravel, and the short story is a great medium for displaying them without getting too wound up in red herrings. ( )

A collection of short stories about the aristocratic amateur sleuth. He does everything from working a crossword puzzle that is key to a will to finding the culprits responsible for a missing corpse that alters an inheritance to figuring out why an old man left his entire digestive tract to his nephew instead of land or money. Come to think of it, many of these mysteries involve a will.

This was my first Lord Peter Wimsey and my first Dorothy Sayers. She seems at first like she will occupy the same territory as Agatha Christie with the upper-classes fighting over their inheritance, but Sayers gets a little more ghoulish in her murders. ( )

A collection of short stories, Lord Peter Views the Body gives us insight into the character and abilities of Dorothy Sayers delightful detective, Lord Peter Wimsey. I found the stories entertaining and educational in regards to this “Between the Wars” time period. Each of the stories has a unique title such as “The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach” or “The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention” which served to draw the reader in.

As with most short story collections some are stronger than others. Each reader will have his own favourites, I personally loved “The Learned Adventure of the Dragon’s Head” with it’s antique book-collecting, treasure hunt and the glimpse we get of Lord Peter as the family man. From the dark and gruesome tale of “The Abominable History of the Man With the Coppered Fingers” to the more light-hearted “The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste” there is truly something for everyone in this collection.

Although I do prefer a full length novel, spending time with this man-about-town was a pleasure, and learning of his mauve pajamas and pink silk dressing gown, just makes me like him more. This interesting assortment of twelve stories illustrates Dorothy Sayers writing ability, and why she is one of the foremost authors from the Golden Age of British Crime Fiction. ( )