Whose Body? was Dorothy Sayers' first Lord Peter novel and was published in 1923. I am reading the Lord Peter books very much out of order, so it was fun to go back and see where it all started. Somehow I had the impression that the Lord Peter books started off a bit weak and gathered steam and depth as they went. Well, I was wrong. Whose Body? is right up there with any of Sayers' other novels, with a well-plotted mystery and fascinating yet believable characters. Sayers hit the ground running when she wrote this book.

A dead man has been found reposing in the bathtub of an inoffensive little man named Mr. Thipps. What is even more ridiculous is that the dead man is wearing nothing but a pair of gold-rimmed pince-nez — which, as Lord Peter observes, are not exactly enough to satisfy the demands of modesty. Lord Peter confers with his friend Inspector Parker, who is investigating the sudden disappearance of a wealthy Jewish financier. As the story progresses, it becomes evident that the two cases are connected somehow. But how?

In this story Sayers explores at length the rising idea that conscience is a physical aberration that can be surgically removed like the appendix. I like a mystery that actually has some theory behind it, some idea that needs working out. Agatha Christie does this sometimes, only hers are psychological hypotheses rather than academic ideas.

Wikipedia informs me of a fascinating little nugget, that Sayers originally intended the man's nakedness to be a clue that he was not the missing financier; Lord Peter would have deduced this from the man's not being circumcised. But this was a little too much for the publisher at the time, and the deduction that the bathtub body is not Sir Reuben Levy is made from his calloused workman's hands.

Oh, the characters. I think they are unsurpassed in the murder mystery genre. Lord Peter is like a brainy Bertie Wooster, if such a thing can be imagined. He plays the fool the whole time right up to the end when his madness suddenly shows a highly intelligent method. Readers quickly learn that he is a character to be reckoned with (and enjoy watching other characters in the story misjudge him). And yet Lord Peter also has a vulnerability about him that makes him both human and appealing; he has "attacks," terrible memories of his experiences during World War I. The other characters are great too. Bunter is the perfect manservant, an incarnation of Jeeves with his own flavor; Peter's mother, the Dowager Duchess, is so much fun; Mr. Thipps and his beautifully deaf mother are very well drawn and believable, right down to correcting dropped h's; and Inspector Sugg provides the requisite stupid foil for Lord Peter's brilliance. And the villain in this one is particularly chilling.

Sayers' irrepressible sense of humor is evident everywhere, both in the characters' dialogue and the wry narrative voice. I love how she describes Alfred Thipps, as a "small, nervous man, whose flaxen hair was beginning to abandon the unequal struggle with destiny." At one point Lord Peter sympathizes with the unhelpful neighbors, saying how Christian feelings really can break up one's domestic peace. Often the humor is highbrow; that is, it relies on adapted quotations from literary works or involves clever puns. The dialogue is perfect — believable and (depending on the speaker) often very witty, peppered with those Britishisms that Anglophiles like myself so enjoy.

I feel compelled to mention that there are some anti-semitic sentiments expressed in the story; at one point someone says that "one can be a Jew and still be a good man." Eep! Though perhaps that was considered a progressive statement at the time? From what I've heard, Sayers herself was not anti-semitic, but wrote her characters and settings to accurately reflect their times. It isn't overly pervasive and did not worry me overmuch, but some readers may have a problem with it.

I listened to this on audiobook, read by David Case, and I have to say he is one of the best narrators I've ever heard. He wrecks all my theories about how female narrators do better male voices than male narrators can do for female characters. Case's voice for the Duchess is so good I had to listen carefully to make sure it was still him! And he does similar wonders with the other characters. Mr. Thipps is one of my favorites, with his breathless, stop-and-go style. I wish David Case had read all the Lord Peter mysteries!

All in all, this is another brilliant one from the "Doyenne of the Golden Age of the Mystery." I will certainly revisit it; I think Sayers is one mystery author whose works won't grow stale after you know the solution. Recommended! ( )

This is the first of the Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy Sayers. It was originally published before the depression and has a distinct style that still stands up by today's standards.
Lord Peter, an unemployed aristocrat, enjoys his hobby of investigating crimes and uses his social situation ( the son and brother of a duke) to help Scotland Yard inspectors solve some unusual crimes. In this story a naked man is found dead in the bathtub and the Dowager Duchess (Peter's mother) asks him to search for the killer. Peter's friend Inspector Parker is searching for a missing businessman and the two decide to swap cases. Little do they know what lies ahead.
I have heard of this series, mainly through the PBS series (which I've never seen) and decided that this was the right time to try it out. The style is sharp and amusing. Even though the story is set nearly 100 years ago, it still held my interest and entertained. ( )

Sayers's first Lord Peter Wimsey mystery lacks the calm assurance and mature style of most of the later entries, but it does have its charms. Foremost among these are the characters, particularly Lord Peter himself, his mother, and his manservant Mervyn Bunter. The mystery itself is interesting, involving two cases which might not be related at all--but we see Lord Peter's ability to make connections, perhaps his greatest strength as a sleuth and solver of puzzles. He follows his deductions to improbable but ultimately correct conclusions. Worth reading just to see the introduction of the great character who will star in so many excellent sequels. ( )

His clothes were kind of a rebuke to the world at large.: Whose Body? Sayers first Lord Peter Whimsey novel hints at the promise of later volumes in the series. Lord Peter is the aristocrat who took up amateur sleuthing as a distraction from shell shock he suffers from serving in WWI. He has an enormous intelligence, a knack for charming difficult people and a fussy rambling manner that some mistake for weakness. His other talents are piano playing, knowledge of ancient books and manuscripts, and an athletic physique disguised by his sartorial excellence.

In this volume there is a seemingly insolvable mystery, with a not too competent police inspector who doesn't seem to like Lord Peter very much. Shades of Sherlock Holmes Inspector Lestrade? Sayers is still putting together her writing style and comes out with florid phrases like "His long amiable face looked as if it had generated spontaneously from his top hat, as white maggots breed from Gorgonzola." However, Sayers undoubtedly has a mastery of the English language and Whose Body is a highly readable novel as well as a good mystery which sets the stage for Lord Peter to develop as a character.

I suspect I judged Whose Body? differently after studying Victorian crime fiction - my expectations of a murder mystery have altered and the lack of main female characters and any romantic subplot did not bother me at all. The plot is intriguing: Lord Peter is looking into the case of a man who has been found dead in a bathtub wearing nothing but a pince-nez, and his friend Parker (who is a professional Scotland Yard detective) is looking for a missing businessman. They swap notes - swap aspects of their investigations, even - and Peter begins to feel that the two are connected.
Certain discoveries were unsurprising, and aspects about the ending weren't completely satisfactory. However, the mystery progressed quickly and it is told in such an interesting and entertaining manner that it does not really matter. Peter is a unemployed, unattached aristocrat who is amused by the intellectual challenge his hobby of investigating crimes provides - but not so much by the implications that involves catching a man who will invariably be hanged. He is confident, quick-witted and sociable, with an entertaining manner of speech. His conversations with Parker and his interactions with his manservant are quite amusing.
I have managed to read the first Lord Peter Wimsey practically last, and was interested to observe Peter is portrayed as a much younger man - as he should be; Whose Body? was written (and set) over a decade before Gaudy Night*. It is interesting to see the sort of person he was; he was both more flippant and more serious than I expected him to be. I was interested that the story included information about his shell-shock and how it affects him - it makes him more human and likable, somehow.
Peter's mother, the Dowager Duchess, makes more than one appearance and is delightfully charming and verbose. Other points of interest include an interview with a medical student which is mostly written in the second person ("you" being the slightly bewildered doctor-to-be), an inquest, a detective called Sugg who embodies the "stupid police stereotype" and gets in Lord Peter's way, and the historical context - the mannerisms and social mores of the times.

I liked it a lot. It's not Gaudy Night, but it isn't trying to be. It's an entertaining mystery, and while it manages to hold up better on the "entertaining" rather than the "mystery" side of things, I see no reason to hold that against it.

* One of the last Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, and one of my very favourite books. ( )