paperback

paperback

Many murder mysteries have been given odds titles, but “Have His Carcase” (1932) by Dorothy L. Sayers must be one of the oddest, at least for American readers. Yet for its time and place it is actually a very good title. Under British law, the Have-His-Carcase Act, you cannot hold an inquest into a death until you have a body.

In this clever, always interesting novel, there is photographic evidence of a death, yet the body is swept out to sea by the tide, so for about half the book the sleuths, both professional and amateur, can only speculate.

Mystery writer Harriet Vane, herself a murder suspect until cleared after the intervention of Lord Peter Wimsey in a previous novel, discovers a young man with his throat cut along the coast. She finds fresh blood and a razor, but no footprints in the sand other than hers and the victim's. Realizing the tide is coming in, she takes a few photographs and then leaves to summon help

The body soon disappears, but Wimsey arrives, still trying to get Harriet to marry him. He believes it's a murder case, even through the local police and, eventually, the inquest say it's a suicide.

The victim had supported himself by dancing with wealthy older women at a nearby hotel. One of these women says the man had promised to marry her.

Other than the missing body, the case's other major complication is that two men, including this woman's son, had been behaving suspiciously, but both have ironclad alibis for the time of the murder. But if they didn't murder the man, who did?

When I devoured the Dorothy L. Sayers mysteries back in the late Sixties and early Seventies, I considered “Have His Carcase” my favorite. This rereading doesn't change my opinion. ( )

This is one of the most delightful of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. The story is a bit of a locked-room mystery with a body discovered on a rock on the beach with no extra set of footprints of a potential murderer. Each chapter uncovers new and sometimes contradictory clues. Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane tackle this mystery together and their sparkling dialog is very entertaining. ( )

Another romp of a “Golden Age” detective story, gently poking fun at the complexity of the detective tradition with great good humour. I got lost and skipped parts of the chapter concerning the detailed solving of a cipher, but otherwise the story moved apace with wonderful period detail. I enjoyed references to (now vintage) cars, the (Lyons) Corner House at Piccadilly and the gold standard (published in 1932, the book was written before Britain came off the gold standard in 1931). But I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the hotels, guest houses, Winter Gardens and evening dancing, with professional partners.

Sayers delights in describing her detective hero, Lord Peter Wimsey, and heroine, Harriet Vane:
“Wimsey was lingering lovingly over his bacon and eggs, so as to leave no restless and unfilled moment in his morning. By which it may be seen that his lordship had reached that time of life when a man can draw an Epicurean enjoyment even from his own passions - the halcyon period between the self-tormenting exuberance of youth and the fretful carpe diem of approaching senility.” ( )