HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

A Presumption of Death (2002)

by Jill Paton Walsh, Dorothy L. Sayers

Other authors: Edward Petherbridge (Narrator)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Wimsey Sequels (2)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
9603521,599 (3.63)57
In A Presumption of Death, Jill Paton Walsh tells how World War II changed the lives of Peter, Harriet and their growing family. The story opens in 1940. Harriet Vane - now Lady Peter Wimsey - has taken her children to safety in the country. But the war has followed them: glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalise the villagers; the blackout makes the night-time lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London. Then the village's first air raid practise ends with a very real body on the ground - not a war casualty but a case of plain, old-fashioned murder. And even before the second body is found, Lord Peter Wimsey and his brilliant wife are on their way to finding the killer. Once again, Jill Paton Walsh has invented a mystery plot worthy of Sayers herself, while faultlessly capturing the voice of one of the most compelling writers of the twentieth century.… (more)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 57 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 35 (next | show all)
Maybe even 3.5*

Nice to see Lord Peter & Harriet & Bunter again! 1939-1940: WW2 is going on & on the home front, there is rationing, air raid drills & evacuees... and a murder or two to be cleared up! ( )
  leslie.98 | Jun 27, 2023 |
Still enjoying the continuation of Harriet and Peter's story, although this one was a little too easy to figure out. I would much rather be in the dark until the very end. It's no fun to solve the puzzles while Peter and Harriet are still fumbling around. ( )
  IVLeafClover | Jun 21, 2022 |
New reader for this book -- took some getting used to, but enjoyed it once I did. Harriet on her own at Tallboys in WWII, holding down the fort and keeping the 5 kids of the next generation in the country with her (with nanny and cook and housemaid, of course). She remains a quietly enthralling character, and the story really powerfully relates the harrowing powerlessness of waiting that so many people have endured in times of war and crisis. Beautiful writing, feels true to the original series with perhaps a little more emotional depth. ( )
  jennybeast | Apr 14, 2022 |
another extension of Lord Peter, Harriet at wartime Talboys
  ritaer | Jul 4, 2021 |
Showing 1-5 of 35 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Paton Walsh, Jillprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Sayers, Dorothy L.main authorall editionsconfirmed
Petherbridge, EdwardNarratorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Griffini, Grazia MariaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Smandek, BeateÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Belongs to Series

Belongs to Publisher Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Honoria Lucasta, Dowager Duchess of Denver, to her
American friend, Cornelia, wife of Lambert B.
Vander-Huysen, of New York.

Bredon Hall,                                            12th November, 1939
Duke's Denver, Norfolk

Dear Cornelia,
I think I had better write you my usual Christmas letter now, because naturally the war has upset the posts a little; and one can't really expect ships to go quickly when they are convoyed about like a school crocodile, so tedious for them, or keep to Grand Geometry, or whatever the straight course is called, when they have to keep darting about like snipe to avoid submarines, and anyway I like to get my correspondence in hand early and not do it at the last moment with one's mind full of Christmas trees - though I suppose there will be a shortage of those this year, but, as I said to our village school-mistress, so long as the children get their presents I don't suppose they'll mind whether you hang them on a conifer or the Siegfried Line, and as a matter of fact Denver is thinning a lot of little firs out of the plantation, and you'd better ask him for one before he sends them all to the hospitals.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

In A Presumption of Death, Jill Paton Walsh tells how World War II changed the lives of Peter, Harriet and their growing family. The story opens in 1940. Harriet Vane - now Lady Peter Wimsey - has taken her children to safety in the country. But the war has followed them: glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalise the villagers; the blackout makes the night-time lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London. Then the village's first air raid practise ends with a very real body on the ground - not a war casualty but a case of plain, old-fashioned murder. And even before the second body is found, Lord Peter Wimsey and his brilliant wife are on their way to finding the killer. Once again, Jill Paton Walsh has invented a mystery plot worthy of Sayers herself, while faultlessly capturing the voice of one of the most compelling writers of the twentieth century.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.63)
0.5 1
1 2
1.5 1
2 11
2.5 6
3 64
3.5 17
4 80
4.5 4
5 33

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 202,644,837 books! | Top bar: Always visible