RogerBW's Blog

Clouds of Witness, Dorothy Sayers 08 February 2018

1926 mystery, second of Sayers' books about Lord Peter Wimsey. Wimsey's brother, the Duke of Denver, is accused of murdering his prospective brother-in-law. Why won't he say what he was doing in the conservatory at three in the morning?

The answer is entirely in keeping with his character as the book has gone to some trouble to establish it – and that's true of all the answers here. Although there is an unfortunate amount of coincidence, everyone turns out to have acted in a way that's true to their natures.

There are plenty of complications, some deliberate, some not, and I won't go into details; some of the joy of this book is in discovering them. (It's about ten years since I last read this, and I'd forgotten several of them.) There's a memorable action sequence during a trans-Atlantic flight (yes, in 1926). But there are also lies and deceptions and unreliable witnesses all over the place.

"I fancy I did hear somebody moving about," said Mary, "but I didn't think much about it."

"Quite right," said Peter, "when I hear people movin' about the house at night, I'm much too delicate-minded to think anything at all."

"Of course," interposed the Duchess, "particularly in England, where it is so oddly improper to think."

There's a lot of the Wimsey family here, and one gains a greater appreciation of the sort of atmosphere in which Peter grew up, and how he became himself. (The essay as by his uncle, explaining Peter's story in detail, appears in many editions, but should probably be skipped by the series reader; chronologically it comes some time after Strong Poison. It's more enjoyable to put things together from the primary text.)

This book could also serve as an example of how to write significant female characters: there are several of them here, of varying degrees of importance, and they each manage to be defined by their own personalities, rather than just being "the woman". Some of them are sensible; some are silly; all are real. Many books written since have done a worse job.

Truly enough the '47 port was a dead thing; the merest ghost of its old flame and flavour hung about it. Lord Peter held his glass poised a moment.

"It is like the taste of a passion that has passed its noon and turned to weariness," he said, with sudden gravity. "The only thing to do is to recognise bravely that it is dead, and put it away."

There is always a sense of fun here, as often with Sayers; and as always, some of it has a biting edge. Followed by Unnatural Death.

[Buy this at Amazon] and help support the blog. ["As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases."]

Previous in series: Whose Body? | Series: Peter Wimsey | Next in series: Unnatural Death

Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.

Search
Archive
Tags 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 3d printing action advent of code aeronautics aikakirja anecdote animation anime army astronomy audio audio tech base commerce battletech beer boardgaming book of the week bookmonth chain of command children chris chronicle church of no redeeming virtues cold war comedy computing contemporary cornish smuggler cosmic encounter coup covid-19 crime crystal cthulhu eternal cycling dead of winter doctor who documentary drama driving drone ecchi economics en garde espionage essen 2015 essen 2016 essen 2017 essen 2018 essen 2019 essen 2022 essen 2023 existential risk falklands war fandom fanfic fantasy feminism film firefly first world war flash point flight simulation food garmin drive gazebo genesys geocaching geodata gin gkp gurps gurps 101 gus harpoon historical history horror hugo 2014 hugo 2015 hugo 2016 hugo 2017 hugo 2018 hugo 2019 hugo 2020 hugo 2021 hugo 2022 hugo 2023 hugo 2024 hugo-nebula reread in brief avoid instrumented life javascript julian simpson julie enfield kickstarter kotlin learn to play leaving earth linux liquor lovecraftiana lua mecha men with beards mpd museum music mystery naval noir non-fiction one for the brow opera parody paul temple perl perl weekly challenge photography podcast politics postscript powers prediction privacy project woolsack pyracantha python quantum rail raku ranting raspberry pi reading reading boardgames social real life restaurant reviews romance rpg a day rpgs ruby rust scala science fiction scythe second world war security shipwreck simutrans smartphone south atlantic war squaddies stationery steampunk stuarts suburbia superheroes suspense television the resistance the weekly challenge thirsty meeples thriller tin soldier torg toys trailers travel type 26 type 31 type 45 vietnam war war wargaming weather wives and sweethearts writing about writing x-wing young adult
Special All book reviews, All film reviews
Produced by aikakirja v0.1