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Who is Dorothy L. Sayers?
“Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) was a British playwright, scholar, and acclaimed author of mysteries, best known for her books starring the gentleman sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. While working as an advertising copywriter, Sayers began writing Whose Body? (1923), the first Wimsey mystery, followed by ten sequels and several short stories.
Sayers set the Wimsey novels between the two World Wars, giving them a realistic tone by incorporating details from contemporary issues such as advertising, women’s education, and veterans’ health.
Sayers also wrote theological essays and criticism during and after World War II, and in 1949 published the first volume of a translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Although she considered this translation to be her best work, it is for her elegantly constructed detective fiction that Sayers remains best remembered.” (Source Amazon)
Why a Mystery?
There are three reasons I read Sayers’ first mystery:
1) I love mysteries;
2) I’m writing a Steampunk mystery and wanted to see what old-time mysteries were like;
3) I wanted to read an older mystery written by a woman.
Sayers is one of the first female mystery writers. So, she seemed a good choice. Agatha Christie is probably the author who comes to mind when thinking of early female mystery writers. I think I read all her books when I was a teenager.
Very Brief Summary
The book starts out with a naked body in a bathtub. The dead man is unknown to the household, and it appears he crawled in through an open window, decided to take a bath, and died. The village is shocked someone would do such a ridiculous and ill-bred thing.
Yeah, this pretty much has to be a humorous, witty story.
Lord Peter Wimsey is an amateur sleuth with little respect for the police’s ability to solve the mystery. He believes the police have misidentified the body and sets out to find out who the dead man really is.
Along the way, he solves the mystery and leaves the police department looking a bit foolish. Is it any wonder the police want him to keep his nose out of their business?
My Observations
This book was written in the early 1920s. It is dated but charming. Dated isn’t necessarily bad as Sayers’ language and the detailed mannerisms of her characters take the reader back in time. Plus, I do believe she’s poking fun at the aristocrats.
The story lacks the detailed forensics of contemporary mysteries, and Wimsey isn’t Sherlock Holmes, but he has plenty of quirks to keep a reader entertained. Wimsey is as eccentric as any contemporary detective–Castle, Bones, and Monk come to mind.
Lord Peter Wimsey is verbose and from the privileged upper-class. I mistakenly assumed he was a stuffy old lord and soon found his dry sense of humor added some zing to his character.
For example:
“Well, if he only murdered me, you could still hang him–what’s the good of wasting a sound, marriageable young male like yourself?â€
There are awkward sections in the story, and the mystery lacks the kind of sophistication a 21st-century reader expects. Some of the “mystery†aspects of the story are amateurish. I guessed who the murderer was very early on, but some of the explanations were clever, and the murderer’s method of covering his tracks reflects the time. It was fun to see how Sayers pulled everything together.
Sometimes the novel felt like a parody of a detective story. At times, I almost thought I was reading satire, and I had to remind myself the book is an early mystery, written over 90 years ago.
In spite of all that, I’ll read more of Sayers’ books. This was a fun mystery, and Wimsey grew on me as I read.
The Usual Reminders
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