Whose Body? by Sayers
Whose Body? (1923)
by Dorothy L. Sayers
203 pages - New English Library
A dead body is found naked in the bathtub of a respectable person. In a possibly related event, a successful businessman, roughly matching the description of the corpse, has gone missing before making a big business deal. These events capture the interest of the London police, but are also investigated by Lord Peter Wimsey, who has taken up being a private detective as a hobby after serving in the first World War. This is the first mystery novel involving Wimsey; Sayers would go on to write ten more.
Sayers certainly has a unique style when it comes to writing a detective novel. In some ways it feels like a response to Sherlock Holmes, and there are sly references to the Holmes stories throughout, both direct and veiled. At some points the characters are entertaining, but at others all the aristocrats and cute sayings get to be a bit much. The story does feel a lot like it was created mostly to weave a clever detective tale around, rather than be something that would in any way take place in the real world.
I have a couple of other books in this series that I bought used, so I'm sure at some point I'll give a later book in the series a try, but I'm not going to rush to get to it.
by Dorothy L. Sayers
203 pages - New English Library
A dead body is found naked in the bathtub of a respectable person. In a possibly related event, a successful businessman, roughly matching the description of the corpse, has gone missing before making a big business deal. These events capture the interest of the London police, but are also investigated by Lord Peter Wimsey, who has taken up being a private detective as a hobby after serving in the first World War. This is the first mystery novel involving Wimsey; Sayers would go on to write ten more.
Sayers certainly has a unique style when it comes to writing a detective novel. In some ways it feels like a response to Sherlock Holmes, and there are sly references to the Holmes stories throughout, both direct and veiled. At some points the characters are entertaining, but at others all the aristocrats and cute sayings get to be a bit much. The story does feel a lot like it was created mostly to weave a clever detective tale around, rather than be something that would in any way take place in the real world.
I have a couple of other books in this series that I bought used, so I'm sure at some point I'll give a later book in the series a try, but I'm not going to rush to get to it.