Book Review 40
Whose Body?
By Dorothy L. Sayers
When a naked corpse is discovered in an architect's bathtub, Lord Peter Wimsey, a charismatic aristocrat with a penchant for sleuthing, finds himself entangled in a complex case. As Wimsey investigates, he unravels a web of secrets, deceit, and intrigue that takes him through the shadowy corners of society. Sayers weaves a riveting narrative, blending traditional mystery elements with the sophistication of Lord Peter Wimsey's character.
"Whose Body?" is a masterfully crafted detective novel that introduces readers to a brilliant and unconventional investigator in the world of Golden Age mysteries.
The premise of this book was very good indeed and there were some excellent scenes, both relating to the case and to Lord Peter personally. There were some lovely and fun and very readable scenes between Lord Peter and his man Bunter and Lord Peter and his good friend Charles Parker (who is a Scotland Yard detective) and Lord Peter and other people. However, there were more tedious and 'what is the purpose of this scene'? scenes.
The pacing was really good in parts and the narrative flowed well and it was a page turner and I was caught up in the story. However, there were also huge chunks of narrative, and dialogue even, that were akin to 'wading through treacle'. It certainly wasn't, IMO, 'masterfully crafted'.
Nothing happened, nothing moved forward, nothing seemed to have a point and then suddenly it would pick up again. I found myself skim reading a fair few pages, which I never do. I lost the plot, literally *wry grin* and whilst I did learn who did it and how, I'm still not sure as to the why.
It wasn't helped by the fact that back when DLS was writing, writers often used super-long paragraphs and even though I was reading via the Kindle app on my iPad, many times a paragraph took up the entire page and went into the next page. There was some French thrown in towards the end, but by then I wasn't interested enough in the detail to both looking up what was being said.
The writing was very much of its age, ditto some of the remarks that were made and of-the-era prejudices, but given I read a lot of books from that period that wasn't the problem at all.
Even Lord Peter wasn't the chap I remembered from later books - of course characters grow and develop, but he irritated me at times. Not all the time, but it might well have been more a case of the writing irritating me rather than the character himself.
It wasn't a particularly long book, but it felt at least twice as long and it took me far longer than other books of the same length to read, even with some skimming. To me it felt as if it had started life as a short story and someone had suggested to DLS that she turn it into a novel. Or even DLS decided to turn it into a novel. Maybe she (or whoever) felt to introduce Lord Peter in a short story wasn't the right way of going about it. I don't know. I just know I was very disappointed with the book and it wasn't anywhere near as good as other DLS books I have read and I really didn't rate DLS's writing at all - but I know she is a good writer, even a very good writer. But in my opinion, she wasn't in this book.
I do intend to read some more Lord Peter books, even if I break my usual way of doing things and start with a later book rather than the next book she wrote. I suspect it might be a case that DLS got better as she went along; I know writers often do, but I haven't come across a writer whose first book was a 'hard going' as this one - at least not one I persevered with until the bitter end.
I didn't hate it; I didn't care enough to hate it *g* But I certainly didn't love it. Disappointed sums it up perfectly.
I'm going to use this book for Book Bingo's 'Question in the Title' square.
Book Bingo 21/25