Clouds of Witness
I'm going to post about all of Sayers' novels in some kind of order because I like talking about them and other people seem to too! If you know someone who likes Sayers, feel free to point them at the posts to join in the Sayers Fest. I'll put spoilers under a cut.
I'm going to start with Clouds of Witness because, despite the fact that it's not the first Wimsey novel, it feels like it is.
I love this novel because of its introduction to various characters. I feel as though you can't really understand Wimsey's fondness in later novels for his brother Gerald without seeing Gerald's genuine chivalry in this novel. I enjoy the introduction to Wimsey's sister Mary, who gets a bigger role in this novel than in any other.
I like the portrayal of the whole Wimsey family which obviously has normal levels of familial affection and yet none of them know anything much about one another's lives, thus leading to the clouds of witnesses alluded to in the title. It's unusual to see a family portrayed in this way - functional but not close - and yet I think it's extremely common in real life.
Although I love the rich characterisation of Peter that comes in the later novels, I really enjoy the sense of joy in her creation that comes across from DLS in this novel. You know that she really really loved writing the scene where he does his transatlantic dash to supply the crucial piece of evidence in the House of Lords and the adorable scene of drunkeness at the end with Parker and Arbuthnot. I believe (though possibly I'm misremembering) that this is the only time we really see Peter pleased with having solved a case - usually he's portrayed as depressed at the end of a case, visiting the murderer in prison to beg for forgiveness. Of course, this is a suicide rather than a murder, which probably plays into that.
Related to the family stuff, really, I think it's an excellent mystery plot because it's very complicated but it feels to me as though it's complicated in a natural way. It's not a complicated murder suicide at all, it's just that so much other stuff was going on in secret that it became very complicated. I like that. In general, I think that DLS's early novels (Whose Body? Clouds of Witness The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club especially) are better murder mysteries and her later novels are better novels.
I think I'm going to give all of the books a Shreena award. I urge you to tell me what award you would give each book.
Clouds of Witness wins the Shreena award for Best Rainy Afternoon Sayers Novel.