Have His Carcase: Chapters 28-30 :)
Harriet and Peter are very clever, ciphers are read, car leads are investigated, and Bunter runs around London in a thoroughly awesome manner.
A Short History of Chapters 24-27
Ormond, Glashier, Umpelty and Wimsey: theories theories theories theories theories theories times maps how fast can that horse go.....
Harriet: Stop! This is silly. People aren’t mechanical. You’re all silly. It was a better theory when you were accusing me. Men!
Everyone else: *awkward turtle*
Wimsey: So....we found a dictionary. There are underlined words. Could be the cipher!
Everyone else: Well let’s try and decode that cipher then.
Wimsey: Look here, there’s this awesome code with a keyword and lots of boxes. But I can’t really be bothered decoding it, so I’ll just send it off to my genius friend.
In the meantime, Harriet tries to decode it anyway, Wimsey is very dashing and rides a horse along a beach, the horse gets scared (ergo it saw a murder), and there is a lot of conversation about the time. Also, they talk to Pollock’s Grandson Jem, and a lot of erroneous and depressing theorising ensues. This brings us to...
The Evidence of the Cipher
Peter gets a letter saying that ‘Old Bungo’ is in China, and is unreachable for practical mystery solving purposes. He gets a little angry, and decides to crack the code with Harriet instead. Whilst in the BBC adaptation they stumble conveniently upon the codeword, valiant Peter and Harriet must go the long way around, and work out the codeword.
Peter: *uses intelligence and wartime code-cracking skill*
Harriet: *uses wordsmith skill*
Peter: I say! Monarchy! We’ve cracked it!
Harriet: Oh Peter! How Marvellous! Lets do a dance or something.
Peter: Nonsense. Get on with the job. None of Your Frivolling now.
Harriet: ‘To His Serene’... Oh, Peter! Bolsheviks!!!
Both: *Hi-5*
The Evidence of the Letter
And so, peter and Harriet very cleverly de-code the letter, which basically says this:
Dear Paul Alexis,
You really are the heir to the throne of the Romanovs and we love you. Everyone in Russia hates the Communists, and we have lots and lots of money (and guns), so you can pretty much just walk right in and be king. Yay! Burn all your stuff, and come to that pointy rock near Darley. There await the Rider from the Sea. Bring this paper with you.
Boris
Aha! So! Was the murderer Weldon, Perkins, some other suspect I’ve forgotten, or a group of Bolsheviks that wanted to sabotage Alexis’ meeting with the rider from the sea?However, Both Peter and Harriet conclude that this is far too romantic and sketchy to be real, and seems more to be out of one of the Romantic novels that Alexis would read. There are also still many problems with broken down cars and the time. As well as all this, Peter wants to know who Alexis thought he was related to.
Peter visits Mr Polwhistle and Tom, and it comes to light that the Morgan was intentionally put out of action by a sowing needle. Dammit. Every theory ever thought of is probably wrong. However, the mystery seems to be coming together.
The Evidence of the Gentleman’s Gentleman
Meanwhile, Bunter is being absolutely awesome in London. Whilst stalking Mr Bright for the sake of justice, Bunter has to stay in Cheap Hotels, buy horrible suites which give him ‘acute agony to wear’, wear hats of various kinds, generally disguise himself in different ways and even spend one night ‘in the crypt of St Martin’s in-the-Fields (Poor Bunter!!).
After an exceptionally good bit of tracking in a cinema where Bunter is dissuaded by a disguise and has Wimsey's voice ringing in his ears about how you can't disguise backs, Bunter discovers that Bright is in fact Morecambe! He whose wife gave Weldon a lift in her car! Things begin to come together!
Discussion:
The Code-Cracking Scene
Chapter 28 contains the most wonderful cipher-solving scene, which I can’t really do justice with a short summary. I love this scene, because their logic is awesome and they should totally spend the rest of their lives cracking codes and writing crossword puzzles. It’s also really cute how they get so excited about solving mysteries that they completely forget any issues the two of them may have been having during the investigation. It’s simply adorable. They are on equal terms here: despite the fact that Peter worked in intelligence during the war, Harriet is really good at this sort of thing, and gets several things Peter doesn't, such as her suggestion about warsaw. Also, the way they talk to each other in this scene is very couple-like. :D
However, I do realise that it can be a bit lengthy for some. Do you love the code-cracking scene? Do you read it through and attempt to follow their train of thought? Or do you skip over this chapter?
Russia
What I find very interesting about this whole book is the backdrop of Communist Russia. It is interesting to gleam some British opinions of Stalinist Russia from this book - Wimsey seems, judging by his slightly sarcastic comment about his socialist friends, to be a little cautious to sing its praises. Russia was, at this point, one of the only countries not experiencing an economic crisis after 1929-this I think, appealed to many westerners. I can't remember all the communist stuff from Clouds of Witness, but what political views do you think DLS held?
Proposals: 1 (MY FAVOURITE)
Wimsey: Miss Vane, Harriet, if I may call you so, will you marry me and look after my socks, and, incidentally be the only woman novelist who ever accepted a proposal of marriage in the presence of a superintendent and inspector of Police?
Harriet: Not even for the sake of the headlines.
Wimsey: I thought not. Even publicity isn’t what it was.
Quotations:
Look, frankly, I couldn't find any. A cookie for somebody who finds Wimsey quoting something in these chapters. Perhaps the mystery is too interesting at this point and he doesn't need to idly trade quotations with Harriet?
Other Interesting Stuff/Favourite Bits:
Wimsey was called Wimbles during the war :D
'Lord Peter turned pale. 'My God!' he exclaimed, melodramatically, can it be? Have we been wrong and the proposterous Mrs Weldon right? Shall I be reduced, at my time of life, to hunting for a bolshevik gang? Read on!'
( inserted for nawww value)
'Time passes when one is pleasantly occupied,' said Harriet, sententiously.
Wimsey put his hat and papers down on the table, opened his mouth to speak, changed his mind, took up his belongings again and marched to the door.
'Cherrio!' he said, amiably.
'Cheerio!' replied Harriet.
He went out. Harriet sat looking at the closed door.
'Well,' she said, 'thank goodness he's given up asking me to marry him. It's much better that he should put it out of his mind.'
She must have felt stronly about it, for she repeated the remark several times.'
Next Week: Mr Bright/Morecambe, Exciting Sleuthing, Family Trees, and possibly, a solution!
A Short History of Chapters 24-27
Ormond, Glashier, Umpelty and Wimsey: theories theories theories theories theories theories times maps how fast can that horse go.....
Harriet: Stop! This is silly. People aren’t mechanical. You’re all silly. It was a better theory when you were accusing me. Men!
Everyone else: *awkward turtle*
Wimsey: So....we found a dictionary. There are underlined words. Could be the cipher!
Everyone else: Well let’s try and decode that cipher then.
Wimsey: Look here, there’s this awesome code with a keyword and lots of boxes. But I can’t really be bothered decoding it, so I’ll just send it off to my genius friend.
In the meantime, Harriet tries to decode it anyway, Wimsey is very dashing and rides a horse along a beach, the horse gets scared (ergo it saw a murder), and there is a lot of conversation about the time. Also, they talk to Pollock’s Grandson Jem, and a lot of erroneous and depressing theorising ensues. This brings us to...
The Evidence of the Cipher
Peter gets a letter saying that ‘Old Bungo’ is in China, and is unreachable for practical mystery solving purposes. He gets a little angry, and decides to crack the code with Harriet instead. Whilst in the BBC adaptation they stumble conveniently upon the codeword, valiant Peter and Harriet must go the long way around, and work out the codeword.
Peter: *uses intelligence and wartime code-cracking skill*
Harriet: *uses wordsmith skill*
Peter: I say! Monarchy! We’ve cracked it!
Harriet: Oh Peter! How Marvellous! Lets do a dance or something.
Peter: Nonsense. Get on with the job. None of Your Frivolling now.
Harriet: ‘To His Serene’... Oh, Peter! Bolsheviks!!!
Both: *Hi-5*
The Evidence of the Letter
And so, peter and Harriet very cleverly de-code the letter, which basically says this:
Dear Paul Alexis,
You really are the heir to the throne of the Romanovs and we love you. Everyone in Russia hates the Communists, and we have lots and lots of money (and guns), so you can pretty much just walk right in and be king. Yay! Burn all your stuff, and come to that pointy rock near Darley. There await the Rider from the Sea. Bring this paper with you.
Boris
Aha! So! Was the murderer Weldon, Perkins, some other suspect I’ve forgotten, or a group of Bolsheviks that wanted to sabotage Alexis’ meeting with the rider from the sea?However, Both Peter and Harriet conclude that this is far too romantic and sketchy to be real, and seems more to be out of one of the Romantic novels that Alexis would read. There are also still many problems with broken down cars and the time. As well as all this, Peter wants to know who Alexis thought he was related to.
Peter visits Mr Polwhistle and Tom, and it comes to light that the Morgan was intentionally put out of action by a sowing needle. Dammit. Every theory ever thought of is probably wrong. However, the mystery seems to be coming together.
The Evidence of the Gentleman’s Gentleman
Meanwhile, Bunter is being absolutely awesome in London. Whilst stalking Mr Bright for the sake of justice, Bunter has to stay in Cheap Hotels, buy horrible suites which give him ‘acute agony to wear’, wear hats of various kinds, generally disguise himself in different ways and even spend one night ‘in the crypt of St Martin’s in-the-Fields (Poor Bunter!!).
After an exceptionally good bit of tracking in a cinema where Bunter is dissuaded by a disguise and has Wimsey's voice ringing in his ears about how you can't disguise backs, Bunter discovers that Bright is in fact Morecambe! He whose wife gave Weldon a lift in her car! Things begin to come together!
Discussion:
The Code-Cracking Scene
Chapter 28 contains the most wonderful cipher-solving scene, which I can’t really do justice with a short summary. I love this scene, because their logic is awesome and they should totally spend the rest of their lives cracking codes and writing crossword puzzles. It’s also really cute how they get so excited about solving mysteries that they completely forget any issues the two of them may have been having during the investigation. It’s simply adorable. They are on equal terms here: despite the fact that Peter worked in intelligence during the war, Harriet is really good at this sort of thing, and gets several things Peter doesn't, such as her suggestion about warsaw. Also, the way they talk to each other in this scene is very couple-like. :D
However, I do realise that it can be a bit lengthy for some. Do you love the code-cracking scene? Do you read it through and attempt to follow their train of thought? Or do you skip over this chapter?
Russia
What I find very interesting about this whole book is the backdrop of Communist Russia. It is interesting to gleam some British opinions of Stalinist Russia from this book - Wimsey seems, judging by his slightly sarcastic comment about his socialist friends, to be a little cautious to sing its praises. Russia was, at this point, one of the only countries not experiencing an economic crisis after 1929-this I think, appealed to many westerners. I can't remember all the communist stuff from Clouds of Witness, but what political views do you think DLS held?
Proposals: 1 (MY FAVOURITE)
Wimsey: Miss Vane, Harriet, if I may call you so, will you marry me and look after my socks, and, incidentally be the only woman novelist who ever accepted a proposal of marriage in the presence of a superintendent and inspector of Police?
Harriet: Not even for the sake of the headlines.
Wimsey: I thought not. Even publicity isn’t what it was.
Quotations:
Look, frankly, I couldn't find any. A cookie for somebody who finds Wimsey quoting something in these chapters. Perhaps the mystery is too interesting at this point and he doesn't need to idly trade quotations with Harriet?
Other Interesting Stuff/Favourite Bits:
Wimsey was called Wimbles during the war :D
'Lord Peter turned pale. 'My God!' he exclaimed, melodramatically, can it be? Have we been wrong and the proposterous Mrs Weldon right? Shall I be reduced, at my time of life, to hunting for a bolshevik gang? Read on!'
( inserted for nawww value)
'Time passes when one is pleasantly occupied,' said Harriet, sententiously.
Wimsey put his hat and papers down on the table, opened his mouth to speak, changed his mind, took up his belongings again and marched to the door.
'Cherrio!' he said, amiably.
'Cheerio!' replied Harriet.
He went out. Harriet sat looking at the closed door.
'Well,' she said, 'thank goodness he's given up asking me to marry him. It's much better that he should put it out of his mind.'
She must have felt stronly about it, for she repeated the remark several times.'
Next Week: Mr Bright/Morecambe, Exciting Sleuthing, Family Trees, and possibly, a solution!