3.5
Clouds of Witness
ByPublisher Description
A witty and clever whodunit by one of the greatest mystery writers of the twentieth century, featuring her dashing amateur sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey.
“Sayers brought to the detective novel originality, intelligence, and wit. She gave it a new style and a new direction, and she did more than almost any other writer of her age to make the genre intellectually respectable.” —P. D. James, bestselling author of the Inspector Adam Dalgliesh series
In Clouds of Witness, when the fiancé of Lord Peter's sister, Mary, is found dead outside the conservatory of the Wimsey family's shooting lodge in Yorkshire, the evidence points in an unfortunate direction. Their older brother, Gerald, the Duke of Denver, appears to be the culprit and is accordingly arrested and put on trial. To clear the family name, Lord Peter and his friend Inspector Charles Parker scour the lodge's grounds, finding tantalizing clues that include mysterious footprints, a piece of jewelry, and a cat-shaped charm. Lord Peter works to unravel a string of apparent coincidences, all the while not knowing whether the truth he seeks will save his brother—or condemn him.
A VINTAGE MYSTERY CLASSIC.
“Sayers brought to the detective novel originality, intelligence, and wit. She gave it a new style and a new direction, and she did more than almost any other writer of her age to make the genre intellectually respectable.” —P. D. James, bestselling author of the Inspector Adam Dalgliesh series
In Clouds of Witness, when the fiancé of Lord Peter's sister, Mary, is found dead outside the conservatory of the Wimsey family's shooting lodge in Yorkshire, the evidence points in an unfortunate direction. Their older brother, Gerald, the Duke of Denver, appears to be the culprit and is accordingly arrested and put on trial. To clear the family name, Lord Peter and his friend Inspector Charles Parker scour the lodge's grounds, finding tantalizing clues that include mysterious footprints, a piece of jewelry, and a cat-shaped charm. Lord Peter works to unravel a string of apparent coincidences, all the while not knowing whether the truth he seeks will save his brother—or condemn him.
A VINTAGE MYSTERY CLASSIC.
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3.5
Robotswithpersonality
Created 16 days agoShare
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“I do treasure a cheeky last line.
I'll admit to being a bit surprised that this one felt so much more like a court drama than a classic mystery, it was technically following the beats of looking for clues, discovering evidence, but Wimsey seems to play a smaller role in figuring things out, we get less fun or incisive character moments with him and Bunter, less cozy or outrageous about town moments, and there were large swathes of news coverage and deposition.
Classism plays a major role, because I had no idea (and hope it's not still the practice) that peers of the realm were given an entirely different process within the justice system after initial charges are brought, and it's clear that the Lords and Duchesses are given every consideration during the investigation while the common folk and the less well off minglers in a certain echelon of society, are often depicted with less intelligence, less manners, and more readily suspicious motives.
It doesn't appear that the central male characters of the story are treating the female characters with much more consideration than in the first novel of this series, but you do get a broader range and a clearer picture of what the womenfolk have in the way of restricted options in the time period of the novel.
Mary Wimsey, who couldn't pursue her original love interest because the family wouldn't allow it and she had no funds without their approval, who could only reconsider once the man found a job that could also offer her a modest salary as a secretary alongside, who alternatively planned to marry a man who guaranteed her a certain level of indifferent independence and an approved match that would secure her inheritance; Mrs Grimethorpe, suffering an appalling amount of physical violence from her husband, which no one in her immediate circle has worked to put a stop to, who feared for her life if she tried to leave, attempting to find solace with another man who didn't bother to try to lift her out of her circumstances, as men of his station are so used to having a wife and entitled to whomever else as well; Simone Vonderaa, a mistress whom everyone understands has to look out for her own interests, going where the money is even if it devastates a former lover/supporter, because she needs a source of income that again, necessarily comes from a man. Pretty grim.
As with many other series, I'll let the third book help me decide to continue or not based on whether it offers the same kind of promise as the first, or suggests it's not a series to wallow in if it drags about like certain portions of the second.
⚠️Domestic abuse, suicide”
Allison Eckberg
Created 24 days agoShare
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Allison
Created about 1 month agoShare
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Helen Louise
Created about 2 months agoShare
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eyowoh
Created about 2 months agoShare
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“The denouement of the text is quite over-extended, but I once again found the characters intensely charming.”
About Dorothy L. Sayers
DOROTHY L. SAYERS (1893-1957) was an English poet, writer, and student of classical languages. She was one of the first women to be awarded a degree by Oxford University and later worked as a copywriter at an ad agency. She was best known for her mystery novels and for her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy.
Other books by Dorothy L. Sayers
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