CLOUDS OF WITNESS

Here we have another Lord Peter Wimsey mystery, (before his marriage to Harriet), where his brother, The Duke of Denver, is brought to trial for murder. And it is an unusual trial indeed since members of the British nobility who were charged with murder, during the era of Lord Peter Wimsey, had to be tried, not at the Old Bailey, but rather by the full House of Lords!The Duke of Denver, ("Jerry" to his friends), has purchased a small hunting lodge on the edge of the moors and his guests are in for some bird shooting. But on a cold, rainy night, the Duke's prospective brother-in-law, Lady Mary's dubious gold-digging fiance, ultimately becomes the victim of an apparent murder.At the inquest, one lie after another is proffered by the Wimsey family and the jury brings in a murder indictment against the Duke for his clear skullduggery in the matter. Lord Peter is away on an extended vacation to the European continent but rushes to his brother's aide when he hears of the fiasco. Lord Peter then teams up with his Scotland Yard pal, Inspector Parker, to find the real killer and thus free his brother -- but Lord Peter gets shot for his trouble!WARNING TO READERS -- SEMI-SPOILER AHEAD!!!Now, the most compelling caveat of this Sayers entry is the fact that, in this one, the stogy Duke of Denver (Jerry) is having an affair with the wife of a very nasty character, a farmer who also happens to be the Duke's neighbor! If that were not enough, Lord Peter and his lawyer make every effort to get the Duke off the hook without disclosing to his wife that she's been cheated on, and they SUCCEED in that devious endeavor!!! I mention this as Sayers treats this indiscretion in a notably cavalier manner and many women readers might not exactly savour this particular caveat of the book. These days, we are not surprised by similar writings but, in the 20s, Sayers was clearly breaking new ground, sort of in an anti-feminist way.I enjoyed the book, all around, but it's far from being Sayers' best work. If you are new to this renowned author of British mysteries, you might want to read either "Whose Body?" or, "The Unpleasantness at the Belonna Club" first. They are her two best, in my opinion.

I have read every single Dorothy Sayers book many many times! Each has her special flavor but wildly different plots! This one is a total romp from Paris to New York with murder and mayhem to spare. Enjoy!

Dorothy Sayers is one of the great writers who shaped the mystery genre. I 'cut my teeth' on her Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, and bought a kindle copy just to have it handy for trips. As another reviewer said, the formating is awkward. But Sayers' writing remains fun and sharp to this day. More than the plot, this novel gives a picture of British post-World-War-I society in confusion. Gerald, Lord Peter's elder brother and the current Duke, is a member of the House of Lords. When he's arrested for murdering his sister's very dodgy-seeming fiance, he must be tried by a jury of his noble peers. The plot turns on the subtle and not-so-subtle expectations of class and clan that are muddied by a postwar upheaval and a mysterious death. We have the nobility behaving well and badly in the usual ways; a man ensnared by his continental (French) habits and old-fashioned English feelings; Lady Mary (Peter's sister) slumming with Bolshevists and her boyfriend, no suitable titled suitor being available, and Lord Peter outside all boxes whatever, and teaming up with Detective Inspector Charles Parker, who represents our thoroughly middle class point of view. Sayers did better in some of her other novels, but this is a great example of classic British whodunits at the best.

This was the second Dorothy Sayers' book I've read. After devouring my first introduction to her and her protagonist, Lord Peter Wimsey in  Whose Body?  via my kindle, I immediately downloaded this second book.Sayers' brilliance (educated at Oxford) shines in her books, and Lord Peter's wit infuses the book with joie de vivre. I can almost hear Cole Porter music in the background as I read, as Sayers is writing in the 1920's and 30's and captures the spirit of the times.My favorite aspect of her writing, as a history major, are the ironic comments of her characters, particularly Lord Peter. A favorite example of these in this book is when his sister, who is part of the landed aristocracy, goes to a Boshevik "Workers Meeting", Lord Peter quips something to the effect, "Why Mary has never worked a day in her life!" Of course, we, the readers, know the misery Bolsheviks in the form of Lenin and Stalin caused in the years ahead, so Sayers mystery gives us a vision of the naivete of her contemporaries and the age, not knowing the impending doom of the Russian Revolution, mass murder of 35 million Russians and Cold War.Mary indicates that she wants to be saved from a life of endless polo parties, garden parties, bazaars etc. and you couldn't help but think of Princess Diana who wanted to escape eventually from that fate, too, and find meaning and purpose.The plot takes place in Wimsey's brother's country estate, unlike WHOSE BODY which is centered in London. It's fun to have the change of setting and see Wimsey and his quotable mother and family in both environments. I read the books partly to hear what fresh observations come out of their mouths.If you like Sayers, or Golden Age mysteries, this is vintage Dorothy Sayers and the Golden Age at its best and most quintessential.

The fiancé of Lady Mary Wimsey is found shot dead outside the Yorkshire shooting lodge her brother, the Duke of Denver, has taken for the season. The subsequent inquest finds that Cathcart’s death was murder, and points the finger firmly in the direction of the Duke. Lady Mary had found the Duke standing over the corpse of Captain Denis Cathcart as she had been on her way out of the house at 3 a.m., for reasons she refuses to specify. Added to this is the indisputable fact that the Duke and Cathcart had had a quarrel earlier in the evening, loud enough to be overheard by the various guests staying in the house. When his faithful batman Bunter shows him the report of the murder in the newspaper, Lord Peter Wimsey, brother of the Duke and Lady Mary, rushes to Yorkshire to save his brother from the gallows.I’m not a fan of the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, but this is one of the books in my personal challenge to read the novels listed in Martin Edwards’ The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books. Happily for me, it’s one of the earliest books in the series, the second, before the arrival on the scene of Ms Sayer’s tedious alter-ego, Harriet Vane, and Peter’s interminable courtship of her. Unhappily, the snobbery which infests her books is already present – cultural, intellectual, economic, geographic: you name it, she’s snobbish about it.Still, at least at this early stage Sayers does concentrate more on the detection than on Lord Peter’s tiresome character, though there’s more than enough of that too. He’s the type of amateur detective to whom the dull police are delighted to hand over their cases, especially this one, since the main desire of the policeman in charge of the case is to languish after the lovely Lady Mary, whose exalted birth means she is far above the reach even of this cultured, well-educated gentlemanly plod.I’m by no means alone in often mentioning the sexism that pervades early detective fiction, but it always stands out particularly for me when the author is female (which, ironically, is quite sexist of me, I suppose). I can’t help feeling that Dorothy L didn’t think much of her fellow women. Here we have a wife so dull she apparently deserves to be cheated on, a couple of mistresses, one out for sex, the other out for money, and a dippy aristocratic type dabbling with those outrageous socialists who threaten the moral fabric of Good Old England, with their uncouthness and revolutionary ideas (like preventing the rich from exploiting the poor). Fortunately, all socialists are, as we know, snivelling cowards, plus their table manners and dress sense are terrible, so she’ll surely be saved from her girly silliness and be “persuaded” to marry a pillar of the establishment and breed up new generations of true blue-blooded Englishmen, just as she should!Oh dear, my reverse snobbery is showing again – I do apologise! What I meant to say is that the book is quite entertaining in some respects, and some parts of it are well written and quite atmospheric, such as when Wimsey and Bunter find themselves lost on the moor in a fog. But the plotting is fundamentally silly and the solution is a major cop-out, and, in case you haven’t spotted it, I do find Lord Peter’s insufferable superiority... well... insufferable. Thankfully this is the only Wimsey novel on Martin Edwards’ list, so I shall be spared reading any more of them.PS If you’ve never read a Lord Peter Wimsey novel, in fairness I feel I should say my reaction is purely allergic. Many, many people love these books, and you really shouldn’t rely on my opinion of them.

Did not disappoint - gripping to the end and I love all the main characters. One of the reasons why I find Dorothy Sayers such a good read is because she is writing in her time with no prior knowledge of what is to come - for example she can write in hindsight about WW1 but when writing in the 1930's she doesn't know what will transpire in Hitler's Germany. This is so refreshing when so many novels are set in a historical context and yet what happens next in history is already known and this can pollute the flavour of the period - if that makes sense! My one criticism of this particular book is that there is too much French without the necessary translation for those of us who do not have knowledge of this language. My schoolgirl French let me know I am afraid. But I am an avid fan of Sayers and have many more of her books on my 'to read' list.

I'm not sure what prompted me to read this - I had read a number of the Lord Peter Wimsey books many years ago (but out of order and had never read the earliest ones). I remember how much I liked them, but I'm not sure they have lived up to my memory. I was distinctly underwhelmed by the first that Dorothy L Sayers wrote - Whose Body - but felt she was getting into her stride with this one. Even when quite young I was always conscious that DLS was writing her ideal man - her own love life was messy and unsatisfactory in many ways and she definitely fell in love with her creation. It is of course a vanished age, but I think these books are redeemed by DLS's cleverness (albeit occasionally rather self-conscious cleverness - latin quotes, complex allusions etc) and an element of humour and parody. I particularly like the feisty (to use an over deployed modern word) female characters. They are individual , flawed and often quite powerful. There are still plenty of Lady Mary Wimseys around - rich posh girls with a disastrous taste in unsuitable and indeed unpleasant men. The Dowager Duchess has a touch of the Miss Marple about her - disguising her shrewdness under a barrage of seemingly disconnected burbling.All in all, I think they are still an enjoyable read, but you have to set aside 21st Century preconceptions and enjoy them for the period pieces they are.

This is the second novel featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. This time murder comes unpleasantly close to home when Lord Peter's brother - the Duke of Denver - is accused of the murder of his sister's fiancé. Riddlesdale Lodge is the scene for the death of Captain Cathcart and no one seems to be telling the truth about what they were doing at the time of the man's death. Lord Peter begins to think that his brother will go to the gallows rather than reveal what he was doing at the time.The investigation will lead Wimsey into personal danger before he finally ferrets out the truth of what really happened on the fateful night which looks like destroying his family. I enjoyed this book and thought the plot was very well done. I didn't work out what really happened until all was revealed by the combined efforts of Wimsey and Chief Inspector Charles Parker of Scotland Yard, an old friend of Wimsey's.I like the way the family interact - Gerald, the Duke, not very bright but trying to do what is expected from him in his role in society; Lady Mary - hiding something from a mistaken idea that to reveal it will put everyone in danger; the Dowager Duchess - shrewd and observant in spite of her flighty persona and Helen - wife to Gerald and bent on keeping up appearances in all the wrong ways.I can recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Golden Age crime stories and even though it is part of a series it can be read a standalone novel.

Originally published in 1926, `Clouds of Witness' was the second book to feature Dorothy L Sayer's creation, the Gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey. This excellent radio dramatisation, first broadcast in 1974, is an excellent rendering of that fine book.The story starts in Paris, where Lord Peter first hears the news that his Brother Gerald has been arrested for the murder of their sister's fiancé, one Denis Cathcart. Wimsey and his the indispensible Bunter rush back to England to try to help the Duke of Denver, whether he wants help or not... for some reason Gerald will not help himself by giving a true account of his movements that night, and Mary also seems to have secrets of her own.Wimsey and Bunter, assisted by the ever reliable Inspector Parker start an investigation that uncovers several family secrets, reveals the truth behind the character of the murdered man and puts Wimsey in mortal peril at least twice before the final dramatic conclusion. It's a well structured and plotted tale, with some great characters. Sayers manages to poke a little fun at the aristocracy while still treating them with respect. And I think that is the key to my enjoyment of the story, for all the serious detective work going on at the surface, there is an undercurrent of humour through the tale that bubbles to the surface every now and then and makes it feel more rounded. The leading triumvirate of Wimsey, Bunter and Parker are now established characters, and it makes a nice change to read a detective book in which the amateur sleuth has a measure of respect for the official policeman. The three work together to solve the mystery, and though it is Wimsey who makes the final connection it is clear he could not do it without the help of the others. Time is taken to make sure all the characters are fleshed out and seem like real people, not just the caricatures that Sayers' contemporaries such as Christie used.The radio adaptation, originally broadcast in 8 episodes but here merged into one three hour adventure, stars the definitive Wimsey Ian Carmichael. Peter Jones and Gabriel Woolf provide essential back up as Bunter and Parker respectively. These three work together really well to bring out the elements of the book - the sense of danger, the humour, the excitement. Patricia Routledge as Wimsey's mother also makes a fine contribution. It's a highly listenable production that doesn't stray from the book. My only criticism is that in order to `set the scene' in rural Yorkshire, some of the ancillary characters have rather OTT `eee bah gum' accents, and even sing `Ilkley Moor Bar Tat' in the back ground. Just in case you'd forgotten that it is set in Yorkshire. It's a little over the top in that respect, but nonetheless an enjoyable listen. Sound production and clarity is excellent for a recording that is now 40 years old, it sounded as though it was recorded yesterday. It is spread across three discs, in a double jewel case. Liner notes are actually quite extensive and interesting, and a lot better than the BBC's usual record in this department.5 stars for an excellent dramamtisation of an excellent book.