Status
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Description
Fiction. Mystery. HTML:Lord Peter Wimsey and Montague Egg confront menaces from purloined pearls to poisoned port in tales from "one of the greatest mystery story writers" (Los Angeles Times). In the annals of mystery writing, Lord Peter Wimsey and Montague Egg are among the most memorable detectives. Lord Peter�??noble by birth, brilliant by nature�??is a fly in the ointment of criminals across Britain, turning up whenever the police ask him to lend his quick wit and keen eye to an investigation. Montague Egg is a free-spirited figure, a traveling wine salesman with an unfortunate habit of stumbling over murder scenes. Both are inimitably charming, and neither has ever failed to catch his man. In this collection of stories featuring the two detectives, plus a couple of bonus tales, the mystery maven's evocation of England between the wars�??and her chilling puzzles�??remain as engaging as ever. Hangman's Holiday is the 9th book in the Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries, but you may enjoy the series by reading the books in any order. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Dorothy L. Sayers including rare images from the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton C… (more)
User reviews
A mystery of such brevity is of necessity a very different creature from a book-length puzzle. We don't see a lot of detective work, or lengthy puzzling over clues; there just isn't room. The stories are primarily a matter of seeing a detective (though not a pro in these cases) presented with a troublesome case and solving it through an ingenious insight. These were enjoyable because of the characters and Sayers's suitably breezy style.
I’ve not read any
Wimsey and Egg are both excellent detective characters with their own foibles and idiosyncrasies without being isolating or offputting. I’m a particular fan of Egg’s little rhymes from The Salesman’s Handbook.
The stories did occasionally tend to the darker side which was less to my taste, but others may prefer it as a little less cozy and cloying than many of this style.
A great collection and I will be looking out for more.
The fact that this is a pretty old audiobook really shows in the
The stories themselves are pretty entertaining. There are, I think, four Lord Peter Wimsey stories, several Montague Egg stories and about three or so other stories at the end. Lacking the character development that forms such an attractive (and substantial) part of Sayers’ novels, what you’re left with is the cleverness—nicely worked out little detective puzzles in the Sherlock Holmes style. Some of the resolutions can be guessed early on, some not.
You can read this book on two levels: one is for mere entertainment, and one is for the Sayers enthusiast who wants to get a better understanding of her development as a writer. The stories work pretty well for either type of reader.
Mr Egg I found slight more annoying. his little mottoes were a bit trite, although his mysteries were engaging enough.
A completist, rather than an introductory book, I think.
The stories are all appropriately puzzling with four featuring Lord Peter, six with Montague Egg and two stand-alone mysteries. While I am not usually a huge fan of short stories these were enjoyable due to the author’s clever plots and use of witty dialogue.
Lord Peter Wimsey stories:
"The Image in the Mirror"
"The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey"
"The Queen's Square"
"The Necklace of Pearls"
Montague Egg stories:
"The Poisoned Dow '08"
"Sleuths on
"Murder in the Morning"
"One Too Many"
"Murder at Pentecost"
"Maher-Shalal-Hashbaz"
Other stories:
"The Man Who Knew How"
"The Fountain Plays"
As much as I enjoyed the Lord Peter stories, in this reread I found that the Montague Egg stories appealed to me most. Good mysteries plus the humor of Egg's aphorisms :)
Personal copy.
Original publication date
ISBN
Local notes
DDC/MDS
Fic Mystery Sayers |