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Fiction. Mystery. Society's eligible women are in mourning. Lord Peter Wimsey has married at last, having finally succeeded in his ardent pursuit of the lovely mystery novelist Harriet Vane. The two depart for a tranquil honeymoon in a country farmhouse but find, instead of a well-prepared love nest, the place left in a shambles by the previous owner. His sudden appearance, dead from a broken skull in the cellar, only prompts more questions. Why would anyone have wanted to kill old Mr Noakes? What dark secrets had he to hide? The honeymoon is over, as Lord Peter and Harriet Vane start their investigations. Suspicion is rife and everyone seems to have something to hide, from the local constable to the housekeeper. Wimsey and his wife can think of plenty of theories, but it's not until they discover a vital fact that the identity of the murderer becomes clear.… (more)
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Harriet and Peter head for their honeymoon for a month at an old farmhouse that Harriet loved as a child, but they get there to discover that nobody knew they were coming, and inconvenience and farce piles one on top of another until it culminates when they find a week-dead body in the basement.
"Oh, my dear, what is happening to us? What has become of our peace?"
"Broken," Peter said. "That's what violence does. Once it starts, there's no stopping it. It catches us all, sooner or later."
"But...it mustn't. Can't we escape?"
"Only by running away." He dropped his hands in a hopeless gesture. "Perhaps it would be better for us to run. I have no right to drag any woman into this mess---least of all my wife. Forgive me. I have been my own master so long---I think I have forgotten the meaning of an obligation." The stricken whiteness of her face startled him. "Oh, my dear---don't upset yourself like this. Say the word, and we'll go away. We'll leave this miserable business, and never meddle again."
"Do you really mean that?" Harriet said, incredulously.
"Of course I mean it. I have said it."
His voice was the voice of a beaten man. She was appalled, seeing what she had done. "Peter, you're mad. Never dare to suggest such a thing. Whatever marriage is, it isn't that."
"Isn't what, Harriet?"
"Letting affection corrupt your judgement. What kind of life could we have if I knew that you had become less than yourself by marrying me?"
I've honestly found most of Sayers' mystery plots to be a bit over-engineered anyway - I was never really interested in whodunit with a Sayers novel - the real interest for me was always in the relationships. Busman's Honeymoon has those in abundance, and they are all very specific and finely drawn.
I agree with another reviewer who says the best bit is the epistolary foreword. It's delicious.
Lastly, if you like audiobooks and you can lay your hands on a copy of Ian Carmichael reading this one, do it.
Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey are married at last, and have purchased an old house in the country where they intend to honeymoon. They arrive to find that the previous owner hasn't put things in order as he promised, and find out (mercifully AFTER the
This novel was based on a stage play that Sayers wrote with a friend (presumably to capitalize on the popularity of Gaudy Night, the previous Wimsey/Vane book.) You can still, if you think about it, see the original bones of the play's structure underneath the accretion of quotations, letters and inner monologues that glorify The Relationship into something way larger than any real relationship could be. Having spent so long getting her two characters together, Sayers endows them with superhuman amounts of tact, class and sexual prowess (hinted at above and beyond the bounds of delicacy.) The bones rest on the murder story itself, which is quite ingeniously done with a very devious murder method and a pretty decent supporting cast.
As for the rest...Sayers seems to have decided that now that she's made Harriet and Wimsey fall in love, she's going to make them very, very happy. Wimsey does, at the end, fall prey to the psychological problems that have haunted him since the War, but Harriet, naturally, provides the outlet for his guilt and pain so we're all good.
Don't get me wrong, I find this book very enjoyable and have read it several times. But after Gaudy Night which is a heartfelt exploration of her characters' psychology, Sayers seems content to fall back on a mess of quotations, sturm und drang and family ghosts to fill out her murder plot. However enjoyable, I'm kind of glad it was her last full-length Wimsey book. She needed to rein herself in and didn't.
Well worth the re reading.
The adjustment to marring someone with money is a hurdle for Harriet. She buys him an expensive wedding gift that is just right, and with the last of her money she buys a gold designer wedding dress from Worth which suits her dark beauty perfectly. Lord Peter has made her independently wealthy but she has difficulty understanding the details. All that matters is that she has completely given her heart to Peter.
However, the honeymoon is not the quiet country idyll the Wimseys were longing for. The discovery of a body in the basement of their new home causes Lord Peter and Harriet to be swept up in a murder investigation and the press are once again at their door. While distracting, the investigation does not keep them from sharing many deep passionate moments. It does, however, cause them to confront difficulties in their personalities and temperaments.
Sayers writes with her usual wonderful characterizations and evocative style. The reader is transported to 1930's England, a simpler more elegant time. The intricacies of a grisly murder investigation throw into relief the charm of the simple life. Yet somehow this story has a more somber tone than the other Lord Peter mysteries, perhaps because it is the last book of the series. At any rate, once again Sayers delivers prime entertainment and an enchanting detective mystery, only this time Lord Peter is finally in a settled relationship with his beloved.
What always throws me off is random, clumsy scenes and transitions - the scene, for example, where Bunter discovers the housekeeper dusting
Years later, I discovered why. Sayers didn't write this book. A friend of hers wrote a stage play using the characters, and when publishers and public were badgering her for more Peter Wimsey, she grabbed the play and adapted it. This revelation clarified everything. I can see an audience roaring with laughter at Bunter's sudden discomfiture, and so many of the scenes I deplore are now revealed as stage directions converted to text.
Having said all that, there is a lot to like about this book. Peter and Harriet are wonderful characters, and watching them settle in to life together is a joy. The whole game of quotations they constantly play is well worth whatever anyone might pay for a copy. There are other memorable characters, and Sayers did a good job with dialogue and setting.
This gets four stars, which is low only in that everything else in this series gets five.
I've seen reviews that complain this mystery was a bit self-indulgent, and I won't disagree, but I think this just goes to show how well-loved Wimsey is by his creator and his readers alike. The mystery itself is first-rate and the village personalities great fun--especially the police superintendent who plays literary games with the Wimseys. I'll definitely be starting this series over at the beginning.
Even though their honeymoon is (partly) spent with crime solving, Sayers finds time for subtle romancing.
Lord Peter Wimsey & Harriet Vane finally get married & (almost incidentally) solve the problem of nasty Noakes who sold his 'country' house to them being found with his head bashed in in the celler.
No, this probably wasn't the best if you're looking for
But I really loved:
Dowager Duchess of Denver's appearances--she is so sweetly loving & adaptable to anything Lord Peter comes up with.
Bunter losing his cool with the dreadful Mrs Ruddles over port.
The so sarky snobbish Helen.
The loyal, unworldly lady dons of Harriet's 'home' college.
The wonderfully nasty yet charismatic Frank Crutchley
The vicar & cactus devotee, Mr Goodacre.
Their game of applied quotations.
So yes--I really enjoyed reading it, though it might not qualify as a great whodunnit it felt like a cross between fantasy & nostalgia for a time I never experienced.
This is a kind of literature I seldom visit, the clever mystery richer in wit than in blood, where refined detectives jovially put two and two together. And, even though I liked the smart sense of humor and the banter shared by the newly wed couple here, I often felt a bit out of place. It just isn’t my cuppa, this.
However, as the mystery unfolds and continues to elude Lord Peter and Harriet, a darker streak starts to glimpse. This murder is really destroying their honeymoon. It appalls them. And in finally solving it, there is remorse and bad thoughts connected with condemning the culprit. There may not be that much blood on the floor here, but there is blood in the characters, making this a book about middle aged love and obsession more than detatched puzzle solving. Much as I enjoy Bunter’s stiff upper lip and Sayers ear for the way people speak, this gloom is what in the end pushes the book up to four stars for me.
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