Unnatural Death

by Dorothy L. Sayers

Paper Book, 1987

Status

Available

Call number

Fic Mystery Sayers

Collections

Publication

New York : Harper & Row, 1987

Description

Fiction. Mystery. HTML:When a terminally ill woman dies much earlier than expected, Lord Peter Wimsey suspects murder: "First-rate detection" (The Cincinnati Enquirer). Though never quick-witted, Agatha Dawson had an iron constitution and a will to fight that never abated in her old age. Even after three operations failed to rid her of her cancer, she refused to give in. But as her body began to weaken, she accused lawyers, nurses, and doctors of trying to kill her and snatch her fortune. The town physician, an expert in cancer, gives her six months to live. Only three days later, she is dead. Though the autopsy reveals nothing surprising, the doctor suspects that Agatha's niece had some hand in the old woman's death. When Lord Peter Wimsey, the dashing gentleman detective, looks into the matter, he finds that death stalks all those who might testify. How can he continue his investigation when every question marks another innocent for murder? Unnatural Death is the 3rd 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 College..… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member atimco
An elderly woman, bedridden in the later stages of terminal cancer, dies suddenly and unexpectedly at her country home, attended only by her niece and a hired nurse. Her doctor is puzzled, but his suspicions seem groundless and no inquest is held. Three years later, Lord Peter Wimsey learns of the
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case and decides to investigate. In this 1927 mystery by Dorothy Sayers, Lord Peter is determined to discover if Agatha Dawson's death was natural — or unnatural. The case is cold and there doesn't seem to be either a motive or opportunity for foul play. But something isn't right. What really happened?

Well, this is a murder mystery, so of course we know it's murder. The method of murder itself, while theoretically brilliant, is not actually physically possible as Sayers describes it. (She took a little heat for that, actually, and it does weaken the whole set-up. I'm glad I didn't know anything about it beforehand so I could enjoy the story.) Plotwise, things are a little forced, especially once the elaborate set-up of a gang is introduced. As is typical in many mysteries of this period, there is some incidentally racist material, which is generally expressed by the characters and is not, I think, indicative of the attitude of the narrator. Indeed, Sayers seems to sneer at the way the "black gang" idea is seized upon with such unthinking acceptance and revulsion by the main newspapers and their readers.

Miss Climpson is along for the adventure this time, and who couldn't love her? She is so much fun, with her prim old-maidishness that is surprisingly flexible and insightful. She is a quick thinker, very observant, and I think she and Miss Marple would get along swimmingly. I love when she pops up in the Lord Peter stories!

I read this in a day and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, some of the plot points are a bit strained and eventually things get a little over the top, but it's a highly entertaining over-the-top, and Sayers' characters are unfailingly fascinating. My one quibble with Dorothy Sayers is this: she didn't write enough Lord Peter novels. I'm close to the end of her oeuvre, and I'll be sad to finish it off (ha ha).

But then, of course, one can always reread.
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LibraryThing member lyzard
Over dinner, Lord Peter Wimsey and his friend Detective Parker are discussing the obligations of the attending doctor in the case of a suspicious death when they are interrupted by a man at the next table, who tells them feelingly that he severely damaged his own career by taking steps in just such
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a case. Invited back to Lord Peter's flat, the man tells the others of a particular case involving an elderly woman whose death, in spite of the cancer she was suffering, struck him as premature and overly sudden. Reluctant to let the matter rest, the doctor insisted on an autopsy - of which the finding was natural causes - and found himself as a consequence a professional outcast. In spite of the doctor's reticence, his story contains sufficient clues for Lord Peter to identify the case as that of Miss Agatha Dawson of Leahampton in Hampshire, whose great-niece, Mary Whittaker, inherited her entire estate. In spite of the lack of evidence and in the face of Detective Parker's scepticism, Lord Peter decides that the case has sufficient odd features to warrant beginning an investigation - and so initiates a sequence of events that will bring death to both the innocent and the guilty...

This third entry in the Lord Peter Wimsey series marks another step forward in Dorothy L. Sayers' quest to make her novels more than "just" mysteries. Daringly, the story is built around a death that, if it is murder, could really only have been committed by one person; the mystery is not one of whodunnit, but why - and above all, how? At the outset, it is the sheer improbability of an elderly cancer patient being chosen as a victim that baulks the investigators, until the likely outcome of a collision between a change in the laws of inheritance and the reluctance of Miss Dawson to make a will becomes evident - namely, the desirability for one particular person of Miss Dawson's slightly premature death. Though there is no medical evidence of murder, a conjunction of suspicious circumstances, including the dismissal of Miss Dawson's housemaids after they overheard a violent quarrel between Miss Dawson and her great-niece on the subject of the non-existent will, are enough to convince Lord Peter that the matter is worth his looking into - not foreseeing that his indulgence of his favourite hobby will have dire and bitter consequences.

Though a stronger work overall, Unnatural Death resembles the first Lord Peter Wimsey mystery, Whose Body?, in both its positive and its negative features. I, for one, am inclined to count it as a virtue that this story takes place out in "the real world", instead of amongst the exclusionary privilege of the Wimsey family. There is a vivid sense of time and place about this novel, whose action is divided between a rather questionable area in London, a Hampshire village and the South Downs. In spite of this opening up, however, a general tone of snobbery is still apparent (pity poor Parker, showing his lack of breeding by his lack of enthusiasm for snails), and we are subjected to another ugly outbreak of religious and racial and even sexual prejudice. We hear much in this tale about the criminal proclivities of "Jew boys" and "niggers", although as it turns out no gentleman of either persuasion is involved in the crimes in question (not that anything resembling an apology or a retraction is forthcoming, of course); and the handling of one character, implied if not declared to be a lesbian, is also uncomfortable. The novel's one black character, a West Indian minister, is treated in a way that seems intended kindly, but which is in fact rather patronising.

However, if we're learning anything about Dorothy L. Sayers, it's that it's a case of having to take the rough with the smooth - and in the case of Unnatural Death, the smooth is very smooth indeed. One of the interesting aspects of this novel is that Lord Peter must at first operate without the benefit of the patient legwork of Detective Parker, who remains for some considerable time unconvinced that a crime has been committed at all. As a result, the reader is introduced to one of the triumphs of Sayers' series, in the unlikely shape of Miss Alexandra Katherine Climpson, spinster, and undercover operative extraordinaire, whose shrewd intelligence, patient doggedness and hilarious correspondence lift the novel to new heights.

But running in parallel with this deliciously humorous component, Unnatural Death offers a sobering check to those of us - Lord Peter and the reader alike - who find entertainment in murder and mayhem. Inherent in the tale told here is a cool questioning of the morality of Lord Peter's criminology, undertaken for no better reason than curiosity and a desire for intellectual stimulation. Yes, as it turns out, Agatha Dawson was murdered. This might in itself seem reason, or excuse, enough for Lord Peter's interference in a matter declared closed by the police - except that, as a direct result of his investigation, three more people die, and very nearly a fourth. What price justice? On the back of Lord Peter's personal struggles in Whose Body?, we are not surprised to see him carry his troubles to the Leahampton minister, who can offer only moderate comfort to a man for whom the solving of mysteries has become something very much like an addiction...
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LibraryThing member souloftherose
The third book in Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series and my favourite so far (although admittedly I haven't got very far yet).

Lord Peter and Inspector Parker are having lunch one day when they strike up a conversation with a young doctor who mentions to them that he's convinced that a patient of his
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was murdered although he was able to find no evidence of foul play when he performed a post mortem. Lord Peter is convinced by the doctor's story and decides to investigate further.

I thought this was an unusual and original idea for a murder mystery in that from the very beginning we know 'who dunnit' but not why or how. And it's the why and the how (and some proof) that Lord Peter needs. The body count gets higher as the book progresses and I found myself completely gripped by the story and read the whole thing in one sitting.

We also get to see a more serious side to Lord Peter during a conversation he has with a minister about the morality of killing a terminally ill patient and the amount of responsibility Lord Peter should feel for investigating the crime and prompting further murders.
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LibraryThing member Kasthu
I’ve had this book on my shelf for a while, ever since I bought it used in a bookstore near where I used to live in Brooklyn. My interest in Sayers’s novels resurfaced a couple of months ago, and since I’m reading her books in order of publication, this one was up on deck next after Clouds of
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Witness.

One day, Lord Peter and his confederate, Inspector Parker, hear the tale of an elderly woman who died apparently of natural causes—but the young doctor in the case thinks there’s something suspicious in the circumstances under which she died—circumstances in which the old woman’s niece has a lot to gain or loose by her death. When Lord Peter investigates the story, he starts to unravel a tangled web of legal and medical issues, made more interesting by a sort of twist about halfway through the book.

As a character, Lord Peter doesn’t evolve much in favor of the story (beyond a biographical note at the beginning of the story, which didn’t help very much), but there are some great supporting characters, including Miss Climpson, a spinster who becomes Wimsey’s eyes and ears during the investigation—especially important considering that most of the main characters in the case never even have speaking roles, and Miss Cimpson’s letters to Wimsey give the reader a great idea of what’s going on. Miss Climpson is one of the sharpest women out there, and her skills are invaluable in the pursuit and catching of the murderer (yes, it’s murder that happens—it’s just the matter of how and why that need clearing up, and that are so much more important). The legal jargon that Sayers uses was a bit much for me, but in all I thought this was a strong mystery. It’s maybe not as good as some of Sayers’s other books, but I still enjoyed it.
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LibraryThing member thesmellofbooks
Such a delightful book in so many ways. The writing is great, the characters enchanting, the setting fascinating, the mystery interesting. One important character is not developed to the extent I'd wished, but all in all, good.

It is sometimes a struggle to decide with a book if the sexism, racism,
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anti-Semitism, homophobia, and so on depicted in it are shared by the author or are exclusive to the characters. The times and milieu Sayers is writing about had a comfortable and unquestioned superiority which she gently ridicules in places, but there are moments when the question arises for the reader, nevertheless. Luckily, she leaves around enough evidence that we can safely conclude that the author herself isn't promoting these unappealing isms.
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LibraryThing member dknippling
I think this is the first appearance of Miss Climpson. Huzzah! I like her. Nerves of steel under a pile of tea-stained lace doilies.
LibraryThing member ctpress
“Greatly as I dislike that modern invention, the telephone, I think it might be advisable to ring him up.”

Read this with mixed feelings. There’s quite a bit of complicated explanations of family inheritance law and family connections that went over my head - and it drags along in places - on
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the other hand the final third of the book proved a very suspenseful and a satisfying end. The question is the old one: Natural death or murder to obtain an inheritance?

In this third novel in the Lord Peter Wimsey series the manservant Bunter doesn’t play a big role - instead it’s a new Wimsey-sidekick, the spinster Miss Climpson, who is sent to a village to befriend the suspect and investigate for Lord Peter Wimsey.
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LibraryThing member mmyoung
NOTE: "**********" marks the beginning of a quote "##########" marks the return to the review

Warning: for those who have not yet read all the Wimsey books the text of the “Biographical Note” (purportedly written at Sayers request by Wimsey's uncle) contains spoilers for books published later
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than this one.

_Unnatural Death_ begins with a scene that situates Wimsey clearly within a particular social milieu. Wimsey is sharing a meal with Charles Parker (Scotland Yard detective and friend) in an upscale restaurant. The difference in class between the two men is established when conversation makes it clear that Parker is neither used to eating snails nor comfortable with the idea. The reader is given further cues to the appropriate social and cultural outlook by the descriptions of the other people in the room:

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"The fat man on their right was unctuously entertaining two ladies of the chorus; beyond him, two elderly habitués were showing their acquaintance with the fare at the “Au Bon Bourgeois” by consuming a Tripes à la Mode de Caen (which they do very excellently there) and a bottle of Chablis Moutonne 1916; on the other side of the room a provincial and his wife were stupidly clamouring for a cut off the joint with lemonade for the lady and whisky and soda for the gentleman".(14)[1]

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The first two descriptions still “work” for the modern reader but the third bears further examination. How does the observer know that the couple is “provincial?” Is it their clothes? Can the listener detect a regional accent in their speech? Surely that is not enough to warrant their dining request to be characterized as “stupid.” Clearly they are unaware of the type of food (or food combinations) that one ordered in an expensive restaurant in Soho. If they had been richly dressed foreigners their confusion might have been considered charming but as “provincials” (read—moderately well-off non-gentry) any lack of prior knowledge of minutia of local food etiquette will be characterized as stupidity. For the modern reader this is a sudden insight in the pernicious nature of the British class/social system of the time. There was even a set way to be a noncomformist and absent aristocratic relatives anyone who didn't adhere to a narrow set of behaviours, tastes and interests was judged “not quite the thing” and excluded from much of social life.

Although this story is set almost a decade after the Great War passing comments make it clear how close “the old days” actually were in terms of gender expectations:

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" A dear old friend of mine used to say that I should have made a very good lawyer,” said Miss Climpson, complacently, “but of course, when I was young, girls didn’t have the education or the opportunities they get nowadays, Mr. Parker. I should have liked a good education, but my dear father didn’t believe in it for women. Very old-fashioned, you young people would think him.”(35)[1]

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The reader will also notice casual verbal racism as in this description of the quality of the ham in a sandwich:

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"Observe the hard texture, the deep brownish tint of the lean; rich fat, yellow as a Chinaman’s cheek;" (64)[1]

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At one point in the book a rather remarkable letter is penned by the very proper Miss Climpson to Lord Peter (for whom she was sleuthing) about the judgmental and self-consciously proper behaviour of the former housekeeper of the woman Wimsey thinks may have been murdered when a dark-skinned man paid a call on the lady of the house:

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" In fact, it appears she refused to cook the lunch for the poor black man—(after all, even blacks are God’s creatures and we might all be black OURSELVES if He had not in His infinite kindness seen fit to favour us with white skins!!)—and walked straight out of the house!!!

So that unfortunately she cannot tell us anything further about this remarkable incident! She is certain, however, that the ‘nigger’ had a visiting-card, with the name ‘Rev. H. Dawson’ upon it, and an address in foreign parts. It does seem strange, does it not, but I believe many of these native preachers are called to do splendid work among their own people, and no doubt a MINISTER is entitled to have a visiting-card, even when black!!! "(112-113)[1]

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The casual and open racism of everyone is pervasive:

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"Perhaps the long-toed gentleman was black,” suggested Parker. “Or possibly a Hindu or Parsee of sorts.”

“God bless my soul,” said Sir Charles, horrified, “an English girl in the hands of a black man. How abominable!”

“Well, we’ll hope it isn’t so. Shall we follow the road out or wait for the doctor to arrive?”(199)[1]

****************

The idea of two English girls—the one brutally killed, the other carried off for some end unthinkably sinister, by a black man—aroused all the passion of horror and indignation of which the English temperament is capable.(203)[1]

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Two other things stand out to this reader: first, the casual (if somewhat critical) attitude that people had towards a homosocial relationship between two women and second the meager amount of actual detection that Wimsey carries out over the course of the book.

Not everyone approved of the two woman/woman relationsips but this disapproval did not carry the taint of sin:

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There was a many gentlemen as would have been glad to hitch up with her, but she was never broke to harness. Like dirt, she treated ’em. Wouldn’t look at ’em, except it might be the grooms and stable-hands in a matter of ’osses. And in the way of business, of course. Well, there is some creatures like that. I ’ad a terrier bitch that way. Great ratter she was. But a business woman—nothin’ else. I tried ’er with all the dogs I could lay ’and to, but it weren’t no good. Bloodshed there was an’ sich a row—you never ’eard. The Lord makes a few on ’em that way to suit ’Is own purposes, I suppose. There ain’t no arguin’ with females.”(122)[1]

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It is clear that some characters (including Miss Climpson) see “weaker” member (generally the one who fulfills a domestic role) of these relationships as sometimes lacking in strength of character and prone to school girlish crushes and swoons but even from a woman who takes her religion really seriously there is nary at trace of moral condemnation

The reader who is taken aback at the overt racism and covert acceptance of female homosocial relationships may miss the fact that class is the ultimate weapon of power in this book. The book opens with a scene in which Wimsey demonstrates his class through his culinary choices and, in fact, the story could not have proceeded had not the doctor who shared his story with Wimsey and Parker not recognized Wimsey as “the right sort” and therefore felt comfortable returning to his flat.

For the rest of the story Wimsey does not detect so much as he delegates the grim, boring and tedious aspects of detection to others. Wimsey is interested in the doctor's story and so he is able to hire people to look up the records, go to the scene of the possible crime, spend hours over tea tables in boarding houses, go door-to-door to canvas neighbourhoods and go through official records. Wimsey is able to go places (if he wishes) with ease because of his wealth and his status. Wimsey boasts at one point that he has a nose for detection. That he is one of those people who has a sense of when a crime was committed. Unfortunately what Sayers seems to have demonstrated in this book is that something more than flair, intelligence, and curiosity is required to solve crimes “the Wimsey way”--status, money and connections.

[1] Sayers, D. (1964). Unnatural death. New York: Avon.
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LibraryThing member iayork
Classic detective fiction with the brilliant Peter Wimsey: While this isn't my favourite D.L Sayers, it's a wonderful story, about a young woman suspected of murdering her rich aunt and a servant who signed the aunt's will...but the post mortem doesn't show anything. Only Lord Peter Wimsey can
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solve the case, with the help of Chief Inspector Parker and Miss Climpson.
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LibraryThing member riverwillow
Dorothy L Sayers and Lord Peter are both on form in this cracking mystery, which is very well plotted with lots of lovely red herrings. I particularly enjoyed the explanation to the legal background to the original murder - showing that DLS expected her readers to be intelligent - and also the
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discussion Lord Peter has with the vicar about the morality of killing the terminally ill, something which still has relevance to date. The method of murder is ingenious, and has been copied by several other writers in the years since the book was first published, so does unfairly feel cliched.
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LibraryThing member astrologerjenny
Lord Peter Wimsey can be a lot of fun. I love the way he takes lines from poetry and mangles them for his own purposes. The relationship between Wimsey and the grumbling copper Parker is always amusing. The mystery itself is entertaining, and there are a few twists. The most difficult thing in this
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book is the racism of all the characters, in this Britain of the 20s.
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LibraryThing member phoebesmum
The third Wimsey mystery, and an oddity – or rather, it would be an oddity if not for the fact that, whilst they helped define the Golden Age detective novel, all the Wimsey books are unconventional examples of the genre. Here, the very fact of the murder itself is debatable; to all outward
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appearances, it’s a natural death: an elderly, cancer-stricken lady dies, apparently quite peacefully. When her doctor queries the case he finds himself an outcast in the community, and eventually moves away. Then he bumps into Wimsey, voices his suspicions, and the rest is history.

'Unnatural Death' introduces us for the first time to Miss Climpson, the first recruit in Wimsey’s army of forgotten women, and it’s Miss Climpson who does the bulk of the investigative work, taking lodgings in the dead woman’s village and asking the nosy questions expected of a middle-aged spinster.

The book also brings Peter’s guilty conscience to the fore. There are further deaths as a result of his investigation; if he had left well alone, would those people have been allowed to live? Are their deaths a quid pro quo for justice? These questions will continue to haunt him, and he will return to them in 'Gaudy Night'.

An uncomfortable aspect of the book is its portrayal of the casual racism inherent in then-current society. It features what I believe is Sayers’s only character of colour, who is treated outrageously by the victim’s housekeeper, who refuses to cook dinner for him, and who becomes the immediate – indeed, the ‘natural’ – suspect in a related crime. The language used in relation to this character is difficult for the modern reader to countenance. It should, however, be noted that the racism is the characters’, not the author’s; the gentleman in question is a blameless, elderly West Indian missionary, who Wimsey, at least, treats decently, and who actually comes quite well out of the whole business.

Also interesting is the perceived acceptance of female/female relationships. The victim herself had, for many years, lived happily in company with a childhood friend, and her niece appears set to repeat this relationship with a local girl who has a decided pash on her. Neither author nor characters show any condemnation for this, or think it odd in any way.

Much of the plot revolves around the 1925 Administration of Estates Act, a piece of legislation so complex that even the lawyers can’t figure it out. Governments, alas, never change.
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LibraryThing member sriemann
THe combination of English upper class eccentricities, a really good twisty detective story, and a wonderful addition to the main characters of the 'spinster' known as Miss Climpton. I really liked Miss CLimpton, and I enjoyed the inflections that are italicized. I read it aloud in my head... I
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'hear' this whole book in my head, and it's like a marvelous black and white movie. I would totally make this booka movie. (maybe it already has been years and years ago and I just don't know about it) I think that's why I get into reading it as big chunks, and then once I get into the twists of the mystery, I usually can't put it down once I get to around two-thirds done. (stayed up waaaaaay too late last night to finish this one. When I started reading I was around halfway done.... and didn't stop until I was finished.)
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LibraryThing member cajiad
An excellent mystery, well plotted, good red herrings and some nice comic moments too. Wimsey is on good whimsical form and his occasional assistant Miss Climpson also features to good effect. in keeping with quite a few Sayers mysteries there isn't a real shock as to whodunnit, but there are some
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nice twists involving how and why they dunnit. I now have only one full length Wimsey novel left to read and am very sad at this state of affairs. They are beautiful novels.
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LibraryThing member Figgles
Good solid mystery from Miss Sayers. I came back to this one after reading Agatha Christie's "Appointment with Death" which references the murder method used in this book. Interestingly we can complete the circle back to AC as the description of the picnickers flocking to the scene of the
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disappearance of the two young women late in the book could be taken from Miss Sayers own first hand visit to the scene of AC's disappearance in 1926! An interesting story where, as DLS herself says (via Harriet Vane) in a later book, she invented a method of murder so watertight it was difficult to find a way of catching the murderer - HV forced a confession, DLS gets the murderer to panic and murder more, finally relying on catching them red handed! Good read!
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LibraryThing member BenBennetts
The least satisfying and most cliched of Sayers's novels. Full review to follow.
LibraryThing member Citizenjoyce
Another interesting mystery that LPW took on just because of a casual meeting, then he couldn't stop chasing the problem. This leads to a moral dilemma. The pursuit of the killer leads to further deaths. Would it have been better for him to have left the whole mystery alone after the first death
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which may or may not have been natural? Poor Lord Peter, always on the verge of depression. Fortunately a version of the famous cattery is featured. That's become my favorite part of Sayers' books.
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LibraryThing member JaneSteen
Where I got the book: My bookshelf. A re-read.

Well I've already failed in my attempt to re-read the Wimsey books in order, because I always thought Clouds of Witness came AFTER Unnatural Death. Wimsey seems younger in the latter, somehow.

The Wimsey books, in general, are superb examples of Golden
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Age detective fiction: intricate plots which give you all the clues on the page and yet count on misdirection to keep you guessing. The plot of Unnatural Death seems to arise from a question: do doctors ever suspect wrongdoing around their patients' deaths? Wimsey meets such a doctor by chance, and sets about investigating the slightly premature decease of an old lady who refused to make her will.

There are three interesting points I'd like to note about this book. First, the initial signs of Wimsey's transformation into the godlike figure of the later books are there, notably in the hints about his vast experience of women and skill as a lover. Not to mention his ability to climb drainpipes and locate a body in a large expanse of countryside.

Second, we see the hammering home of a theme Sayers weaves through the Wimsey novels: what right does Wimsey have to go around detecting given that his interfering inevitably seems to result in more deaths? I love the way Sayers makes her detective think about the internal logic of detective novels.

Third, Sayers gets to tackle the topic of LESBIANS without actually being able to clarify that point to the reader, since the book was written in the 1920s and homosexuality could only be hinted at in the broadest manner. It always makes me laugh that the main "proof" of the villain's same-sex preference is that she doesn't fancy Wimsey. Nice to be so irresistible.

Black marks on this book, always quoted by Sayers' critics, are her casual use of racially offensive terms; but the reader needs to remember that this kind of speech was the norm in her day, and if anything she shows greater sympathy toward non-Christians or non-whites than many writers of her time.

Clouds of Witness now loaded on my Kindle. Onward!
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The third entry in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers finds Wimsey and Parker on the trail of a most vicious killer. The death of an elderly lady who had cancer was considered by most to be a natural one, except by her doctor, but no evidence of foul play was found. The
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doctor, now disgraced and having lost his practice, tells his story to Lord Peter and Inspector Parker. Lord Peter is immediately prepared to accept the doctor’s story of murder and decides, against Parker‘s advice, to take a closer look.. Whether directly or indirectly, Lord Peter’s involvement leads to more murders and now, a case where an heir may have speeded up their inheritance, has become a multiple murder investigation.

A very inventive storyline that was interesting and original, but unfortunately, once again a Sayers novel shows overt racism, that was most uncomfortable to read. I do understand that these attitudes were more or less the norm of the day, but, in 2012 these attitudes take away from the overall excellence of this vintage mystery.

Unnatural Death was originally published in 1927. I plan to continue on with this series, and I am wondering if I will see any change in the author’s attitude in regard to ethnic differences. Overall, an imaginative story about the very likeable Lord Peter Wimsey who tackles crime as a hobby, but definitely has the instinct of a born detective.
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LibraryThing member CarltonC
I enjoyed rereading this early Wimsey amateur detective story, first read 20-odd years ago. It is a straightforward story, in that you know who "did it" early on, but the joy of the book is in the period detail and character detail, although any development of Lord Peter as a character was slight
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in the current story.
There were numerous humorous touches and for those who like biographical detail, there was discussion of Anglican "High Church" issues relating to confession (beyond me).
Curiously, the story finishes with Wimsey leaving a police station in London with it being dark from a solar eclipse. The solar eclipse would have been that on 29 June 1927(?), the year in which the book was published.
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LibraryThing member MrsLee
Recently re-read this with a group. It is a fine example of Lord Peter Wimsey. Not a lot of Bunter in it. The mystery is not difficult to solve, but the characters involved are interesting and fun to follow along in their detecting. Introduces Miss Climpson.
LibraryThing member Kaethe
I picked this one up and started reading it when nothing else appealed. Apparently nothing is as good as a Sayers novel these days. Well, you can see why: Wimsey is hilarious, and Sayers brings an interesting perspective to the genre. She recognized the racism and sexism so prevalent in her time,
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created characters who shared it, but permits her leads to be more enlightened. And Miss Climpson is one of the best characters ever.

Rereading it, and realizing how much of the plot had stuck in my brain was interesting. One thing that really jumped out at me this time was the variety of relationships shown. Central to the story are two women school chums who spend the rest of their long lives keeping house together and running a stud farm. I suppose the dearth of single men after the war made it easier for women to establish families with other women without censure.

Personal copy.
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LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher
Entertaining, if a trifle slow and involuted to suit me. There was definitely some weird homophobic undertones, but there were also some apparently admirable happily paired women (if it's never made explicit that they were lovers, it's still definitely open that they were life partners.) I found
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that whole theme, which pervades the story, a bit jarring, but the actual mystery was fine and I did not see the solution coming at all.
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LibraryThing member veracite
This is another good one, the one that introduces the delightful Miss Climpson, Wimsey's version of the Baker Street Irregulars.
LibraryThing member pgchuis
5195563
Pgchuis's review Jun 29, 15 · edit
4 of 5 stars
Read from June 27 to 29, 2015

By means of a chance encounter in a coffee shop, Sir Peter hears of the possibly suspicious death of Miss Dawson. She was dying of cancer, but in the end died far sooner than her doctor had expected. He was allowed
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to perform a post-mortem but could find nothing to explain her death. For the first third of the novel, Peter Parker, Lord Peter's policeman-side kick, is not entirely convinced there is a crime to solve.

There is a lot going on in this story. I enjoyed the finer legal distinctions of the Law of Property Act 1925, which held the answer to the central puzzle, and I loved Miss Climpson, a sort of high church Miss Marple, whose letters were superb. On the other hand, the body count got a bit ridiculous, and I worked out who Mrs Forrest was very early on. The scene with Mr Trigg going to the dark house with the dying woman was far-fetched by any standards and the discovery of the "preparatory notes for confession" was extraordinarily convenient. On the other hand, I did love the bit where Sir Peter is suspicious of Mrs Forrest because she didn't enjoy kissing him.

More Bunter needed, though.
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Language

Original publication date

1927

ISBN

0060808403 / 9780060808402

DDC/MDS

Fic Mystery Sayers

Rating

½ (746 ratings; 3.8)
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