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Fiction. Mystery. HTML: "The special qualities of Dorothy Sayers' writing are seen here at their best" as Lord Peter battles to solve the murder of a war hero (Saturday Review). Even the Bellona Club's most devoted members would never call it lively. Its atmosphere is that of a morgue�??or, at best, a funeral parlor�??and on Armistice Day the gloom is only heightened. Veterans of the Great War gather at the Bellona not to hash over old victories, but to stare into their whiskies and complain about old injuries, shrinking pensions, and the lingering effects of shell shock. Though he acts jolly, Lord Peter Wimsey finds the holiday grim. And this Armistice Day, death has come to join the festivities. The aged General Fentiman�??a hero of the Crimean War�??expires sitting up in his favorite chair. Across town, his sister dies on the same day, throwing the General's half-million-pound inheritance into turmoil. As the nation celebrates and suspicions run riot, Lord Peter must discover what kind of soldier would have the nerve to murder a general. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club is the 5th 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)
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In the years just after WWI, an old military man (a veteran of the Crimea) dies in his club. Although it would seem that he
Of her early Lord Peter mysteries, this one is undoubtedly Sayers’s best. She seems to have gotten better and better with each book she wrote, and she really perfected her art with this book. She deals with not only the petty stuff, but the larger things that were going on in he world at the time; in this novel, although WWI is ten years past, it’s still very much on people’s minds. George and Robert Fentiman, grandsons of the General, are perfect examples of this; George has been extremely affected by experiences in the trenches, while Robert escaped untouched.
Dorothy Sayers has a very subtle sense of wit; what I love about Lord Peter is his dryness. You almost have to be looking in order to find the humor in this book, but it’s well-worth it when you do. We learn more about Lord Peter’s experience during WWI and his relationship with Bunter, too—surely one of the most patient butlers in fiction.
I found this one less interesting than
I have grown to love this Lord Peter Wimsey mystery because of its somberness, although I remember that when I first read it as a teen I found it uninteresting. Amazing how history (and, therefore, literature) becomes more complex and interesting as you
This novel is set against the background of the aftermath of World War I, hence its more realistic, sober tone than the earlier novels. LPW comes very well out of this book, with far fewer fantastic speeches or superhuman feats of everything than some of the Wimsey novels are prone to. I feel, though, that the writing's a little rougher than usual, as if Sayers were on a short deadline.
Another thing that struck me this time round (and I may be completely wrong) is that Ann Dorland, one of the heirs and thus a potential suspect, was a prototype of Harriet Vane, who will turn up in the next novel as LPW's love interest. Ann is an unhappy woman because she's been crossed in love, is a murder suspect but underneath it all (as LPW tells her) is a fine person with good taste. Does that sound familiar, Wimsey fans? Can't help thinking that at some point Sayers thought "hey, there's a little spark there. I could develop it for the next novel".
A good mystery, of course: Sayers is nothing if not ingenious (although this is two times in quick succession that the victim has been an elderly person who would soon die anyway...) But it's the brooding, foggy feel of the book that really gives it its worth. Even Parker (inside whose head we dwell rather disconcertingly at times) seems to be permanently depressed, and the end of the book sort of drifts off into the mist. One to read by a cheerful log fire with a glass of old brandy...
I love this book as a mystery - all kinds of classic stuff - but by the time you figure out the first mystery, you're thrown into a second.
A small problem - When did the dead gent at the club die? - becomes gradually more and more complex, until it all collapses into a solution at the
That the case begins on Armistice Day is directly relevant to the plot, because Lord Peter isn't the only shell-shock victim amongst the cast. The book was written and set in 1928, the tenth anniversary of the end of the war. As with the first book of the series, there is a fine and chilling description of what the Great War did to some of the survivors, but here it's not just one scene. The whole book is suffused with the after-effects of the war, not just on the soldiers who served in the trenches, but on their whole society. There's an entertaining mystery to be had here, but it's wrapped in a superb portrait of 1928 England. The book is by turns heart-breaking and heart-warming, as Sayers turns in a virtuoso display of showing rather than telling what has happened to even the characters who on the surface seem unscathed.
Compared to that, there seems to be a shift in Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club - although I cannot tell whether this is due to Dorothy Sayers changing her views, or to the greater length of the novel allowing more space for subtlety and nuance. The world described is still mostly a valley of tears, but the creatures that inhabit it are for the most part not so much evil as frail. It is like the world kept pushing and pushing and pushing at every individual, until those that are too weak or brittle eventually break, cave in or shatter, with only the strongest having a chance to withstand the constant pressure. And there is no exception to that, even Lord Peter is missing his usual joyful hedonism in this novel and appears unusually listless throughout. It should be kept in mind, though, that the main reason the world appears as harsh as it is, are the after-effects of the First World War that extend even to those who took no part in the fighting – which of course implies that it is man who causes the suffering after all.
The best part of Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, however, is its beginning which is utterly brilliant both as opening puzzle for a whodunnit and as a striking emblem of the state of the British Empire at the time. It is wonderfully done, a scene nobody who has read it is likely to forget – maybe even a bit too brilliant as it threatens to outshine the rest of the novel and make the further events seem somewhat drab.
A very good read, like all of Sayer's Lord Peter series.
I read this in a day or so. While Lord Peter is unbearably silly (living up to his name) he's also fairly sharp and frequently kind, so spending time with him is always a pleasure.
This is a very layered mystery, at first the goal is simply to ascertain the time of death, as the inheritance of over a half-million pounds relies on knowing this important fact. But as the investigation gathers momentum it is soon clear that some very nasty business has taken place and it is up to Lord Peter to discover and reveal the truth.
This was one of my favorite Dorothy Sayers, both entertaining and humorous with a fascinating plot. It was interesting to see how the solution was arrived at in this time before detailed forensics and scientific analysis had advanced beyond the mere basics.
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Lord Peter Wimsey (1928)