 "Brilliant, funny, and intelligent mystery" | 2009-11-24 |
| - Reviewed By Nessander |
I am in the process of reading this book for the third time, and find it absolutely delightful. Like all of Dorothy L Sayers' books, it is highly intelligent and very well written. Sayers has an uncanny insight into human psychology and also has a wonderful way of characterizing her characters -- even minor characters come across as intriguing and realistic. Sayers clearly did a lot of research for all her novels, and the amount of detail she packs into the descriptions makes the places and persons all the more engaging and the reader's experience all the more rewarding.
What sets this book apart from the rest, however, is that it is here that we see the relationship between Sayers' indomitable sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey, and the young woman he saved from the gallows in Strong Poison, the amusing contrary Harriet Vane, develop and blossom into the first stages of a real love story. Although the focus is on the mystery, the Wimsey-Vane storyline is much more than a subplot. It runs through the novel and ultimately becomes just as important as the case they are working on. In Gaudy Night, one of Sayers' masterpieces in my opinion, the love story takes center stage and it is the mystery that becomes the backdrop for its unfolding.
For those who prefer mysteries to romances, however, there is nothing overly sentimental or "romancy" in the unfolding of Wimsey's and Vane's relationship. What the relationship gives Sayers is an opportunity to really gaze deeper into aspects of human psychology, and her writing is spot on. Lord Peter especially becomes a much more human character as he struggles to build a fragile relationship with Harriet, whose bruised past makes her especially prickly and sensitive to his advances.
I heartily recommend this book to all. If you get a chance to see the PBS/WGBH televised series, it is also a treat! |
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 "You should have checked your facts, Dorothy..." | 2008-04-26 |
| - Reviewed By monzaba |
The book is a nice, though a bit longish, detective story - it's about detecting a crime that was imposssible to be committed in the first place, and about Harriet Vane's and Lord Peter Wimsey's rather unpromising, but interesting, romance.
And it's howlingly funny at parts. Unfortunately, not the parts that the writer intended to be funny.
For a writer who always was so painstakingly correct about timetibles, technicalities etc, Ms Sayers had made an astounding mess with her facts.
The victim is a Russian - and Pavlo is his name. Sorry, Dorothy, had he been a Russian, his name would have been Pavel or Paul, given that we're supposed to be talking about Russian aristocracy. Pavlo is an Ukrainian name. It tantamount to calling a character Pierre and insisting he's an Englishman.
Also, if one insists on the poor victim receiving letters with Czechoslovakian stamps, one should not make the evil-doers send them from Warsaw. Polish stamps would surely be better.
Thirdly, it doesn't do to make seemingly intelligent characters speculate that an illness which can be inherited only through female ancestors could have been a proof positive that the sufferer is a descendant of a specified man... not after the female-line business was thoroughly explained in a previous paragraph, anyway.
And, top of the tops, there comes a scene when the good British jurors are not too slighly ridiculed for thinking in cliches about the foreigners... Pavlo the Russian, letters from the capital of Poland with Czechoslovakian stamps on them - Dorothy Leigh Sayers, you've made my day! |
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| "A Detestable Burden of Gratitude" | 2007-03-05 |
| - Reviewed By Mary E. Sibley from Carneys Point, NJ USA |
Carcase is a variant spelling of carcass. To be tried for murder is good publicity for a crime writer. Harriet Vane was busy.
In June Harriet went on a walking tour. On a beach she discovered a corpse. The tide was coming in. She was eight miles from Wilvercombe. Harriet took pictures of the discovery, of particular interest since the body was liable to be carried away on the tide. After walking six miles she called the police and the newspapers to report the existence of the dead body.
Lord Peter arrived to meet Harriet at her hotel, much to her surprise. A journalist had rung him up, it seems. The dead man had been a professional dancing partner, a police inspector told Harriet and Peter. A Mrs. Weldon, friend of the deceased man, sought Harriet's company. She claimed she and the decedent were to be married.
The murder weapon was an Endicott razor with an ivory handle. Wimsey learned from a Mr. Endicott that ivory-handled ones were in short supply. The notion that a bearded man had in his possession an old-fashioned razor of good quality presented a problem.
When the body came to shore there was an inquest, and the investigation of shifting identities began. As in real life, the story thread meanders.
The most interesting aspect of this book is the relationship of Hariet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey and the author's philosophy of female independence in which their relationship is cast. |
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| "Have His Carcasse" | 2007-01-05 |
| - Reviewed By T. O. Bower from Brookwood, AL USA |
| Dorothy Sayers had the gift of respecting all of her characters. Any one of them (including the villains) could be a member of your family. All were flawed with humanity. The mystery is always secondary to the individuals involved. This is a great read that gets better with each reading. |
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| "Going Around in Circles" | 2006-10-08 |
| - Reviewed By beckahi from Chicago |
The mysteries of Dorothy L. Sayers are intricate and intelligent, models of perfectly maddening puzzles that readers can barely solve. "Have His Carcase" is no exception, a fine round and round-about mystery that keeps readers (and the two detectives) searching till the final chapter.
The story finds Harriet Vane, recently acquited of murder, on a walking vacation. Mystery has a way of following her, and she encounters a dead body on the beach. Was it suicide or murder? Knowing that the tide is about to come in, Harriet takes pictures and clues to preserve what she can, and searches out the local authorities. Lord Peter Wimsey, gentleman detective, comes to Harriet's aid and also delves into the crime, a case of murder with a baffling array of suspects and alibis. Every clue and every alibi makes a strong case for suicide, but Wimsey knows it to be a murder, if only he could prove it.
"Have His Carcase" is a story with a lot on its plate; the wide cast of characters creates a web of further mystery and cluelessness around the death. This is all layered in with the flirtation between Wimsey and Vane, a delectable pairing of romance and comedy, as Harriet rebuffs Wimsey's marriage proposals at every turn. Sayers is perhaps almost too intelligent in her mysteries, giving her detectives almost unlimited knowledge on a wide range of topics. The chapters involving ciphers are particularly hard to decipher, but do little to distract from the excellent mystery at hand. And while the story does seem to go round and round, it comes full circle in the end. |
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| "Wonderful mystery entertainment!" | 2006-07-27 |
| - Reviewed By Snowbrocade from Santa Barbara, CA |
Sayers once again delivers a solid, old-fashioned mystery story set in the English countryside. The body of a gigolo is discovered by Harriet Vane, who was recently rescued by Lord Peter from being wrongly convicted for murder. Vane is supposedly on vacation--on a walking tour to recover from her ordeal, but ends up investigating a murder instead. Lord Peter is madly in love with her but she does not return his affections.
Vane discovers the bloody body on the beach as the tide is coming in. She rushes to town as quickly as possible to notify the police but is unable to do so before the body is swept away on the tides. Lord Peter comes to stay at the seaside resort to investigate the crime and continue his courtship. While working on the mystery together, Vane's feelings for Lord Peter vary from irritation to camaraderie to a reluctant affection.
Lord Peter is a charming, intelligent sleuth who has met his intellectual match in Harriet Vane. This further installment of his adventures evokes the nostalgic atmosphere of an English seaside town during the early 1930's. It also provides an intricate murder mystery and the growing pains of a passionate relationship. Highly recommended. |
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