Lord Peter Views the Body: 12 Stories

This collection of a dozen short stories showcases the depth of Dorothy Sayers' versatility and demonstrates the breadth Lord Peter's sleuthing skills. By covering the gamut of the mystery genre - from treasure hunt to espionage, from cypher (in a devilishly hard crossword) to ghost story, with an occasional straightforward dead body thrown in for old times' sake - Lord Peter is in danger of eclipsing Bunter as the World's Greatest Overachiever.As is frequently the case, trying to match wits with Wimsey is often an exercise in futility. Unless you are fluent in French you'll miss one villain's slip of the tongue (I caught the gist of the conversation in "The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question," but nowhere near enough to keep up with Lord Peter). In the crossword puzzle mystery I answered a whopping one of the sixty-four clues correctly. Still, there are a couple stories where you can get there ahead of Wimsey, and a few where you can at least see where he's going even if you can't beat him there.My favorite of the twelve is "The Learned Adventure of the Dragon's Head" not only because I deduced the location of the buried treasure ahead of Wimsey, but because his avuncular counsel of young Gherkins is priceless. "The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face" seems to be the genesis of Sayers' later novel Have His Carcase, but with Wimsey solving the case solo (and without the maddening cypher). It's in short stories such as these that we are able to fully explore Lord Peter's character and appreciate Sayers' craft.All of these stories are gems. Not all are equal, however. There are a few carbuncles among the diamonds, but all are much better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Don't worry if you feel at sea at the beginning of some of these stories (only one brief scene in one of the stories actually takes place at sea): Lord Peter is not always revealed immediately, nor is what's going on always eminently clear. Patience pays off and stick-to-itiveness is always rewarded.

'Lord Peter Views the Body' comprises twelve short stories of mystery. They are well-structured, well-written little puzzlers, though some are definitely more engaging than others. There are no bad stories here (of course not! this is Dorothy L. Sayers, after all), but a couple leave only a mark of complancency, rather than intrigue. With these twelve little morsels, Sayers shows a side of Wimsey not often explored in the full-length novels. We see Wimsey, the affable protagonist, involved in cases ranging from the flimsy, to the bizarre, to the positively horrific. There are stories concerned with solving crossword puzzles, preventing a theft, witnessing a ghostly apparition in the form of a headless horseman carriage, and even a tale which includes THREE Lord Peter Wimseys! My paperback copy professes, on the rear teaser, that Wimsey views the body in twelve different ways. This is somewhat misleading, as not every one of the twelve stories is an actual *murder* mystery. Some are just fun adventure/spy dramas. All of them are sturdy tales, some better than others. Relish the well-done 'Lord Peter Views the Body'. It is one of the best golden age mystery collections out there.

It is a Golden Age when Acorn Media is turning out Poirot and Wimsey videos and Audio Partners is doing the same for books on tape with the very same stars, David Suchet and Ian Carmichael. Now we have from the latter company a complete reading of 9 short mysteries from Dorothy Sayers' anthology (61218). Strictly speaking, this is not quite an "Unabridged" set on 6 cassettes since the original book holds 12 tales. One of them is based around a crossword puzzle, so I can see how very difficult that would be to work into a reading. Still we should be grateful to have the 9 Audio Partners has treated us to. One of them will recall "House of Wax," except this time it is metal plating ("The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers"). Most of the stories have a light tone, as you can tell from the titles: "The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag," "The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention," "The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach" (in which you will guess the solution early on), and so on. To me, the most interesting were "The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste" in which two (or is it three?) Peter Wimseys show up to purchase secret documents, and "The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face" in which the first half is concerned with Wimsey's theoretical reconstruction of a murder as reported in the papers and the second with the actual facts. The most unusual is the last, "The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba," in which Wimsey comes very close to being killed when he poses as a member of a secret organization. Carmichael, as the movie ads say, IS Peter Wimsey---and his voice is flexible enough to be all the other characters as well. Beautifully done.

"Lord Peter Views the Body" Is part of the Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries Series. There are twelve mysteries. I will not pull them apart as the fun is watching them unfold. "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers" "The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question" "The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Mileage's Will" "The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag" "The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker" "The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention" "The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps That Ran" "The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste" "The Learned Adventure of the Dragon's Head" "The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach" "The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face" "The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba" With the novels containing Harriet Vane [Strong Poison], the emphasis is on English life with a mystery added. This book is a series of mysteries with a little 20's and 30's England added. It may be my perception but the mysteries get better and more intriguing as the next one appears. Then it is over. Next book is "The Nine Tailors: Changes Rung on an Old Theme in Two Short Touches and Two Full Peals."

This book is a collection of short stories, set in nineteen-twenties and thirties England, about Lord Peter Wimsey. He is a sleuth more in the style of Holmes than Poirot, but with fewer of the incredible deductions that sometimes make Doyle's stories a bit hard to believe. Which is not to say that reading this book does not require a healthy suspension of disbelief. The stories also feature Wimsey's faithful manservant, Bunter; the Egoists' Club, where you can talk about yourself as much as you like (Wimsey is a member) and various other characters and places, all presented in a delightful style. One of the things that I enjoyed most about this book was that Sayers managed to get a fair amount of humor into it without losing the suspense.