Thrones, Dominations

I probably shoulldn;t be reviewing this book as I am only half way through it. But so far it is excellent. I thought I had read all the Dorothy Sayers/Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries and then this one came along.

I have been a Sayers fan since high school, I've read all her Wimsey novels and short stories at least three times ("Gaudy Night" more like six times,) and I LOVED "Thrones, Dominations." My approach was heavily influenced by the fact that I read a lot of fanfiction, mostly now for JRR Tolkien and formerly for the Potterverse. So I didn't expect Walsh's writing in "Thrones, Dominations" to be a clone of Sayers'--who could possibly do that, anyway? Walsh wisely did not attempt it. What I did hope for was exactly what I got: a sensitive and imaginative riff on the characters and their world, with convincing developments in their personalities, every bit inspired by materials in the Canon. Every issue with which the characters have to deal is implicit in their experiences in Sayers' own complete works. Walsh caught the spirit, and often came eerily close to the letter. Even the sexual and surreal aspects of the murder have their sources in Sayers' short stories--look at "The Cyprian Cat" and "The Man With Copper Fingers." This is the Wimsey/Vane novel I was aching to read after "Busman's Honeymoon." Highly enjoyable and deeply satisfying. Thank you, Jill Paton Walsh!

With the exception of her Dante translation, I have devoured virtually Dorothy Sayers' entire output, mystery and theology. I believe divine Dottie is the most brilliant woman produced by the 20th century, and I look upon Lord Peter and Harriet Vane with near-worship, as my favorite literary couple, with Darcy and Lizzie running a close second. If Jill Paton Walsh had written nothing else, this would stand as a career-defining triumph. I was incredulous when another Sayers aficianado told me that an Oxford alum had mustered the overweening chutzpah to touch divine Dottie and finish "Thrones, Dominations." It would not (and could not) be "The Nine Tailors" or "Gaudy Night"--Dottie herself was growing bored with Lord Peter by the time she novelized the play "Busman's Honeymoon" and could not have approached the brilliance of either masterpiece, even if she had lived to complete the novel herself. But I was floored, positively floored, by Walsh's accomplishment. As the concluding Author's Note states, Sayers' "Gaudy Night" inspired Walsh to go to Oxford, and this is Walsh's thank-you, a painstaking labor of love. In "Thrones, Dominations," the almost idyllic Wimsey union is paralleled by a more troubled, more forced, more fake marriage between a shallow, stupid beauty (think Dian Momerie of Peter's former acquaintance) and a theatre man--until the shallow beauty, whom the brilliant, honest Harriet was attempting to befriend with predictable difficulty, turns up dead. The ensuing mystery unfolds with Sayeresque twists and turns, and Walsh can be forgiven for not bewildering the reader with several apparently airtight alibis and plausible murderers, as Sayers and only a handful of other mystery writers have been able to do. How did Walsh do it? How did she maintain Peter and Harriet's delicious tete-a-tetes sprinkled with literary allusions, while settling them into a believable post-honeymoon life with the pressures of writing, detection, a certain opera singer from Peter's playboy days, and Harriet's morning sickness? We could quibble over some new shades of characterization; whether Helen, Duchess of Denver, was ever this godawful, for instance, or whether Bunter was ever intended by Sayers to marry, given the discovery of an unpublished short story by Sayers in which Bunter is still a bachelor butler chasing after the three junior Wimseys. But Walsh pulls it off, beautifully. Given the loving artfulness with which Harriet and Peter accommodate a prospective Mrs. Bunter, which are so thoroughly in character, I cannot find fault with Walsh's liberties in getting Bunter a bride. Walsh is particularly brilliant to make use of one of Sayers' most enthralling narrative techniques: the Dowager Duchess's faithful daily diary. The Dowager is eerily spot-on, 99% accurate. If I must quibble with something, my biggest (minor) gripe would be that the murder itself has a sexual element that divine Dottie would likely never have considered, ma

I started reading this book feeling unsure that I would enjoy it. I love all of Dorothy Sayers' work and didn't know how successfully Jill Paton Walsh had been able to capture her unique writing style. To my pleasant surprise, I found that Walsh really had captured Sayers' voice. The book was full of the witty one-liners that are packed with so much meaning, that are sprinkled throughout the Lord Peter Wimsey books. The atmosphere of London circa 1935 is very well portrayed and I felt that a real effort was made at character development, particularly that of Harriet Wimsey, who is shown as being less prickly and more self-confident as she adapts to married life. That is a very welcome change from "Gaudy Night" where, although you sympathize with her, you can also become very irritated at her oversensitivity. My only criticism was that the actual mystery is a lot thinner than Sayers' usual works, which are densely and intricately plotted with many fascinating sidebars. Still, I would highly recommend the book to fans of Sayers, simply because of the great atmosphere and the chance to see one of the most fascinating fictional detectives ever, in action. How I wish Sayers had written more mysteries!

I approached this book with a good deal of fear and trepidation, being sure in my mind that it would be yet another case of PSS (Pale Sequel Syndrome). However my mood shifted to pure delight in the first scene of the book, where the four main characters in the book -- Lord Peter and his Harriet, a West-end producer and his much younger wife -- are introduced via a conversation between Paul Delegardie (Lord Peter's bon vivant "Uncle Pandarus") and his Parisian luncheon guest. Delegardie asks his companion to speculate on the two couples. The Frenchman, with assumed expertise in all things having to do with "amour", gives an analysis of the two relationships that is pompous, long-winded and, as Delegardie is delighted to point out, totally inaccurate. This type of scene is vintage Sayers -- pinpoint characterization, witty dialogue, and just a soupcon of British superiority. Ms Paton got it exactly right -- as she has in so many other parts of this wonderful book. Most of the major characters are back in fine fettle: Peter, Harriet, Parker, the two Duchesses of Denver (the Dowager and Helen) and, of course, Bunter. A number of the supporting players have returned as well, such as Freddie Arbuthnot and Rumm, and the new characters -- Harriet's unusual "ladies' maid" especially -- are worthy additions to the list. I disagree with several of my fellow readers/reviewers on a couple of points. First, I don't fault Ms. Paton for the relative lack of light badinage between Lord Peter and Harriet. In Sayers' books, there is a definite progression from piffle to plain speaking that parallels the deepening of their relationship. As Harriet and Peter open to each other, they have less need to hide their strong emotions behind wordplay and epigram. I also disagree with the readers who find "90's" sentiments in the book. Issues such as the male/female roles in marriage, to have/not to have children, and whether women should work or stay home are all much discussed today, but they were of vital importance to Sayers and her contemporaries as well. In Gaudy Night, Harriet laments the waste of a scholarly mind in a woman who left academe to become a farmer's wife. In Thrones, Dominations, Harriet tells the producer's wife to pursue her own interests instead of sitting around waiting for her husband to come home. Two sides of the same coin. The fact that these sentiments seem so "modern" only points out how little has changed, or as "Domina" Sayers would say (without translation) "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose." My only quibble with this book is a minor one. Paton does not have Sayers' keen ear for regional dialect, so a couple of her local characters, such as the country housekeeper and her daughter, are pretty flat compared Puffet, Rumm, and others of Sayers' inspired creations. All in all, Ms. Paton has made a great success of Thrones, Dominations. Dare we hope for an encore?