Unnatural Death, Strong Poison, and Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers

[lightreads]

Fiction, historical mysteries. Lord Peter Wimsey inquires into the apparently innocent death of an elderly lady from miles away, acquits a woman accused of poisoning her lover, fails to get her to marry him, and goes undercover in an advertising agency to solve a murder and eventually crack an enormous drug trafficking ring. The first did not do much for me aside from the baseline Sayers cleverness and way of making me actually like historical British mysteries featuring the upper class. Which is to say that it’s an excellent book, and I hold particular authors to very high standards. Strong Poison is interesting, if only to see Peter agonizing over something which he has previously called a lark. The thing about Peter is that he has spent so long pretending the fool that he nearly believes it himself. It’s safer that way, judging by the short personal history slipped in at the front of Unnatural Death. Watching him not just touched by a case, but tormented, was engrossing.

As for Murder Must Advertise, there is no other word than romp. Glorious romp, in fact. I don’t think I’ve had that much fun in weeks. It’s hilarious, full
of off-color jokes and office personalities and politics, and I spent a lot of time grinning and muttering “oh, Peter.” But the book is not just a game; there is something watching and sad and deeply pensive here. I suspect it is Sayers herself.