{"id":355,"date":"2012-05-04T23:51:03","date_gmt":"2012-05-05T03:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=355"},"modified":"2012-05-23T09:44:28","modified_gmt":"2012-05-23T13:44:28","slug":"the-lord-peter-wimsey-mystery-series-by-dorothy-leigh-sayers-fleming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/the-lord-peter-wimsey-mystery-series-by-dorothy-leigh-sayers-fleming\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery Series, by Dorothy Leigh Sayers Fleming"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Book<\/a><\/p>\n

My favourite mystery series of all time is the Lord Peter Wimsey stories by Dorothy Sayers. I also enjoy her short stories about the crafty salesman, Montague Egg.<\/p>\n

Despite the irritating class structure, a slightly misogynist air (chapter titles range from \u201cA use for spinsters,\u201d to \u201cLord Peter Turns a Trick) and a know-it-all main character, the Lord Wimsey stories are so appealing, the BBC made them into television shows. Sayers sarcastic humour stands out and she always manages to turn the story in a direction that isn\u2019t immediately obvious.<\/p>\n

The best things about reading Sayers\u2019 mysteries, however, are her characters. They all seem like real personalities despite exaggerated traits and overblown situations.<\/p>\n

The key character is Wimsey himself, of course, who is an honourable but eccentric example of England\u2019s upper class who feels ugly but is extraordinarily-good at everything. Stories about this ideal man include feats showing his success at playing the piano, scoring in cricket and leading his men in World War II trenches. No matter what the situation, he knows exactly what to do, but is also charming and kind. He\u2019s also rich and never gets angry.<\/p>\n

Every story also includes at least one scene with the doting Bunter, Lord Wimsey\u2019s fussing efficient assistant who manages to fill a variety of expert roles, including photography, chemistry and under-cover spying.<\/p>\n

Only a few include the Sayers-like character Harriet Vane, who is described as a best-selling independent mystery writer and the love of Wimsey’s life.<\/p>\n

His able old-fashioned lawyer, Mr. Murbles, handles\u00a0 legal trials along the way. Particularly nice characters show up over and over, including Mary, the sister he hardly knows and an affable police detective named Parker. Unbelievable characters appear in very believable circumstances, including a ghost uncle, his fun-loving mother, his fuss-budget older brother and his brother\u2019s wife, the super-critical Helen.<\/p>\n

The best character of all is an extraordinary woman detective named Miss Climpson, who runs an all-lady detective agency for Wimsey.<\/p>\n

She is my ears and tongue and especially my nose,\u201d said Lord Peter, dramatically in Unnatural Death<\/strong> \u201cShe asks questions which a young man could not put without a blush\u2026I send a lady with a long, woolly jumper on knitting needles and jingly things round her neck. Of course she asks questions\u2014everybody expets it. Nobody is surprised. Nobody is alarmed. And so-called superfluity is agreeable and usually disposed of.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These great characters, particularly the female ones, arise from a life of varied experiences. Born to the chaplain of Christ Church, Oxford and his wife in 1893, Sayers crossed many boundaries for women during her lifetime. She didn\u2019t get a degree immediately after finishing studying at Somerville College in Oxford, because women couldn\u2019t have them at that time, although she did get one five years later, in 1920.<\/p>\n

Sayers had a son, John Anthony, \u201cout-of-wedlock\u201d in 1924, although she never told anyone he was her son and asked her cousin to raise him. She adopted him after marrying a journalist named Oswald Arthur Mac Fleming.<\/p>\n

She began her Wimsey series a year later while working full-time as an advertising copywriter. She began writing full time in 1932 and died 35 years later.<\/p>\n

Her son and his heirs kept her stories in print, which is why so many of them were published by \u201cThe Trustees of Anthony Fleming, Deceased\u201d<\/p>\n

Her Wimsey stories include:<\/p>\n