Showing results by author "Dorothy L. Sayers" in All Categories

When acclaimed mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers first began compiling anthologies of the best crime stories in the 1920s and ’30s, the genre was in the flush of its first golden age. While it is hard to imagine today - after every possible mystery plot has been told, retold, subverted, and played straight again by hundreds of writers over nearly a century - in Sayers’s day there were still twists that had never been seen, and machinations of crime that would shock even jaded Jazz Age fans.

When copywriter Victor Dean falls to his death on the stairs of Pym's Advertising Agency, everyone assumes it was an unfortunate accident. His replacement doesn't think so and begins asking a lot of questions. The new man is something of a mystery to his colleagues, and he certainly dresses well considering his meagre writer's salary.

Step into the world of wit, sophistication, and intrigue with Lord Peter Views the Body, the fourth installment in Dorothy L. Sayers’ celebrated Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries. This delightful collection of twelve short stories showcases Lord Peter at his finest—solving cases that range from the bizarre to the macabre, all with his trademark charm and intelligence.

A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection Final Acts. Detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers presents a look at morality and motive as playwright John Scales grows angrier and more resentful towards the actor who reinvented his script, and must decide how far he will allow his hatred to take him.

When Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion, known as the 'Gaudy', the prim academic setting is haunted by a rash of bizarre pranks: scrawled obscenities, burnt effigies and poison-pen letters - including one that says, 'Ask your boyfriend with the title if he likes arsenic in his soup.' Some of the notes threaten murder, and one of them involves a long Latin quotation, which makes Harriet suspect that the perpetrator is probably a member of the Senior Common Room. But which of the apparently rational, respectable dons could be committing such crazed acts?

Wimsey’s mother, the Dowager Duchess of Denver, rings her son with news of ‘such a quaint thing’. She has heard through a friend that Mr Thipps, a respectable Battersea architect, found a dead man in his bath – wearing nothing but a gold prince-nez. Lord Wimsey makes his way straight over to Mr Thipps, and a good look at the body raises a number of interesting questions. Why would such an apparantly well-groomed man have filthy black toenails, flea bites and the scent of carbolic soap lingering on his corpse?

Two years after the trial for the murder of her lover, the blaze of publicity surrounding mystery writer Harriet Vane has begun to die away and Harriet decides it's time for a break. But the peace of a North Devon walking tour is rudely shattered when she discovers the body of a man on the beach, his throat slit from ear to ear. The moment the story breaks Harriet’s old friend Lord Peter Wimsey is on the scene to lend his powers of detection. Can the two of them discover who the murderer is?

This was the second Lord Peter Wimsey story to be adapted for radio in the mid-seventies. Broadcast May 5 to June 16 1975, it was adapted by Chris Miller and produced by Simon Brett. The case on Agatha Dawson is closed, but Lord Peter Wimsey is not satisfied. With no clues to work on, he begins his own investigation. Then Agatha's maid is suddenly murdered.

Delve into the fourth Lord Peter Wimsey mystery set in the aftermath of the Great War. The tale unfolds as the corpse of General Fentiman is discovered, seated in his customary armchair at the Bellona Club, on Armistice Day. His modest inheritance is meant for his grandsons, but the unexpected death of his wealthy sister, Lady Dormer, complicates matters. If he survived her, his grandsons inherit her sizable fortune. If not, her young companion, Ann Dorland, becomes the beneficiary. The suave and unconventional Lord Peter Wimsey, alongside his associate, Inspector Charles Parker of Scotland ...

The Mind of the Maker will be relished by those already in love with Dorothy L. Sayers and those who have not yet met her. A mystery writer, a witty and perceptive theologian, culture critic, and playwright, Dorothy Sayers sheds unexpected new light on a specific set of statements made in the Christian creeds. She examines anew such ideas as the image of God, the Trinity, free will, and evil, and in this text, a wholly revitalized understanding of them emerges.

Immer dann, wenn ein Geldverleiher gewaltsam zu Tode kommt, gibt es eine Vielzahl an Verdächtigen. Für den ermittelnden Sergeant ist die naheliegende Lösung allerdings nicht die richtige, denn der Einzige, der kein Alibi hat, scheint es nicht gewesen zu sein. Als ein Grundstücksmakler immer wieder starke Magenschmerzen hat, keimt in ihm ein böser Verdacht: Ist seine Köchin die gesuchte Mörderin?

Embark on a thrilling journey with Whose Body?, the first novel in Dorothy Sayers’s renowned Lord Peter Wimsey series. Meet Lord Peter, his insightful manservant and fellow-sleuth, Mervyn Bunter, and the astute Inspector Charles Parker from Scotland Yard. The story unfolds as a timid architect from Battersea stumbles upon a naked corpse in his bath, its only accessory a gold pince nez. Simultaneously, the narrative reveals the strange disappearance of Sir Reuben Levy, a prominent financial tycoon. As Wimsey and Parker delve deeper into these two enigmas, they realize the two incidents ...

Delve into the third installment of the riveting Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series, Unnatural Death. Our story begins as Lord Peter Wimsey finds himself ensnared in the tale of a small-town doctor, convinced that his patients death was a sinister act of murder. Despite the medical evidence pointing towards natural causes, Wimsey is drawn into the mystery. Teaming up with his reliable allies, Chief Inspector Parker of Scotland Yard and his valet Bunter, Wimsey begins to investigate. A new character enters the scene, Miss Alexandra Katharine Climpson, a sharp, observant spinster who adds charm ...

General Fentiman is found dead on the afternoon of November 11 in his armchair at the Bellona Club—just hours after the passing of his wealthy estranged sister. At ninety years old, his physician certifies death by natural causes. The important question, then, is not how he died, but when, as the answer determines the fate of an inheritance worth half a million pounds. If he died after his sister, her fortune stands to go to his grandsons, who are sorely in need of the funds.

Immerse yourself in the gripping tale of Lord Peter Wimsey, called from his holiday in Corsica to solve a dense mystery that engulfs his own family. His brother, Gerald, Duke of Denver, stands accused of the murder of their sister Marys fiance, Dennis Cathcart. The peculiar circumstances of this crime baffle and intrigue, with the Duke found leaning over Cathcarts dead body outside their home in the dead of a freezing, wet night. As Lord Peter and his skilled servant-turned-assistant Bunter delve into the case, theyre confronted with a web of inexplicable actions and motives. Why would the ...

Allen im Gerichtssaal, auch dem vorsitzenden Richter, scheint es klar: Die Kriminalschriftstellerin Harriet Vane hat ihren Geliebten mit Arsen vergiftet. Nur einer - und das ist natürlich Lord Peter - findet die scheinbar so klare Beweisführung nicht stichhaltig. Er glaubt an die Unschuld Harriets und das nicht nur, weil er sich Hals über Kopf in sie verliebt hat.

Es bedeutet "Ärger im Bellona-Club", wenn der alte General Arthur Fentiman fast zeitgleich mit seiner Schwester stirbt und dabei ein Erbe von mehreren Hunderttausend Pfund im Spiel ist. Das kann kein Zufall sein, findet zumindest Lord Peter Wimsey, Aristokrat und Amateurdetektiv, und wirft einen Blick in die Abgründe der adeligen Familie Fentiman... Mit viel psychologischem Scharfsinn und schwarzem Humor zeichnet Dorothy L. Sayers ein Bild der englischen Aristokratie der 1920er Jahre.

Es ist so weit: Lord Peter Wimsey heiratet die Kriminalschriftstellerin Harriet Vane. Doch das Eheglück bleibt nicht lange unbeschwert, denn im Keller ihres Flitterwochen-Domizils liegt die Leiche des ehemaligen Besitzers. Darf sich ein Gentleman auf seiner Hochzeitsreise mit Mord befassen?

Eine peinliche Überraschung für den biederen Mr. Tipps: Da liegt doch tatsächlich eines Morgens ein nackter Unbekannter in seiner Badewanne. Und nicht nur das, der Fremde ist auch noch tot. Lord Peter Wimsey interessiert sich natürlich sofort für den skurrilen Fall, zumal fast gleichzeitig ein dem Toten entfernt ähnlich sehender Börsenmakler spurlos verschwunden ist. Fehlt da ein Toter? Christian Brückner liest den aristokratischen Lord Peter mit Charme und britischem Humor.

Lord Peter Wimsey ist "not amused": Im Urlaub erreicht ihn die unschöne Nachricht, dass sein Bruder Gerald des Mordes bezichtigt wird. Auf seine Nachforschungen hin entdeckt Peter zu seinem Entsetzen, dass die Zeugen des Mordes sich in Widersprüche verstricken und letztlich gar seine Schwester zum Kreis der Verdächtigen zu gehören scheint.