# The best of Lord Peter Wimsey **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007 "2013-09-04T17:25:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/41 "2013-09-18T14:35:56Z")
I agree; Petherbridge looks right for the part. And I like the three Wimsey/Vane movies better than any of the Carmichael ones. (I’d like to see Petherbridge in an adaptation of **Murder Must Advertise**.) ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/42 "2013-09-18T15:32:02Z")
Got _Strong Poison_ from the library. Read the first 20 pages, then skipped to the end (I knew who did it). I didn’t like the storybecause I don’t think Lord peter belongs with Harriet Vane. I don’t think he belongs with any woman–I guess I see him a closeted gay. I realized I don’t like books with a lot of dialog, so I guess I won’t be reading any more Sayers. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/43 "2013-09-18T15:37:31Z")
> [@peedin](#): > > Got _Strong Poison_ from the library. Read the first 20 pages, then skipped to the end (I knew who did it). I didn’t like the storybecause I don’t think Lord peter belongs with Harriet Vane. I don’t think he belongs with any woman–I guess I see him a closeted gay. I realized I don’t like books with a lot of dialog, so I guess I won’t be reading any more Sayers. You read a total of 20 pages of a Sayers book plus the end and have decided that Lord Peter is gay and doesn’t belong with any woman? ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/44 "2013-09-18T16:35:05Z")
> [@peedin](#): > > Got _Strong Poison_ from the library. Read the first 20 pages, then skipped to the end (I knew who did it). I didn’t like the storybecause I don’t think Lord peter belongs with Harriet Vane. I don’t think he belongs with any woman–I guess I see him a closeted gay. I realized I don’t like books with a lot of dialog, so I guess I won’t be reading any more Sayers. Very strange. Why on earth would you see him as “a closeted gay”? Doubly strange as the first 20 pages of _Strong Poison_ are almost all the judge giving his summing up in the case of Rex v Vane - neither Wimsey nor anyone else has any significant dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/45 "2013-09-19T00:56:03Z")
> [@peedin](#): > > Got _Strong Poison_ from the library. Read the first 20 pages, then skipped to the end (I knew who did it). I didn’t like the storybecause I don’t think Lord peter belongs with Harriet Vane. I don’t think he belongs with any woman–I guess I see him a closeted gay. I realized I don’t like books with a lot of dialog, so I guess I won’t be reading any more Sayers. I think _Strong Poison_ is fun, but not the best place to start. That book requires that you already love Lord Peter and know his world. If you’re just starting, I’d say start with the first one _Whose Body?_. Also, if you’re using the criteria of whether you can guess the ending, then I agree that Sayers is probably not for you. Her writing is very dense, and the story is always better than the mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/46 "2013-09-19T01:01:52Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > He acts it well, but he’s not physically Lord P. I think Edward Petherbridge looks more like my image of what he should look like. Of course, Lord P in the later books does not come across as so frivilous as in the earlier books (with the annoying linguistic fads.) I haven’t seen the TV shows so I’m really going on his voice - he sounds like I think Wimsey should sound. I might take a look on Youtube and see if I can get a look at the TV shows. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/47 "2013-09-19T02:11:27Z")
I voted “doughnuts” because it’s been forty years since I read any of those books. Couldn’t even tell you which ones I did read… ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/48 "2013-09-19T08:04:43Z")
> [@peedin](#): > > Got _Strong Poison_ from the library. Read the first 20 pages, then skipped to the end (I knew who did it). I didn’t like the storybecause I don’t think Lord peter belongs with Harriet Vane. I don’t think he belongs with any woman–I guess I see him a closeted gay. I realized I don’t like books with a lot of dialog, so I guess I won’t be reading any more Sayers. > [@jsgoddess](#): > > You read a total of 20 pages of a Sayers book plus the end and have decided that Lord Peter is gay and doesn’t belong with any woman? > [@MarcusF](#): > > Very strange. Why on earth would you see him as “a closeted gay”? Doubly strange as the first 20 pages of _Strong Poison_ are almost all the judge giving his summing up in the case of Rex v Vane - neither Wimsey nor anyone else has any significant dialogue. > [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > I think _Strong Poison_ is fun, but not the best place to start. That book requires that you already love Lord Peter and know his world. If you’re just starting, I’d say start with the first one _Whose Body?_. Also, if you’re using the criteria of whether you can guess the ending, then I agree that Sayers is probably not for you. Her writing is very dense, and the story is always better than the mystery. Mild apologies to \*\*peedin \*\*- although I still don’t get the “closeted gay” idea - I’ve just realised he/she has both watched the Ian Carmichael TV programmes and previously read, at least, _Strong Poison_ (see post #17). ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/49 "2013-09-20T05:22:42Z")
I think Lord Peter Wimsey is the ultimate incarnation of the American concept Not Gay Just British (especially upper-class public-school British), so I can see him potentially pinging the gaydar of some American readers less familiar with NGJB. Female American reader (and _Nine Tailors_ voter) here who has nothing against either Wimsey or Harriet Vane as people but just doesn’t find their romantic relationship that interesting. I was thrilled by it when I encountered the books as a teenager but for me, it hasn’t held up over the years. The basic plots, settings, characterization, dialogue, structure of the books as classic murder mysteries, though—those are what keep me coming back to them. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/50 "2013-09-20T06:18:07Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Female American reader (and _Nine Tailors_ voter) here who has nothing against either Wimsey or Harriet Vane as people but just doesn’t find their romantic relationship that interesting. I was thrilled by it when I encountered the books as a teenager but for me, it hasn’t held up over the years. I’ve seen it claimed that after some years of writing Wimsey mysteries, Sayers got rather tired of Lord Peter – as with Conan Doyle and Holmes. CD killed Holmes off (or tried to – we all know what finally came of that); Sayers couldn’t summon up the callousness to write Wimsey’s being “killed in action”, so decided to get rid of him by marrying him off instead. That process – rather self-defeatingly – took on a life of its own, and led to four or five more of the novels – which ones many readers love, but some are not so keen on. This theory may well be so much rubbish; but I find it an entertaining one to toy with. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/51 "2013-09-20T08:31:37Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > I’ve seen it claimed that after some years of writing Wimsey mysteries, Sayers got rather tired of Lord Peter – as with Conan Doyle and Holmes. CD killed Holmes off (or tried to – we all know what finally came of that); Sayers couldn’t summon up the callousness to write Wimsey’s being “killed in action”, so decided to get rid of him by marrying him off instead. That process – rather self-defeatingly – took on a life of its own, and led to four or five more of the novels – which ones many readers love, but some are not so keen on. > > This theory may well be so much rubbish; but I find it an entertaining one to toy with. I suspect it’s true. I seem to remember a quote about DLS asking Agatha Christie if she didn’t get fed up writing about Poirot. Though it may not be so much she was fed up with Wimsey as she was fed up with the constraints of the classic British who-dun-it and wanted to write more “literary” books - an issue Harriet and Peter spend their time discussing in Gaude Night. ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/52 "2013-09-22T21:27:05Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > In which we discuss the novels of Dorothy Sayers’s famed sleuth.\*\* I will be back later with a brilliant explanation\*\* of why _The Nine Tailors_ is not simply the best of her work, but the best detective novel ever written, but I have to set up the poll first. Is it “later” yet? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/53 "2013-09-22T23:56:46Z")
_Whose Body?_ and _Gaudy Night_ are equally my favorites (and for completely different reasons). I voted for the one that now has one vote. _The Nine Tailors_ is third for me. I would have voted for the short stories (all together) vs any of the novels, but it isn’t fair to take the entire sum of the short stories and place it against one novel. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/54 "2013-09-23T03:03:14Z")
As long as we’re still talking about this, I thought I’d mention how much I enjoyed [Conundrums for the Long Week-End: England, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Lord Peter Wimsey](http://www.amazon.com/Conundrums-Long-Week-End-England-Dorothy/dp/0873386655). It goes through the books in order of publication and connects them to what was going on in England during that time, and what was going on with Sayers’s own life. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007/55 "2013-09-23T04:29:12Z")
I voted for _Gaudy Night_, but it was a close call between that and _Murder Must Advertise_. I also enjoy _The Nine Tailors_, but not as much as those two. I agree with those who said that while _Gaudy Night_ doesn’t really have all that much of Peter’s physical presence in it, it is the book that humanizes him the most. Oddly enough, I also enjoy it for the same reasons that I enjoy Pamela Dean’s _Tam Lin_ - it captures some of the heady spirit of pure academic study. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-lord-peter-wimsey/668007.md?page=2)