Footnotes: September 2017

I'm linking up again with Footnotes, a monthly quotation link-up hosted by Ashley and Emily.

 

 

This month's prompt is: a quotation that makes you laugh.

 

I've recently read Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers; one of her series about Lord Peter Wimsey, who is trying to prove the innocence of a young women convicted of murder. It's a brilliant book, so of course I couldn't just limit myself to one quote.

 

 

"I have already carefully explained to you that this time I am investigating this business. Anybody would think you had no confidence in me."

"People have been wrongly condemned before now."

"Exactly; simply because I wasn't there."

"I never thought of that."

 

*****

 

"I say - I've thought of a good plot for a detective story ... You know, the sort that people bring out and say, 'I've often thought of doing it myself, if only I could find time to sit down and write it.' I gather that sitting down is all that is necessary for producing masterpieces."

 

*****

 

"But you wouldn't want a wife who writes books, would you?"

"But I should; it would be great fun. So much more interesting than the ordinary kind that is only keen on clothes and people. Though of course, clothes and people are all right too, in moderation. I don't mean to say I object to clothes."

 

*****

 

"My idea is that Miss Vane didn't do it," said Wimsey. "I dare say that's an idea which has already occurred to you, but with the weight of my great mind behind it, no doubt it strikes the imagination more forcibly."

 

*****

 

"I know I've got a silly face, but I can't help that."

Book Review: Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

 

This is the first in Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series, but the second that I have read. Gaudy Night was really good but, since many people consider it the best in the series, I was worried that this book wouldn't live up to it; especially as GN focuses mostly on Harriet Vane, who doesn't appear in this book, and I wasn't sure I would enjoy this as much with only Peter. I needn't have worried though; although this isn't quite as good, it's definitely still very enjoyable.

The mystery itself was interesting; it begins with the rather bizarre circumstance of a man discovering a dead body in his bath, with no idea who it is or how it got there. Naturally this is rather intriguing to Lord Peter, who decides to investigate, working with a friend in the police. There are quite a few twists and turns along the way to the conclusion (which I guessed just after Lord Peter had solved it, but before he revealed the solution), which is certainly original. Some aspects were a little gruesome but this wasn't overdone.

Another aspect of the book that I really liked was the characters, who I look forward to getting to know better in later books; it was good to see more of Peter himself in this book, along with his devoted servant/sidekick Bunter, and his mother, the Dowager Duchess of Denver, who are all great characters. It was also just a fairly entertaining read all round. I especially enjoyed the occasional references to detective novels; there are a few times when characters say things like "if we were in a detective novel this would happen, but obviously this is real life," which I found quite entertaining.

There are a few offensive comments made by characters in the book, particularly with regards to Jewish people, which has caused some controversy; although the impression I got was that these reflected the views of the characters saying them (and of many people at the time the book was written), and are not necessarily those of the author. Other than that, I can't think of many things I didn't like about this book.

Overall, this was a great book, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Book Review: Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

This is the first of Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books that I've read. Although Peter is the series' main character, it takes him a while to appear in this book - the main character is Harriet Vane, a friend of his who has been involved in some of his previous cases, who is called back to her (fictional) old Oxford college, Shrewsbury, to investigate a series of unusual occurrences, including anonymous letters sent to residents of the college and other unsavoury happenings.

I enjoyed the mystery itself; it was unusual (in not being a murder mystery, or a straightforward crime), and I definitely didn't see the ending coming - looking back, there were some clues, so it might have been possible to have had a guess at the culprit, but I obviously wasn't paying enough attention.

I also liked the characters a lot and the development of Harriet's and Peter's relationship was really well done - although this book does rely on some backstory in the previous novels I was able to pick up enough of what had happened to understand what was going on, although I may have missed some details - it would probably be better to have read the previous books in which Harriet appears in first (which I do intend to do). The secondary characters I felt were also very well drawn; although I did find it hard at times to keep track of who was who - since most of the characters are just referred to as Miss X, it was hard to remember who they all were. But most of them were interesting and felt real.

From a historical viewpoint, it was interesting to get a glimpse of what university life was like for women at that time and what has (and hasn't) changed. By this time the idea of women going to university was accepted by most people (in England they started going in the late 1800s, and were first allowed to get degrees in 1920), but the students and staff at the college still have to face sexism and disapproval from a significant number of people, and preserving the reputation of the college is very important - because if the college is made to look bad then it reflects on women's education in general. This is of course important in the story as it is why the events going on are so dangerous for the college, and why they ask Harriet to investigate, not wanting to attract outside attention by applying to professional detectives or the police.

One thing I did find, is that this was a book that you have to pay attention to - it's quite dense, and some of the characters (especially Peter and Harriet) tend to have a habit of speaking in metaphors and saying one thing when they mean another. So you have to pay attention to work out what they actually are saying. There also occasionally say things in Latin (fortunately there is a helpful translation guide here).

 

All in all, reading this book was a very enjoyable experience, although it was more a book for reading slowly and taking time over rather than a suspenseful quick read. It's definitely a book I will be reading again; there are certainly a lot of subtleties and allusions that I missed the first time, and I suspect it is one of those books that you have to read several times to fully appreciate. I will of course also be checking out the rest of the series (most of which are much shorter than this one).

 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5