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A review by cryptix
Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
adventurous
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
A dying old woman dies a little earlier than her doctor expects, and Lord Peter Wimsey spends some two hundred pages trying to determine if a murder was even committed, much less how, why, and by whom. Rather a dry start for a mystery, and honestly it doesn't pick up much speed even when another mystery death crops up.
Having watched a lot of Psych recently, Wimsey strikes me in many ways as a 1920s version of a character like Shawn Spencer -- bright, a little irreverent, prone to getting off-topic, and constantly making pop culture references. Only, Wimsey's pop culture is Wordsworth and Voltaire, rather than John Hughes. Makes things a little hard to follow from 100 years later, but there's still a certain charm about it. Aside from the constant quips, there are some delightful turns of phrase, my favorite being along the lines of 'Lord Peter affectionately wrapped himself around an absurd quantity of eggs and bacon'. I find the character and his supporting cast charming enough to give some of the other books a try even if this one wasn't to my tastes.
Unfortunately the book is prone to other 20s issues, such as rampant casual misogyny (especially an annoying tendency to refer to 'females') and racism (including multiple uses of the n-slur and some unkind talk about Jews.) There's some 'gals being pals' talk that's so on-the-nose that it feels like intentional subtext, but one of the relationships discussed is long over and the other one ends in murder, so don't get your hopes up about that.
The book also ends on an oddly serious, morose note. It feels like it's trying to ground the story, but that comes out of left field after an entire book of characters -- especially Wimsey and his employee Miss Crimpson -- being odd to the point of caricature.
Overall I'd give this a miss.
Having watched a lot of Psych recently, Wimsey strikes me in many ways as a 1920s version of a character like Shawn Spencer -- bright, a little irreverent, prone to getting off-topic, and constantly making pop culture references. Only, Wimsey's pop culture is Wordsworth and Voltaire, rather than John Hughes. Makes things a little hard to follow from 100 years later, but there's still a certain charm about it. Aside from the constant quips, there are some delightful turns of phrase, my favorite being along the lines of 'Lord Peter affectionately wrapped himself around an absurd quantity of eggs and bacon'. I find the character and his supporting cast charming enough to give some of the other books a try even if this one wasn't to my tastes.
Unfortunately the book is prone to other 20s issues, such as rampant casual misogyny (especially an annoying tendency to refer to 'females') and racism (including multiple uses of the n-slur and some unkind talk about Jews.) There's some 'gals being pals' talk that's so on-the-nose that it feels like intentional subtext, but one of the relationships discussed is long over and the other one ends in murder, so don't get your hopes up about that.
The book also ends on an oddly serious, morose note. It feels like it's trying to ground the story, but that comes out of left field after an entire book of characters -- especially Wimsey and his employee Miss Crimpson -- being odd to the point of caricature.
Overall I'd give this a miss.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Suicide