Whose Body?

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the ones with Harriet
Review: "Whose body" isn't bad - but the books really only get good after "Have His Carcasse," when Peter meets Harriet. Up 'til then, they're just mysteries.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest mysteries ever written?
Review: I would say that Sayers' writing only gets better from here except for the fact that it's been said too many times in the previous reviews and that it doesn't. Now this not to say that her following mysteries are not good, they are excellent - but when considering 'Whose Body?' in the context I'm considering it, which is to say, 'one of the greatest mysteries ever written'.
Most would probably disagree with me, but there's one thing I desire for every mystery and that's for the writer to not just focus on the mystery, but on the characters. This is because in real life there are 2 types of mysteries: those that will never be solved and those that can be solved with the regular investigation done by the police.
I think Sayers pulls off the 'perfect' mystery that balances realism with entertainment. She can be said to be an incredibly humorous writer that does mystery on the side, but to say that would be almost sacrilege lol.
I could and would go on, but of course I'm only stating my opinion and why debate that? Suffice it to say that I prefer 'Whose Body?' to Sayers' other mysteries (though I love those too) :D.

Rating:
Summary: Sayer's First Novel
Review: In this novel, Whose Body, we are introduced to the dapper Lord Peter Wimsey. While I love Sayers, I was fortunate to not have read her novels in order. This first novel had a rather undeveloped plot, where we learn more about the characters than we do about the mystery on hand.

The plot deals with the discovery of a body being found in an architects bathtub. At the same time, a Jewish financeier disappears. Is it this man who is in the tub? Lord Peter tries to find out, with the aid of his valet Bunter, and his police officer side-kick Parker. We are also introduced to his Mother the dowager duchess, who we will see again in later works.

As the novel moves along, the reader discovers that the body was given a shave, and a manicure after death. This leads to more questions, and the plot basically unfolds at this point.

The issue of anti-semitism has also been brought up in several other reviews. Sayers does seem to have some rather gratuitous anti-semitic remarks in the context of the novel, that have no bearing on plot or character development. That aside, this is an excellent first attempt on her part to write a novel in this genre. Her work only gets better from here.

Rating:
Summary: New twist on mysteries
Review: When I first read this book about two years ago it disgusted me profoundly. I found the main character, Lord Peter Wimsey, exasperant, his servant too 'servile' and the language bewildering. Two years later I am inclined to be a little less partial; still...

"Whose body?" was the first mystery story Dorothy L. Sayers wrote, where she introduced us to her sleuth, the debonair, rich, book collector and nonsense-talking Lord Peter. He lives in a posh Picadilly apartment with a manservant by the name of Mervyn Bunter. I always thought Bunter could have been further developed; simply because he seems to have much more of a head on his shoulders and his feet on the floor than his employer does. In this, their first adventure, Lord Peter is made aware by his mother, the enchanting and very shrewd Dowager Duchess of Denver, of an unknown body being found on a neighboor's bathroom. No one seems to know who the unfortunate individual was, nor how he happened upon the bathroom of poor old Mr. Thipps. So in comes Lord Peter with his nonsense talk and his charming ways to investigate. He has a good friend who 'just happens' to be an actual detective and who will, in time, facilitate his work through official channels. I must say one thing that surprised me is how Lord Peter can make all the deductions until he finally elucidates the crime, while still being so much devoid of bright comments; but there we have it.

There is a lot of dialogue in this novel and I find that a plus. I am a big fan of dialogue in fiction because I find it a great tool for natural development of the story. However, not everyone will understand a Londoner's words and mannerisms and this could be confusing, even irritating, at times. Sayers is not, and I repeat, is not, your typical mystery writer 'a la Christie'. She was a scholar and a Christian writer at that and likes to bring these ideas into her stories. I think that's why she also decided to show in this book such anti-semitic ideas against the Jews, that not even the now deceased Dowager Duke of Denver (Lord Peter's father), could tolerate them in his castle. Anti-semitism aside, this book is not for everyone. It demands a bit of an open mind and a good knowlegde of both British customs and language.

What I did like about the book is what I always try to find in mysteries: the description of the different settings. Fine rare books and mahogany furniture, prime dining and a big estate in the country surround Lord Peter's life. Idealistic? Maybe, but no less charming.

Rating:
Summary: Review
Review: With her first book Whose Body? (1923), Dorothy L. Sayers introduced her famous detective Lord Peter Wimsey, or "Sherlock Holmes, disguised as a walking gentleman", and established herself as a mistress of the detective story.

Although Lord Peter Wimsey is here perhaps too bright and breezy, he proves to be an entertaining companion to crime, despite his suffering from conscience. He enjoys the detection, "but if it comes to really running down a live person and getting him hanged, or even quodded, poor devil, there don't seem as if there was any excuse for me buttin' in, since I don't have to make my livin' by it. And I feel as if I oughtn't ever to find it amusin'. But I do." The reader, who has no conscience to worry him, enjoys the whole thing without needing to consult their consciences, for the story is bright and amusing, well-written and often very funny, even if somewhat in the Wodehousian vein.

Although Lord Peter Wimsey is a vivid but undeveloped character, the rest of the characters are all quite vivid: the Dowager Duchess of Denver is an excellent character, and, by the standards of the day, Sayers seems to have not too much racism / anti-Semitism.

Despite all the humour, the serious business of detection is not neglected. Opening with the fine and striking idea of the body in the bathtub-rightly described as an "uncommon good incident for a detective story", and an interesting problem of identity-the trail gets more complicated with the disappearance of Sir Reuben Levy. The murderer's identity is revealed half-way through-a trait that would recur in later Sayers novels, and the pleasure of the second half of the book is in seeing an elaborate, ingenious, and often gory, plot unfold.

It is interesting to note that Sayers, an Anglo-Catholic, chose a scientist / atheist as her murderer, a villain who believes that "the knowledge of good and evil is an observed phenomenon, attendant upon a certain condition of the brain cells, which is removable..."-a belief striking at the very core of Christianity, and a belief leading the murderer to the belief that murder is a justifiable action. In this, Sayers resembles Chesterton, and, in particular, "The Wrong Shape". In Lord Peter Wimsey's realisation of the murderer's guilt, Christianity is again apparent, for Wimsey seems to solve the crime through receiving a divine revelation (although the clues are all there-detection from physical clues in the Thorndykean manner): "he remembered-not one thing, not another thing, nor a logical succession of things, but everything-the whole thing, perfect, complete, in all its dimensions as it were and instantaneously; as if he stood outside the world and saw it suspended in infinitely dimensional space. He no longer needed to reason about it, or even to think about it. He knew it."

An excellent first attempt at the detective story, and the reader can agree with Wimsey that although "this is only a blinkin' old shillin' shocker ... we're up against a criminal-the criminal-the real artist and blighter with imagination-real, artistic, finished stuff. I'm enjoying this."