Rating: 
Summary: An independent woman in danger of the rope.
Review: This novel opens fairly abruptly at the end of a murder trial.We're in England in the 1920's . It's not an easy time to be an independent woman but Harriet Vane is doing pretty well as a writer of who-dun-its. Her private life, though, is clouded by an affair she has had with the conceited novelist Philip Boyes. Boyes was killed by arsenic; Harriet had bought arsenic; she's apparently the only person who the opportunity to adminster it and now she's in grave danger of hanging. To Harriet's eternal good fortune, the celebrated Lord Peter Wimsey has been struck down by love at first sight - not only does he want to prove her innocence, he wants to marry her... This is an excellent tale, and I have read it several times with pleasure. The dialogue is good, the plot keeps your attention throughout and the period detail adds to the enjoyment. For a 21st century reader it throws a light on the life of single women in the 1920s - especially as seen by the indomitable Miss Climpson, one of Lord Peter's associates: "I had no difficulty getting a comfortable room at the Station Hotel , late as it was. In the old days, an unmarried woman arriving alone at midnight with a suitcase would hardly have been considered respectable - what a wonderful difference one finds today!" If you want to explore the novels of Dorothy L Sayers, this seems a good place to start.
Rating: 
Summary: Comparing the Petherbridge and Carmichael recordings
Review: This review is geared more toward reviewing the quality of two audio editions of the book than the book itself (which I think highly of). First published in 1930, this book introduces Harriet Vane to Lord Peter Wimsey's life.
The abridged edition narrated by Edward Petherbridge came out when PBS first televised the BBC adaptation of the story with Petherbridge as Lord Peter. The MYSTERY! airing of the series in the U.S. was my introduction both to this book and to Dorothy L. Sayers' work. Petherbridge is the best physical match for Wimsey I've ever seen, and he's a fantastic narrator with an immense command of accents. (I highly recommend the DVD of that adaptation, in addition to the book itself.)
On the other hand, Ian Carmichael, who played Wimsey in all the BBC adaptations up to that point, narrates the unabridged edition. He specializes in Bertie Wooster-ish characters, like Wimsey's defensive public persona, and is also an excellent actor and narrator who given the chance can drop smoothly into a variety of characters with all kinds of accents. Once in a while Carmichael speaks tongue-in-cheek during 3rd-person narration where playing it deadpan straight would be more appropriate, but he generally keeps that under control.
I favor Petherbridge as Wimsey, but both recordings are worth the money.
The story begins with the judge's summation to the jury at the end of R. vs. Harriet Vane for the murder of her lover, Philip Boyes, as Lord Peter looks on. (He didn't assist with the investigation, but his attendance at the trial is perfectly plausible: his ally Miss Climpson is on the jury, and his best friend Parker handled the police case). I prefer Petherbridge's narration of judge Crossley to Carmichael's; he manages to convey Crossley's disapproval of the irregular Boyes/Vane living arrangements quite neatly.
Lord Peter is not only convinced of Harriet's innocence; he's convinced he's found the only woman he could possibly spend the rest of his life with - if she'll accept his offer of marriage, considering that they've never met before. Not to mention that her relationship with Boyes ended *very* badly (even discounting her being tried for his murder afterwards), so Peter's timing is *terrible*.
The Petherbridge audio abridgement eliminated several blind alleys from the investigation, along with much of the development of various subplots not bearing directly on the murder (Boyes' family background; his and Harriet's social circle; Parker's relationship with Lady Mary, which began in CLOUDS OF WITNESS; Christmas with the family and their maddening observations about the Vane case). The long Wrayburn and Urquhart investigations have been compressed, but both Miss Climpson and Miss Murchison's roles remained intact.
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