Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Read. Don't spoil it for yourself by being snotty!
Review: First of all, this book is a delight, and if you like the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, read it!Finishing another's book is such a thankless task, and bound to be denounced by "experts" as a pale imitation, no matter how good it is. I tire of reading nitpicker after nitpicker whining about how surely the book was "ruined" because it was not exactly how they imagined Dorothy Sayers would have finished it. Bottom line, it is still excellent, and provides a sorely-needed fix for those that treasure Dorothy Sayers' writings and characters, as I do. To those of you who are spoiling it for yourself by snobbishly denouncing a highly enjoyable story that, by the way, has plenty of Dorothy Sayers elements--get over yourselves!!
Rating: 
Summary: Flat retelling and not a bit of Sayers' original charm
Review: This was a hopelessly difficult task for Ms. Walsh to undertake in the first place, but could she not have at least had the decency to take some care in emulating Sayers style, rather than just keeping to the original plot as it stood???? For example, since when did Domina become Peter's prime nickname for Harriet, used at least twice per conversation, and so carelessly?? Further, why does our well-established detective novelist find it necessary to consult Peter on small details which she must obviously have used twenty thousand times in her own work? These aside, I also found it annoying that each person in this novel, despite their supposed education level, had the abillity to speak with perfect clarity, and the same accents all around. Every detail in the book screamed IMITATION. Even though I am very happy at a new installment in the Lord Peter-Harriet Vane collection, I am at the same time exceedingly glad that it must be the last, since Walsh must percieve that to continue it of her own accord would be a travesty and an outrage.
Rating:
Summary: Thrones, Dominations up to Sayer's high standard
Review: Dorothy L. Sayers has written another excellent book with the customary skill all of her readers have come to expect of her. While not quite up to the technical standard exhibited in The Nine Taylors and Murder Must Advertise, it was just as amusing and interesting as any she has written, despite being published posthumously and with the necessary collabaration of another author. While any Sayers book is to be recommended (with the possible exception of The Five Red Herrings, which I feel lacked human interest compared to her others), this is one of her best Lord Peter books. I read this just after Christmas, and felt that another Lord Peter book was the best present I could have received!
Rating: 
Summary: quotations in Thrones, Dominations
Review: Thakns to all who have posted reviews;your opinions are much appreciated. About quotations, We should have issued a health warning on this -- because many punctuation marks make the page spotty, quotations which are in dialogue are not between their own quotation marks in the book. Those people who think there arent enough for the true DLS style, have perhaps not recognised them all? END
Rating: 
Summary: Predictable and anachronistic
Review: Several other reviewers have commented on the triteness of the plot and the ease with which the ending can be guessed, so I won't belabor it. The more annoying thing, for me, was how poorly it was placed in time. The book is aggressively set in 1936 and is littered with contemporary references. Authors don't usually manage to write in quite such a timely way. It seems to me that most authors actually write in the idiom and style of the period when they first become adults, sometimes the first time they encountered a particular part of society. One of the earlier reviewers commented that this book formed a bridge from Sayers' Edwardian books -- which makes my point, because none of her books are Edwardian. But they do feel like it. Her settings always seem closer to 1890 than 1920. So a jump into a completely up to date 1936 takes this book rather far from its predecessors. I had the feeling that some of the details were wrong. Was Northolt really open as an airfield in 1936, and wouldn't Brooklands have been a more likely destination anyway?
Rating: 
Summary: A very good addition to the Wimsey collection
Review: I have all of Dorothy L. Sayer's Lord Peter books, and some of her others (Documents in the Case and her translation of the Divine Comedy). I am delighted to be able to rejoin Peter and Harriet as they adapt to married life together. Meeting our other old friends, especially the Duchess and Lady Severn and Thames, Freddy Arbothnot, Lady Mary, etc, is also wonderful. While there is less "piffle" in this book, there is more heart in the relationship between Peter and Harriet. They no longer need to hide behind words. Peter has broken down his walls and Harriet has stopped being so defensive. I have to disagree with the reviewer who felt that Helen wouldn't have been so rude to Harriet--I felt that that scene was very true to both characters as written by Dorothy L. Sayers. I would have been interested, too, to find out how much of the novel had been worked out by Miss Sayers and how much by Ms. Paton. I think she did a very good job, but I would not wish for more novels about Peter and Harriet by Ms. Paton. Miss Sayers started this book, but never meant to write any more stories about Lord Peter after this one.
Rating:
Summary: Good try, but no sequels necessary
Review: Although I have to admire Walsh for attempting to emulate Sayers' style, lack of attention to details made the book not ring true. I thought the spirit of Lord Peter was captured pretty well, but what is lacking is true knowledge of each of the characters, especially Harriet Vane. For example, as an established writer of crime, Harriet would not need Lord Peter to explain the difference between murder and manslaughter -- she would have learned that on her mother's knee, so to speak. If Walsh wanted to explicate this issue, there were plenty of characters lacking expertise through whom she could have made her point. In all, it was enjoyable, but it also made me wish Sayers had written more before switching to religion.
Rating:
Summary: Walsh lets Sayers speak for herself...
Review: I'm astonished at Walsh's restraint! Most re-creations seem to "over-write" the original author. Walsh, by contrast, is considerably less wordy than Sayers (compare the Dowager Duchess in this outing to her previous incarnations in "Busman's Honeymoon" or "Whose Body?"). If Sayers had completed this book, it would have been 100 pages longer. While I miss the original over-the-top word play; the combination of pith and piffle, I have to admit that attempting to replicate it would have been impossible and off-key. By sticking to the truth of the characters as Sayers developed them, Walsh lets the echoes of earlier conversations resonate. Writing another author's book is a very ungrateful task, and I think Walsh was most gracious to undertake it. Walsh's own books, by the way, are excellent -- I'm hoping the first Imogen Quy mystery will soon be re-issued.
Rating:
Summary: ENJOYABLE READING. I WANT MORE.
Review: ITS BEEN MANY YEARS SINCE I READ THE WIMSEY BOOKS. WHEN I SAW THIS ONE I KNEW I HAD TO HAVE IT. BUT FIRST I REREAD THE OTHER BOOKS TO FAMILARIZE MYSELF WITH THE CHARCTERS ONCE AGAIN. WHEN I READ T & D I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN. YES THE STYLE WAS A LITTLE DIFFERENT BUT ONLY BECAUSE IT HAD A MORE MODERN FEEL TO IT. I LOVED THE WAY THAT THE VIEWPOINT CHANGED BACK AND FORTH. YOU FELT YOU WERE FINALLY LEARNING WHO THE OTHER CHARACTERS ARE. WHY DIDN'T THE UNCLE STOP TO SEE THEM LIKE HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO. WHO BROKE THE GLASS. WHY DIDNT THE GIRL COME FORWARD AS SOON AS SHE KNEW IT WAS MURDER. SOME OF THE FACTS THAT WERE BROUGHT UP WERE VERY INTERESTING. LIKE THAT BUNTER'S BROTHER WAS NAMED MERIDITH. THAT BUNTER ACTUALLY DATED WAS A SHOCK. WHEN DID HE FIND THE TIME TO FALL IN LOVE! I HOPE THAT THE AUTHOR CONTINUES TO WRITE ABOUT PETER AND HARRIOT. SOMETHING REALLY HAS TO BE DONE ABOUT HELEN. ALL IN ALL IT WAS A WONDERFUL BOOK AND A WORTHY SEQUEL.
Rating:
Summary: Excellence in style and content.
Review: Execpt for "Busman's Honeymoon", actually written and published after a play and movie by the same name, and some rather off-hand short stories, the story of Lord Peter Whimsey and his amorata, Harriet Vane, effectively ends with Gaudy Night, which is not strictly a murder mystery. What a joy then to read Throne, Dominations. It is virtually impossible to tell where D.L. Sayers ends and her collaborator Jill Paton Walsh begins. In fact, in many ways this book is the perfect bridge between the still fading Edwardian World of the earliest books and the modern world introduced by the ominous rumblings of WWII as it approaches the couple, recuperating from their rather lurid honeymoon and still trying to merge two high-strung and independent minds into one marriage. The mystery is taut and truly interesting, the characters alive and vivid. Much praise and kudos to both authors and to the family of Sayers for giving closure to those of us fanatical fans who were disatisfied with where we were left in the life of Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Whimsey. Execellence in form and content!
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