Rating: 
Summary: Excellent beginning...Keep it going
Review: A worthy beginning, well worth the next excursion. While I may have found some of the constant references back to Sayers' works irritating, and the plot could have been better, I so enjoyed a new Wimsey saga that I couldn't put it down. This is worth your while.
Rating: 
Summary: The Wimsey's would have politely shuddered
Review: While it was gratifying to know "what happened next," Ms. Walsh's handling of Ms. Sayers' plot was, at best, a weak outline of what would have, I'm sure, been a powerful insight into Ms. Sayers' views on the substance of love, had Ms. Sayers been able to write it. Compared even to that lighter of her works, Busman's Honeymoon, the pale, almost nonexistant portrayals of the inner character of Lord Peter and of Harriet made it clear that one was reading an outsider's re-telling of someone else's story. The effect was similar to hearing a joke competently told by someone who, nonetheless, is unsure of why it is funny. The prose was, at best, rudimentary and school-girlish making it painfully clear throughout that Ms. Sayers did NOT write the finished version of this book. Local vernacular, so brilliantly employed by her, is totally lacking. The lesser known characters are not fully developed causing their actions to seem mechanical and without that 'humaness' so easily acheived by Ms. Sayers. Had we not already been familiars of the 'regulars', we would have been at a loss to explain their roles entirely. Further, and as a direct blow to Ms. Sayers' reputation, the crime did not occur until nearly half way through the book and then the perpetrator was easily guessed shortly thereafter. The real crime, in my opinion, was the pallid glossing over of Bunter's character and total lack of development of his own love story, making that story, especially to those of us who know and love him, entirely non-believable. All in all, except for the giving of certain bare facts pertaining to the Wimsey/Vane match, thus allowing their affectionate followers to imagine the full story, the book, offered as "the last of the Dorothy Sayers" was, in her own words; a washout.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, considering!
Review: My heart pounded and my hands sweated! lovely to see all my old friends again and at times the prose was just about as good as.. I did have some problems with the plot, though. DLS usually wrote from one main point of view - ie Harriet in the later novels and Peter in the earlier books, and the point of view in Thrones, Dominations leaps around too much for me. That was my one major concern. Smaller issues - what was Uncle Paul doing - he seemed to be just hanging about a lot! I thought the device of using diaries and letters echoed Busman's Honeymoon without the genius, and I found the ending too neat - surely the man would have more reaction to Harriet's news about the note. Charles does read detective novels - or he did when he was younger - and did anyone else find Helen, Duchess of Denver flat and unbelievable? I thought her main concern was that Jerry should inherit Peter's money, anyway? I was also concerned about all the "harriet"s and "peter"s flying aroudn with people that our main characters had barely met. These are all minor points of course and overall I'm quite impressed - a very very difficult task.
Rating: 
Summary: More than satisfying - a wonderful reunion
Review: I was afraid to read this book - afraid that it would not live up to my extremely high standards for Sayers. Well, it didn,'t quite. But it was so enjoyable - so rewarding to return to the very recognizable Lord Peter, Harriet and their acquaintances. The book was pure delight to read. I only wish I had read it more slowly!
Rating:
Summary: The solutuion is on the dust jacket!
Review: I am a big Sayers fan and probably would have enjoyed this book a lot more if the editor had not put a letter from Dorothy on the back cover giving away the identity of the murderer. I am astonished that the publisher was so blind as to let this happen. <BR> The big thrill in a Sayers' book is that it is very difficult to spot the killer prior to the ending. Once Lord Peter has unmasked the villian, it is fun to go back and see the clues that you completely missed. One does not get the chance to do that here if one reads the jacket on the way home from the bookstore.
Rating:
Summary: Mystery Fiction's Greatest Duo Live Again!
Review: I approached this book with a good deal of fear and trepidation, being sure in my mind that it would be yet another case of PSS (Pale Sequel Syndrome). However my mood shifted to pure delight in the first scene of the book, where the four main characters in the book -- Lord Peter and his Harriet, a West-end producer and his much younger wife -- are introduced via a conversation between Paul Delegardie (Lord Peter's bon vivant "Uncle Pandarus") and his Parisian luncheon guest. Delegardie asks his companion to speculate on the two couples. The Frenchman, with assumed expertise in all things having to do with "amour", gives an analysis of the two relationships that is pompous, long-winded and, as Delegardie is delighted to point out, totally inaccurate. This type of scene is vintage Sayers -- pinpoint characterization, witty dialogue, and just a soupcon of British superiority. Ms Paton got it exactly right -- as she has in so many other parts of this wonderful book. Most of the major characters are back in fine fettle: Peter, Harriet, Parker, the two Duchesses of Denver (the Dowager and Helen) and, of course, Bunter. A number of the supporting players have returned as well, such as Freddie Arbuthnot and Rumm, and the new characters -- Harriet's unusual "ladies' maid" especially -- are worthy additions to the list. I disagree with several of my fellow readers/reviewers on a couple of points. First, I don't fault Ms. Paton for the relative lack of light badinage between Lord Peter and Harriet. In Sayers' books, there is a definite progression from piffle to plain speaking that parallels the deepening of their relationship. As Harriet and Peter open to each other, they have less need to hide their strong emotions behind wordplay and epigram. I also disagree with the readers who find "90's" sentiments in the book. Issues such as the male/female roles in marriage, to have/not to have children, and whether women should work or stay home are all much discussed today, but they were of vital importance to Sayers and her contemporaries as well. In Gaudy Night, Harriet laments the waste of a scholarly mind in a woman who left academe to become a farmer's wife. In Thrones, Dominations, Harriet tells the producer's wife to pursue her own interests instead of sitting around waiting for her husband to come home. Two sides of the same coin. The fact that these sentiments seem so "modern" only points out how little has changed, or as "Domina" Sayers would say (without translation) "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose." My only quibble with this book is a minor one. Paton does not have Sayers' keen ear for regional dialect, so a couple of her local characters, such as the country housekeeper and her daughter, are pretty flat compared Puffet, Rumm, and others of Sayers' inspired creations. All in all, Ms. Paton has made a great success of Thrones, Dominations. Dare we hope for an encore?
Rating:
Summary: A tale of two marriages, first class all the way
Review: This was a wonderfully insightful look into the nature of two marriages. These couples had a number of things in common but their differences were part of the plot and key to its resolution. It was also a fascinating look into the life of the upper classes in Great Britian at a time between World War I and World War II. The character of Harriet Vane Wimsey is an excellent viewpoint character for this aspect of the story since she is new to the upper class lifestyle and so sees it with new eyes. The minor sideplot about King Edward and his pro-german leanings seems incidental to the story which was otherwise very tightly plotted and makes me wonder if this part originated with Sayers or was added by Walsh. The story includes an absolutely fascinating discussion about the role of dectective fiction writers in society, especially interesting to Sayers fans since Sayers gave up writing detective fiction before she finished this story. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A fix with flavor
Review: After years of Sayers withdrawal, this book is a welcome fix. Literary, erudite, well-constructed. No, it's not exactly the same flavor as a pure Sayers, but Sayers is gone and Walsh is here. Hooray for Walsh.
Rating:
Summary: A much -appreciated, very strong effort
Review: Infinitely superior to (for example) the "sequel" to "Gone With The Wind" but given Walsh's obvious abilities, I think it could have been even better. Most glaring flaw: the characters were far too direct and plainspoken. Helen would NEVER been as openly and bluntly rude to Harriet as she was in this novel, nor would Harriet have dealt with it so straightforwardly. But, as a true Lord Peter addict, I'm very grateful for the novel anyway, and wouldn't mind seeing another one.
Rating:
Summary: Close, but no cigar
Review: I've read and reread the Lord Peter stories many times. Strong Poison, Murder Must Advertise, the Nine Tailors, and Gaudy Night are my favorites, and my journals entries from my twenties include quotes from the latter two. Among the many themes contained in Gaudy Night, the pondering of how two independent, sensitive, strong-willed, intelligent people can manage the balance of intimacy and freedom demanded by a marriage worth having. In the new book, it's wonderful to see how the marriage is working out, wonderful to see what happens to the characters. However, it's a bit too heavy. Even at Sayers' most serious in the earlier stories, there's always a bit of inspired wordplay, an "aha" moment, an epiphany that illuminates the whole and inspires delight. Walsh suffers from trying too hard to get it right, and thus the heaviness. I miss the clever wordplay, the "piffling" that has characterized both Lord Peter and Harriet in the past. I don't think that that is something either would give up in becoming more settled in life. However, Bunter is Bunter, Mango is excellent, the Dowager not quite as rambling in her journal entries, but passable. For addicts, then, this is an admirable and necessary fix, but it is the consolation prize, not the fine Havana with a glass of port.
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