Note: This edition of the first Lord Peter Wimsey novel is narrated in an American accent.
Mild-mannered, inoffensive architect Alfred Thipps finds himself in big trouble when, in preparing to take his morning bath, he finds the tub already occupied by a dead body, wearing nothing but a pair of gold pince-nez glasses. Stolid, unimaginative Police Inspector Sugg is convinced the body is that of Sir Reuben Levy, a famous Jewish financier who disappeared the night before - waving aside objections that, as the body in the tub was uncircumcised, it couldn't be Sir Reuben - and promptly arrests Thipps and his maid for murder.
Luckily for both of them, the dowager duchess of Denver takes an interest and asks her son, Lord Peter Wimsey, to help out. Working with his old friend Detective Charles Parker of Scotland Yard, who's been assigned to the Levy case, Lord Peter sets himself to the task of figuring out who the dead man in the bathtub is. He soon grows to suspect that the two cases are connected in a particularly sinister way....
Lord Peter soon finds himself on the trail of a murderer of a particularly cunning sort, fresh from the perpetration of a shockingly cold-blooded and horrific crime.
Dorothy L. Sayers's first mystery novel introduces to the world Lord Peter Wimsey, one of the most remarkable figures in crime fiction.
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Enter the 1920s Golden Age of Detection with this first novel from Dorothy L. Sayers, featuring the debut of a dashing gentleman detective, one of the great characters of mystery fiction—Lord Peter Wimsey. An unidentified corpse is found in a bathtub, and the police are jumping to conclusions about its identity and that of the murderer. Lord Peter Wimsey steps in and, with the help of his friend Inspector Parker and his manservant Bunter, solves the mystery.
“Dorothy Sayers is in a class by herself.”--Chicago Daily Tribune
Sayers's most renowned amateur detective, the engaging and amusing Lord Peter Wimsey, sets out to unravel a puzzling case involving the disappearance of a wealthy financier and the discovery of a nude corpse, wearing a golden pince-nez, in a bathtub. He does succeed in solving things to everyone's ultimate satisfaction, but only after a series of bloodcurdling and hair-raising episodes that will hold the listener spellbound with anticipation.
Dorothy L. Sayers, long considered one of the top mystery authors of our day, has excelled herself in this delightfully macabre tale, a truly rare find for anyone interested in top-flight crime fiction.
"The tale is better written and has a good deal more characterization than one finds in the average detective story."-New York Times
After a corpse wearing pince-nez glasses is found in a bathtub, Lord Peter Wimsey undertakes the case and investigates the deed privately. But determining whether the corpse belongs to a well-known banker or a group of mischief-making medical students is just the beginning of this tangled mystery plot. This atmospheric novel put Dorothy L. Sayers in the ranks with Agatha Christie as a mystery writer nonpareil.
Ian Carmichael is Lord Peter Wimsey, with Patricia Routledge as his mother, in this BBC radio 4 full-cast dramatisation. Dorothy L. Sayers' first Lord Peter Wimsey tale introduces many of the author's best-known characters. Wimsey's mother, the Dowager Duchess of Denver, rings her son with news of 'such a quaint thing'. She has heard through a friend that Mr Thipps, a respectable Battersea architect, found a dead man in his bath - wearing nothing but a gold prince-nez. Lord Wimsey makes his way straight over to Mr Thipps', and a good look at the body raises a number of interesting questions. Why would such an apparently well-groomed man have filthy black toenails, flea bites and the scent of carbolic soap lingering on his corpse? Then comes the disappearance of oil millionaire Sir Reuben Levy, last seen on the Battersea Park Road. With his beard shaved he would look very similar to the man found in the bath - but is Sir Levy really dead?
This is the first story written about a man who became interested in criminal investigation as just a hobby. It came as somewhat of a surprise to him when it became an occupation. This was Peter Wimsey, referred to as Lord Peter because he was the younger son of a Duke, justifying the courtesy title. He didn't have a right to sit in the House of the Lords, but that didn't seem to matter among his friends and associates.
This initial disclosure of his activities began when a man's dead body was found in a bathtub in a London flat. He was nude and wearing only gold pince-nez glasses on his nose. The body was first thought to be well-known financier Sir Reuben Levy, who had disappeared overnight. There was a resemblance, but it was quickly discovered he wasn't the victim, even though he was still missing.
There was a teaching hospital nearby, and suspicions were aroused that the corpse may have been placed as a prank by medical students. That, too, proved erroneous when respected surgeon-neurologist Sir Julian Freke disclosed no body was missing from the dissection room.
The lack of information brought Scotland Yard Inspector Charles Park to the investigation, and he welcomed the assistance of Lord Wimsey. It was three years before another book about Lord Wimsey, but author Dorothy L. Sayers eventually turned out ten more stories featuring him. We listen now to the original effort.
The wealthy Agatha Dawson is dead-a trifle sooner than expected-but there are no apparent signs of foul play. Lord Peter Wimsey, however, senses that something is amiss and refuses to let the case rest-even without any clues or leads. Suddenly, he is faced with another murder: Agatha's maid. Can super-sleuth Wimsey find the murderer and solve the case before he becomes the killer's next victim?
The intricate trail of horror and senseless murder leads from a beautiful Hampshire village to a fashionable London flat and a deliberate test of amour.
This was the second Lord Peter Wimsey story to be adapted for radio in the mid-seventies. Broadcast May 5th to June 16th 1975, it was adapted by Chris Miller and produced by Simon Brett. The case of Agatha Dawson is closed, but Lord Peter Wimsey is not satisfied. With no clues to work on, he begins his own investigation. Then Agatha's maid is suddenly murdered. The episode titles are: 1) 'No Sign of Foul Play' 2) 'Death in Epping Forest' 3) 'The Will' 4) 'Hallelujah' 5) 'The Property Act' 6) 'Vera Findlater' and 7) 'Miss Climpson Investigates'. This will be the ninth, and probably the last, Radio Collection release of the Lord Peter Wimsey stories starring Ian Carmichael.
The elegant, intelligent amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey is one of detective literature's most popular creations. Ian Carmichael is the personification of Dorothy L. Sayers' charming investigator in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation. The dignified calm of the Bellona Club is shattered when Lord Wimsey finds General Fentiman dead in his favourite chair. A straightforward death by natural causes? Perhaps... but why can no-one remember seeing the general the day he died? And who is the mysterious Mr Oliver? Lord Peter moves between London and Paris, salon and suburbs, to unfold the intriguing case.
The elegant, intelligent amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey is one of detective literature's most popular creations, and Ian Carmichael is the personification of Dorothy L. Sayers' charming investigator in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation. Lord Peter Wimsey, man about town and amateur sleuth, and his man Bunter, are drawn into a series of intriguing incidents after being stranded in the remote village of Fenchurch St. Paul. What is the identity of the grotesquely disfigured corpse found in the churchyard? Who murdered him and why? Perhaps the Fenchurch bells hold their own answers to the mystery... Starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, this Radio 4 dramatisation was first broadcast as a weekly serial in 1980.Duration 3:15
Storm-bound over the New Year at a Fenland rectory, Lord Peter Wimsey willingly lends a hand in the ringing of a New Year's Eve peal of the church bells. Some months later, a handless, disfigured corpse is discovered in a fresh grave in the churchyard. Lord Peter receives a plea for help from the rector and embarks on one of his most complicated investigations - for this is not the first crime the village has experienced. Fifteen years ago the Wilbraham Emeralds were stolen, and they are still missing. Can there be any link?
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