Kevin B. O'Brien reviewed Clouds of witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
Review of 'Clouds of witness' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This is the second of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, and it is not quite as good as the first one. It is quite easy to go too far into caricature with a character like Wimsey, and I think Sayers does so here. And it has a lot of the Golden Age tropes of mysterious goings on in the night with everyone keeping secrets. But at least there are plausible reasons why they are keeping secrets. Lord Peter's brother, the Duke of Denver, is accused of murder when he is found bending over the body of Lady Mary's fiance, with whom he had quarreled earlier in the evening. The man was killed with the Duke's pistol, and all the Duke will say is that he was going for a walk (at 3am!). And why was Lady Mary up? IF you like golden Age mysteries, this will be satisfactory, and it …
This is the second of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, and it is not quite as good as the first one. It is quite easy to go too far into caricature with a character like Wimsey, and I think Sayers does so here. And it has a lot of the Golden Age tropes of mysterious goings on in the night with everyone keeping secrets. But at least there are plausible reasons why they are keeping secrets. Lord Peter's brother, the Duke of Denver, is accused of murder when he is found bending over the body of Lady Mary's fiance, with whom he had quarreled earlier in the evening. The man was killed with the Duke's pistol, and all the Duke will say is that he was going for a walk (at 3am!). And why was Lady Mary up? IF you like golden Age mysteries, this will be satisfactory, and it is where Inspector Charles Parker of Scotland Yard begins to become part of Wimsey's family, which is very convenient for future stories.
