This omnibus volume (which I picked up in a local secondhand bookshop) contains Strong Poison, Have His Carcase (so I've doubled up there) and Unnatural Death. Annoyingly, they are presented out of order, so that a significant character featured in Strong Poison is actually introduced in Unnatural Death. This character is Miss Climpson, who is a smart, shrewd, observant, middle-aged woman who is nevertheless capable of appearing to be a mere harmless gossip... I suspect Miss Climpson may have provided the template for Miss Marple? In fact they first appeared in 1927, with Miss Marple making her debut in December of that year. Hmm. I guess we will never know.
Strong Poison is however, most notable for the introduction of Harriet Vane, wrongly accused of murder. I was a bit disappointed that Lord Peter seems to fall for her at first sight rather than gradually coming to appreciate her qualities, which are pretty subdued here -- no wonder, since she's sitting on Death Row for the entire book. In her brief appearances, though, she is clearly both intelligent and the owner of a sense of humour, which bodes well for their future.
Apparently Sayers based some of this book on her own experience of an unhappy love affair with a bohemian author. Must have been so satisfying to kill him off!
Amazingly wrong cover! There's a lovely book of Jane Austen covers at our bookshop - there are some truly lurid ripped-bodice numbers there, too. I haven't read Dorothy Sayers for years, but remember really enjoying them, especially "Gaudy Night". Is that the one where Harriet and Peter finally got together?
ReplyDeleteYes, from memory, Gaudy Night is the one where she finally accepts him. Still have to get hold of that one! Though I've found Busman's Honeymoon secondhand... don't want to read that before Gaudy Night though :( And NONE of them are in the library any more, such a shame.
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