THE UNPLEASANTNESS AT THE BELLONA CLUB wasn't the best mystery novel that I've ever read, but it was certainly enjoyable enough that I didn't feel I was wasting my energy. The characters are, at times, clichéd, but I was entertained by all of them enough not to be too bothered by any lack of real substance. It's a tale of murder, deceit and money, but is told with enough whimsy to make it fully enjoyable.

Despite some initial false assumptions on my part, the plot managed to keep me mostly surprised much of the time. At first glance, I thought that I was in for a fairly tedious journey, as I wasn't very far into the book when I suddenly figured out what I assumed was a large part of the mystery. Faced with the prospect of having to read through the entire rest of the story pretending not to know how the murderer had gotten away with it, I began to wonder if perhaps the remainder wouldn't be worth reading. To my great surprise, while the portion of the mystery that I figured out was fairly well signposted, it didn't turn out to be as important as I had anticipated, and I was greatly pleased that Lord Peter figured out the puzzle not long after I did. This allowed the story to turn into directions that I hadn't anticipated, and brought me back into the narrative. There are several clever little moments of storytelling that successfully managed to keep my on my toes, which is an ideal situation for any detective story.

This was the first Dorothy Sayers book that I've read, and I was surprised at how much of the story was conveyed purely through the dialog. There is almost no description at all and there were times where it seemed as though I was reading a television or a film script. (Incidentally, this is probably why the series translates so well to visual mediums.) This did contribute to a feeling of triviality, but it did make the book pass by much more quickly. This is not a book to be slowly picked apart, but rather one to be enjoyed quickly, in large gulps. The fast-pace adds to the fanciful flavor and allows the story to rapidly wash over the reader.

I found THE UNPLEASANTNESS AT THE BELLONA CLUB to be a fun and enjoyable, if light, detective adventure. It's a great little piece of fiction to read on a lazy afternoon, and it should be recommended to any fan of mystery novels. A short, and fairly unambitious novel, but definitely quite enjoyable.

This book shows the charming and dry British humor. The setting: an old austere British club in 1928. On Remembrance Day, three men are sitting down to lunch. One notices an old soldier sitting not far away. He has a newpaper in front of him and a drink to his side. He is quite dead, and so the Unpleasantness begins. Wonderful

When Lord Peter Wimsey comes down to the Bellona club to dine with an old friend he little expected to find the 90 year old General Fentiman sitting quietly by the fire in full rigor mortis. Nor, did he expect to be confronted with a case about which one of the General or his sister, Lady Dormer, predeceased the other. But, seeing that it was a matter of some half million pounds he was delighted to oblige old Mr. Murbles, the family solicitor.

It turns out that establishing Fentiman's time of death is going to be a major feat. No one, including his heirs, the staff of the Bellona Club and most of London seems to recall what the General was doing that morning, or when he showed up, opened his newspaper and promptly expired. Worse, what few facts that Wimsey can put together convince him that something was very, very wrong with Fentiman's timely ticking off. Suddenly this is no longer a case of friendly detection but a serious investigation into a murder.

'The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club' was one of Dorothy Sayers' early smash hits. It shows off Wimsey's charming urbanity against the gemlike setting of his friends and cohorts, only striking serious chords when grim necessity rears its monocled head. Wimsey doesn't act quite as foolish as he was prone to in past novels, which makes him likeable as well as witty. The other regular characters have also acquired some extra depth that makes everyone a bit more believable. Everyone but the bit players, of course. Each of those is, as usual, a quick, delightful pastiche, one of Sayers greatest talents.

This is one of Sayers' most memorable books, and, despite a plot that is a little too transparent, is one of her most re-readable. The odd thing about a Sayers mystery story is how unimportant it is whether you know or can guess the murderer. 'Who' is less important than 'how' in these tales, and neither is as important as the balletic interaction of the players, most of whom you would like to find in your sitting room - it you had a sitting room large enough, that is.

This is also the first book that displays Wimsey's softer nature with the ladies. While Marjorie Phelps is not destined to become Lord Peter's great love, we see glints of the Peter to come. He shows a fair and attentive style without a hint of macho that will serve him well in his trials to come. I am tempted to say that, if you don't enjoy this book, there is no hope for you as a Sayers fan. That's not completely true, but ' The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club' is a completely representative Sayers effort and one of my perennial favorites.

Documents in the Case is unlike Sayers' other mysteries. It is in the form, first of all, of documents: letters, newspaper clippings, etc. Secondly, it does not feature Lord Peter Wimsey.

It is, however, an intensely interesting book. The characters, with the exception of the femme fatale (who is convincing but entirely unlikable), are portrayed sympathetically and the reader comes away with a sense of the complexity of human nature in general and of the novel's characters specifically. No one is all good or all bad or all anything. The victim--a fussy, middle-class, conservative husband--is drawn with great insight and compassion. Equally so, the murderer, for all the cruelty of the murder, is not unlikable and even pitiable.

The main narrator has many of the same personality quirks as Lord Peter Wimsey--a reluctance to get involved, oversensitivity and feelings of self-doubt--but his motives are, I think, more convincing. His quirks are less mannerisms and more part and parcel of his character (as eventually happens with Wimsey). Like all the other characters, he is flawed but comprehensible.

In fact, the book is a most unpretentious novel. I enjoy Sayers very much and consider myself a Wimsey fan, but Documents in the Case is, to my mind, a far more realistic and thoughtful mystery than some of Sayers' better known works. The mileau is middle-class. The victim's son (who is collecting the documents) is noble-minded but imperfect: hard to like even when you want him to "win". And the characters are truly impacted by the murder.

The murder itself is interesting enough but much more interesting is the theme that runs alongside the murder: the "lop-sidedness" of life in general, the idea that living things can never achieve the cookie-cutter perfection of synthetic creations.

Recommendation: Give it a try if you are interested in Sayers' work beyond Wimsey (and if you don't mind reading books in letter or document form).

This book was the first I have read by Dorothy Sayers, and it was very good. There were times when it was a little slow, but other than that, it was very well-written. I look forward to reading more mysteries by this author!

When I first read this book about two years ago it disgusted me profoundly. I found the main character, Lord Peter Wimsey, exasperant, his servant too 'servile' and the language bewildering. Two years later I am inclined to be a little less partial; still...

"Whose body?" was the first mystery story Dorothy L. Sayers wrote, where she introduced us to her sleuth, the debonair, rich, book collector and nonsense-talking Lord Peter. He lives in a posh Picadilly apartment with a manservant by the name of Mervyn Bunter. I always thought Bunter could have been further developed; simply because he seems to have much more of a head on his shoulders and his feet on the floor than his employer does. In this, their first adventure, Lord Peter is made aware by his mother, the enchanting and very shrewd Dowager Duchess of Denver, of an unknown body being found on a neighboor's bathroom. No one seems to know who the unfortunate individual was, nor how he happened upon the bathroom of poor old Mr. Thipps. So in comes Lord Peter with his nonsense talk and his charming ways to investigate. He has a good friend who 'just happens' to be an actual detective and who will, in time, facilitate his work through official channels. I must say one thing that surprised me is how Lord Peter can make all the deductions until he finally elucidates the crime, while still being so much devoid of bright comments; but there we have it.

There is a lot of dialogue in this novel and I find that a plus. I am a big fan of dialogue in fiction because I find it a great tool for natural development of the story. However, not everyone will understand a Londoner's words and mannerisms and this could be confusing, even irritating, at times. Sayers is not, and I repeat, is not, your typical mystery writer 'a la Christie'. She was a scholar and a Christian writer at that and likes to bring these ideas into her stories. I think that's why she also decided to show in this book such anti-semitic ideas against the Jews, that not even the now deceased Dowager Duke of Denver (Lord Peter's father), could tolerate them in his castle. Anti-semitism aside, this book is not for everyone. It demands a bit of an open mind and a good knowlegde of both British customs and language.

What I did like about the book is what I always try to find in mysteries: the description of the different settings. Fine rare books and mahogany furniture, prime dining and a big estate in the country surround Lord Peter's life. Idealistic? Maybe, but no less charming.

"Whose Body?" is the first Lord Peter Wimsey novel written by Dorothy Sayers in the 1920s, and was the second I read after "Gaudy Night." As someone who generally likes to read series in order, I still have to say it was fun knowing the type of put together gentleman that Lord Peter will become even as I enjoyed reading of his casual manner and clever impulsiveness in his first big fully-recorded case.

Lord Peter must figure out what happened to a naked dead man that an architect friend of his mother's finds in his London bathtub one night wearing only a pair of pince-nez glasses. Meanwhile a rich London financier has turned up missing. Peter is not the first to make the connection, but no one but he can possibly figure out that what connection there is to be made wasn't quite the one the police came up with.

"Whose Body?" is short, clever and enjoyable. Sayers is an excellent and sympathetic writer who respects both her characters and the reader. Her very much alive English settings, both the cold wet bogs and the warm dry fireplaces make Wimsey's world feel like a place I could happily call home. And if you like this one they keep getting better as the series progresses. Cheers!

I would say that Sayers' writing only gets better from here except for the fact that it's been said too many times in the previous reviews and that it doesn't. Now this not to say that her following mysteries are not good, they are excellent - but when considering 'Whose Body?' in the context I'm considering it, which is to say, 'one of the greatest mysteries ever written'.
Most would probably disagree with me, but there's one thing I desire for every mystery and that's for the writer to not just focus on the mystery, but on the characters. This is because in real life there are 2 types of mysteries: those that will never be solved and those that can be solved with the regular investigation done by the police.
I think Sayers pulls off the 'perfect' mystery that balances realism with entertainment. She can be said to be an incredibly humorous writer that does mystery on the side, but to say that would be almost sacrilege lol.
I could and would go on, but of course I'm only stating my opinion and why debate that? Suffice it to say that I prefer 'Whose Body?' to Sayers' other mysteries (though I love those too) :D.

This was the first Dorothy L. Sayers books I read and it took me FOREVER to read it. Not that it's a long book, it's just extremely confusing. One of the things I like about mysteries is trying to figure out whodunit, and with this book that was practically impossible. One of the other reviewers used the phrase "incessant clutter" and I have to agree with them.
On the other hand, the idea was good. An artist dies, and six people absolutely hate him. Five are red herrings. Also, Wimsey is a rather likeable character, so I give it two stars. Definitely not my favorite mystery book.

At her best, Dorothy Sayers was able to juggle a complex writing style, complex characters, and complex plot to tremendous effect--and such novels as GAUDY NIGHT and BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON have remained landmarks of the murder mystery genre for well over sixty years. But some of Sayers' work has a tendency toward incessant clutter--and no where is that more apparent than in this 1931 novel, which finds Lord Peter investigating a suspicious death in Scotland.

The plot of THE FIVE RED HERRINGS begins with some promise: the victim is a man despised by virtually everyone in town, so no one is greatly shocked when his body is found in a creek at the bottom of a ravine. But the story soon acquires a mechanical feeling: of six possible suspects, HALF are unexpectedly and mysteriously out of town--and tracking them down allows Sayers to indulge her love of time-tables and train schedules to the nth degree. It makes for some very dry narrative indeed. At the same time, Sayers attempts to duplicate the Scottish accent of the locals on the page itself, and the result is page after page of phonetic spellings and oddly placed aphostrophes. It is more than a little off-putting.

In spite of these drawbacks, the book does have its graces, chiefly in Sayers' knack for turning a witty phrase and in her ever-developing portrait of Lord Peter Wimsey. And to do Sayers justice, the gimmicky plot and the emphasis on time-tables, etc. is rather typical of 1920s and 1930s murder mysteries. Such books often have a great deal of period charm, but frankly, THE FIVE RED HERRINGS is not among them. Die-hard Sayers fans will certainly want to read this novel, and many will get a good degree of pleasure from it... but newcomers to Dorothy Sayers' work should start with one of her later successes, and I specifically recommend MURDER MUST ADVERTISE to them instead.

This is not the place to start reading the Lord Wimsey books--it is clear that Dorothy Sayers was trying a more complex plot with The Five Red Herrings. Read the books in order and you will better appreciate this effort. It should be remembered that Sayers was not a simple little mystery writer--she was a complex, multi-talented writer who would be expected to stretch the genre.