Murder In Old Town (Unnatural Death Investigations Book 1)

It had clearly been jammed in there as it sat folded in a fetal position. The skin looked like it had literally melted off and the hair fell in clumps disconnected from the head; the skeletal frame held a withered yellow tint to it. Covering the chest cavity was a red and green sweater with Christmas trees stitched across the front. Kindle Edition , 21 pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Jun 07, Elaine rated it liked it Shelves: A very quick read.

It cut through the chase without the unnecessary fluff. A bit amateurish with wrong use of a word here and misspellings, etc. The author shows promise though. Susan rated it did not like it Jun 10, Jan added it Jun 07, Paul Motsuk marked it as to-read Jan 22, There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Books by Ryan Clover. It's true that a lot of this suspicion comes from Miss Climpson, not from Wimsey or the narrator.

Having loved her in Strong Poison , I was so happy to find her so prominent in Unnatural Death , which is the first book in which she appears. But although I still love her, I can't love her as much now that I've seen more of her opinions. Miss Climpson, we learn, is a spinster of necessity, not by choice, but, having lived her life among other spinsters, she understands unmarried women very well. So when she becomes the confidante of Vera Findlater, she is worried by the "schoolgirl crush" Miss Findlater has for Miss Whittaker -- an unhealthy passion, which makes Miss Findlater susceptible to being abused by Miss Whittaker At first I hoped that we were just seeing the more foolish, prejudiced side of Miss Climpson, and that she would turn out to be wrong.

In fact, I hoped that by duplicating the life of the elder Miss Whittaker, the younger would be demonstrating her innocence. She is abusing Miss Findlater's loyalty, and in the end Miss Findlater is the victim of her most horrible murder. The plot, Wimsey's perceptions, and the narrator's description all enforce Miss Climpson's diagnosis that Miss Whittaker, because of her lesbian characteristics, is an unnatural and suspicious woman.

To be clear, I'm not saying that Sayers is being homophobic because she made a lesbian the murderer. What's problematic is that her lesbianness is a major part of what makes her suspicious. I think the only way to save the situation is to say that maybe it is Wimsey's fault. Perhaps if he hadn't begun his unsolicited investigation, the younger Miss Whittaker could have developed almost-blamelessly into the elder Miss Whittaker, life-partner and all, and nobody would have found her unnatural. But that's a stretch.

So I don't really know what to make of it. I can't help but love the elder Miss Whittaker and Miss Dawson -- but I'm confused and hurt by how Sayers could write them and also write about the younger Miss Whittaker as she did. To begin, while investigating the Dawson family in search of relatives who could have a better claim to Miss Dawson's money than the younger Miss Whittaker, Wimsey stumbles upon the Reverend Hallelujah Dawson. Dawson is the grandson of Miss Dawson's great-uncle. The great-uncle had a sugar plantation in the West Indies, and had a child with a Trinidadian woman, to whom he was not married.

As this child was the Rev. Dawson's father, the Rev. Dawson has no legal claim to the Dawson money, and he knows this quite well. However, being impoverished, he has come to England to see if his relatives can help him. Before her death Miss Dawson had made him an allowance, and expected that her heir would continue it, but Miss Whittaker had stopped it. Wimsey first hears of the Rev. Dawson through a letter from Miss Climpson. Miss Climpson reports the housekeeper's extremely racist description while disavowing it herself, but not in a way that makes Miss Climpson entirely innocent of racism.

Wimsey then goes to meet the Rev. Dawson, whom the narrator describes in a way that Sayers clearly intended to be respectful. That doesn't count for very much when she still manages to use the word "rolling" to describe his eyes. Wimsey's attitude to the Reverend is annoying in a very Wimsey-ish way: This is all bad enough, and pretty much what I expected from Sayers when I first realized she was going to introduce a black character. What actually, deeply shocked me has very little to do with how Sayers portrayed the Rev.

It happens close to the end, when Wimsey is convinced Miss Whittaker is the murderer and only wants evidence to convict her, and when she's most desperate to escape him. Miss Whittaker has needed to use Vera Findlater as an alibi, but she has long known that Miss Findlater, knowing too much, could be used against her. Several months previously, she began to prepare a backup plan by which she could dispose of Miss Findlater and pin the blame on someone else. At that time she bought some articles of men's clothing in the Rev. Now, she and Miss Findlater go off on a daytrip.

Miss Whittaker kills Miss Findlater and arranges footprints with the shoes she'd bought and other false evidence suggesting that two men killed Miss Findlater and kidnapped Miss Whittaker. Then she runs away, disguised as another woman whose identity she has already established. One of the pieces of false evidence she leaves is a copy of a magazine, The Black Mask , with the first two words of the title underlined. Investigating the scene, Wimsey discovers this magazine.

He has already figured out that Miss Whittaker has faked everything. Although the clothing hasn't been traced yet and so the Rev. Dawson's name hasn't come in, he correctly deduces that Miss Whittaker is trying to suggest that one of the men who are supposed to have kidnapped her and killed Miss Findlater is black, and that one of the female victims marked the magazine cover in hopes of helping a rescuer.

Because he doesn't want Miss Whittaker to know that he's on her trail, Wimsey allows the police and newspaper reporters to be deceived by the false evidence. The Whittaker case had begun almost imperceptibly, in the overhearing of a casual remark dropped in a Soho restaurant; it ended amid a roar of publicity that shook England from end to end and crowded even Wimbledon into the second place. The bare facts of the murder and kidnapping appeared exclusively that night in a Late Extra edition of the Evening Views. Next morning it sprawled over the Sunday papers with photographs and full details, actual and imaginary.

The idea of two English girls -- the one brutally killed, the other carried off for some end unthinkably sinister, by a black man -- aroused all the passion of horror and indignation of which the English temperament is capable. Reporters swarmed down upon Crow's Beach like locusts -- the downs near Shelly Head were like a fair with motors, bicycles and parties on foot, rushing out to spend a happy week-end amid surroundings of mystery and bloodshed.

I am imagining a fan of detective stories in the United States, an African American reader of the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, who buys all of them as soon as they come out, who in bought Unnatural Death and is reading it at his or her breakfast table with the morning newspaper folded away next to the plate. Whose name is in that newspaper? I don't know in what month Unnatural Death was published in the U. If it was May, perhaps the newspaper mentioned Jonathan Carter.

If June, perhaps David and Lee Blackman. I found these three men's names on this list , which does not give details, but I can guess what happened to them: Someone made a claim that a bad thing had happened to a white woman, and that a black man had done it.

The newspapers reported this. The notion "aroused all the passion and horror of which the [Southern] temperament is capable" -- that might, later, be a line published in one of these newspapers. Thus aroused, a mob of white Southerners rushed out to enact justice by killing a black man -- it didn't matter very much which one.

Then, a festive atmosphere, a picnic at the foot of the tree. I am sure that Sayers, with her keen interest in crime, knew about lynching. Lynching did not, I think, occur in Britain, but some incidents were reported internationally, and I don't think Ida B. Wells was the last anti-lynching activist to make a speaking tour of England in and What comes through in Unnatural Death is an awareness of how white people react en masse to the accusation of a black man of raping a white woman -- and perhaps a vague sense that for this reaction, the public are rather vulgar and excitable -- and no awareness of the consequences of this reaction for any black bystander.

Unnatural Death is a story about Wimsey's responsibility for the results of his investigations. Encouraging the public to believe the story that Miss Whittaker set up is the most directly irresponsible thing I have ever read of Wimsey doing, and yet Sayers doesn't treat it that way at all. Yes, this is England, not the U.

I can't make that matter to me very much. I don't think it occurs to Sayers at all that there are any "coloured aliens" in Britain who could be harmed by this situation, except for the Rev.

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But as would not be taken for granted in the U. South he is otherwise well, and at the end Wimsey is cheered to learn that he has come into some of Miss Whittaker's money after all. I was relieved and rather surprised to find him come safely to the end of the story I don't want very much from Sayers here. I don't ask that she leave out Miss Whittaker's false evidence, because I find that entirely believable -- I remember reading a case of a white woman pinning her own crime on a black man just last year.

I don't really want Sayers to have left out the Rev.

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Dawson, because I was happy to see a character of color in one of her stories, even though she described him somewhat clumsily. And the reader is definitely supposed to know that Wimsey is not a perfect sleuth, not a moral paragon, not an example to follow. This story is all about how he might in fact be completely wrong.

A Christmas Murder In July (Unnatural Death Investigations, Book #3)

I would be fine with Wimsey not quite realizing that by encouraging Miss Whittaker's false evidence, he was taking still more people's lives into his hands. But what I do want is for the readers to know that this was what he was doing -- all the readers, not just the contemporary readers who could not not make that connection, and current readers who know a bit about U.

View all 3 comments. Oct 03, Jaline rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book was validation for my choice in reading a series in order. Sayers really hit her stride in this book — all of her regular characters are more fully developed, and the new ones introduced come through at the same higher quality of 3D. There is also an page bonus section at the end: I put the quotes in because obviously the uncle is created by the author as well. What I liked about the bonus section is that it give This book was validation for my choice in reading a series in order.

The chapter starts with a quote saying that there are two million more women than men in England and Wales. This makes sense after the devastation of lives lost in World War I. Lord Peter gets the inspiration that this is a huge, untapped workforce of brilliant people. The whole situation created a scandal for himself and the relief nurse with whom he fell in love and was engaged to. Lord Peter is convinced right away that there is foul play involved but with no information at all, he has to build a case out of thin air — including finding out who his victim is.

As his mission progresses, more bodies begin appearing and Lord Peter is beside himself. He believes it is his fault for opening this creaking vault door in the first place. There are multiple threads to follow and they all have snags and snarls that need to be unraveled along the way. I really enjoyed this story a lot. I love my exclamation marks too much! View all 24 comments. My usual disclaimer; I still prefer to read uncensored. I think Sayers was probably struggling a bit with censorship herself - it was obvious that two of the 3. I think Sayers was probably struggling a bit with censorship herself - it was obvious that two of the characters were view spoiler [ lesbian but it was never directly stated.

I found Sayers way of handling this both clever and interesting. This is the third Lord Peter Wimsey novel. Wimsey and Charles Parker are interrupted, while in a teashop, by a doctor who overhears them talking about crime. He relates a tale of how he was treating an elderly lady for cancer, whose niece insisted was much nearer than death than he felt she was.

When she died suddenly, without leaving a will, the doctor insisted on an autopsy, leading to bad feeling with both the niece, Miss Whittaker, and the local community. Indeed, his actions led to him havi This is the third Lord Peter Wimsey novel. Indeed, his actions led to him having to leave the area and begin work elsewhere. Of course, Lord Peter is immediately intrigued - how many people do 'get away with murder'? However, Parker is not conviced there is a case to answer.

Presumably, as an officer of the law he had enough real work to be getting on with, but Wimsey is determined to investigate. In this entertaining novel, Lord Peter uses the indefatigable Miss Climpson as his "ears and tongue and especially nose. Before long there is a further murder and even Parker is convinced that something is amiss. Did Miss Whittaker hurry her aunt along to make sure she inherited? Who is the mysterious Mrs Forrest?

Is Lord Peter Wimsey himself going to become a victim? This is a real puzzle of a mystery, with endless clues and suspects and sometimes you do feel a little bogged down in information. However, the real fun and sense of righting a wrong does shine through and you happily embark on the journey with Lord Peter, Parker, Miss Climpson and, of course, Bunter. Very enjoyable, brilliantly plotted if a little confusingly at times and, of course, much of the pleasure is in the character of Lord Peter Wimsey himself. If you enjoy Golden Age detective fiction then you will love this.

May 12, Jason Koivu rated it liked it Shelves: The continuing adventures of that dandy Lord Peter Wimsey continue.

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In Unnatural Death , our somewhat foppish hero, the amateur detective Wimsey suspects there may be more to the cancer-assumed death of an older lady. But what are the means? What is the motive? I've read about five of Sayer's Wimsey books so far and this is the least engaging. There's nothing blatantly wrong with it, it's just not quite up to standard.

I struggled to get a grasp on why I felt this way. I think it's because there's The continuing adventures of that dandy Lord Peter Wimsey continue. I think it's because there's very little action and a whole lot of talking, specifically between Wimsey and his friend Inspector Parker. They spend a good deal of time sitting about talking this one over.

They literally don't move. Yes, of course there is SOME action somewhere within the book: But most of this seemed to me to be Wimsey spouting his theories with Parker poopooing them. However, Unnatural Death contains all the humor and old world panache as well as old world borderline racism one comes to expect from these books, and any fan of the Wimsey stories will enjoy this one regardless of its minor failings. View all 15 comments. I would have liked it at half its length, as a BBC play, or even a movie more. It was very well read. The characters were good.

Parker was a bit of cardboard straight man, though. Wimsey was well done, of course. He is a hoot. I'm not much on English humor, but this had me chuckling occasionally. Third in the series, I was told that they stood alone well enough that I shouldn't worry too much about finding the first.

The plot was fairly obtuse. The villain was so obvious from the first that I kept waiting for a twist that never came. I don't think I'll listen to another, at least no time soon. View all 4 comments. Nov 02, mark monday rated it liked it Shelves: View all 5 comments. Sep 08, Ruth rated it it was amazing Shelves: For years I've been convinced that I much prefer the Lord Peter Wimsey books after Harriet Vane makes an appearance, but this book changed my mind. I always picture Lord Peter as an empty-headed fop in pre-Harriet days but I've had to revise my opinion as he came across as sensitive and conscientious rather than just a rich man of leisure with too much time on his hands The character of Miss Climpson shines throughout the book for me and her situation made me think about the limited possibilities For years I've been convinced that I much prefer the Lord Peter Wimsey books after Harriet Vane makes an appearance, but this book changed my mind.

I always picture Lord Peter as an empty-headed fop in pre-Harriet days but I've had to revise my opinion as he came across as sensitive and conscientious rather than just a rich man of leisure with too much time on his hands The character of Miss Climpson shines throughout the book for me and her situation made me think about the limited possibilities open to spinsters in the s.

Miss Climpson certainly rises to the challenge this last to be said in capital letters with many exclamation marks. This is by far my favourite Sayer so far. The Whittaker case begins almost imperceptibly, with the overhearing of a casual remark in a Soho restaurant where Lord Peter Wimsey and Charles Parker are dining.

It ends amid a roar of publicity that shakes England from end to end. A wealthy old woman is died some three years earlier, a little earlier than was expected, but then she was in the last stages of cancer. Miss Dawson's death has aroused no suspicion, despite her doctor's dismay at her end comi This is by far my favourite Sayer so far. Miss Dawson's death has aroused no suspicion, despite her doctor's dismay at her end coming so quickly. But something tells Wimsey that this was, indeed, an unnatural death, and he makes a bet with Parker that he can prove it.

Lord Peter's personality grows in leaps and bounds in this, the third of the Lord Peter Wimsey series. Lord Peter's family are not in evidence, but his friend Charles Parker, and the loyal manservant Bunter are both there, and Wimsey is aided by the intelligence of Miss Climpson whom he sends out to the Hampshire village to be his ear to the ground.

A lovely, lovely read. And I am greatly looking forward to reading the next in the series. Jun 08, Cindy Rollins rated it really liked it Shelves: I decided to begin my rereadings of the Lord Peter books with book 3. I have started over on volumes 1 and 2 so many times that I thought it would be better to skip them and get right to it. This is a delightful episode in the series with the appearance of Miss Climpson. It is also quite a series of contrasts between the various female spinster characters in the book.

I almost finished the book today during my three hour stint at the DMV, keeping up my record of reading appropriate literature wh I decided to begin my rereadings of the Lord Peter books with book 3. I almost finished the book today during my three hour stint at the DMV, keeping up my record of reading appropriate literature while waiting, waiting, waiting at the DMV.

I told Alex he would have an unnatural death if he failed his test and I had to return to that place. He was in full agreement and passed with flying colors. Oct 09, Deb Jones rated it really liked it Shelves: Lord Peter Wimsey, a year-old self-taught private sleuth, is at it again with his friend and crime-solving partner Charles Parker of Scotland Yard. Wimsey, who sometimes refers to himself as Sherlock Holmes, has resolved to take a case that for much of the book doesn't seem to be much of a case at all except in Wimsey's mind.

Reading Unnatural Death is "jolly good fun" for mystery lovers. Wimsey is sometimes cocky and so full of himself I found myself rolling my eyes a time or two -- but in th Lord Peter Wimsey, a year-old self-taught private sleuth, is at it again with his friend and crime-solving partner Charles Parker of Scotland Yard. Wimsey is sometimes cocky and so full of himself I found myself rolling my eyes a time or two -- but in the end, he proves his mettle. Mar 27, Jane rated it it was amazing Shelves: Where I got the book: Wimsey seems younger in the latter, somehow. The Wimsey books, in general, are superb examples of Golden Age detective fiction: The plot of Unnatural Death seems to arise from a question: Wimsey meets such a doctor by chance, and sets about investigating the slightly premature decease of an old lady who refused to make her will.

There are three interesting points I'd like to note about this book. First, the initial signs of Wimsey's transformation into the godlike figure of the later books are there, notably in the hints about his vast experience of women and skill as a lover. Not to mention his ability to climb drainpipes and locate a body in a large expanse of countryside. Second, we see the hammering home of a theme Sayers weaves through the Wimsey novels: I love the way Sayers makes her detective think about the internal logic of detective novels. Third, Sayers gets to tackle the topic of LESBIANS without actually being able to clarify that point to the reader, since the book was written in the s and homosexuality could only be hinted at in the broadest manner.

It always makes me laugh that the main "proof" of the villain's same-sex preference is that she doesn't fancy Wimsey. Nice to be so irresistible. Black marks on this book, always quoted by Sayers' critics, are her casual use of racially offensive terms; but the reader needs to remember that this kind of speech was the norm in her day, and if anything she shows greater sympathy toward non-Christians or non-whites than many writers of her time.

Clouds of Witness now loaded on my Kindle. View all 8 comments. The problem is he isn't the only main character here. I don't mind Parker but both of them got swept under all the gossip you get to read here. I will just pretend I never read this book. There are so many problems in this book that I am at a loss where to start. First, Wimsey doesn't play that much a role here anyway.

He does start everything though. The case starts 'almost imperceptibly, in the overhearin 1. The case starts 'almost imperceptibly, in the overhearing of a casual remark dropped in a Soho restaurant' but then goes south. The stupidity of everyone involved in it is staggering. Most of this book is he said, she said reporting. This is one of the most gossipy novel I've ever read. One of the biggest problems I had with this case and what ruined this so-called mystery for me is that the author so obviously tried to keep Parker and Wimsey away from a person of interest.

It was so in your face I started thinking it could be a parody of some sort. It was glaringly obvious. God, it was tedious to get through it. Not much of a mystery I'm afraid.

The less I say about other characters, the better. The way a distant cousin of Miss Dawson's, Rev. Dawson, is treated is horrible. To say it was uncomfortable to read parts of this book would be an understatement. There are a couple of things I did like but I am not sure if they could be enough to redeem this book.

Unnatural Death (novel) - Wikipedia

The relatio0nship between the murder victim Agatha Dawson and her best friend Clara Whittaker is lovely. And I do like Wimsey and Parker so there's that. I hope this will be the only weak story in the series. Starting the New Year with a Sayers review? On the other hand, you do get to see Peter again treating it a little like a hobby, a curiosity, and then having to face the consequences of his ego.

The murder method is pretty good for this one, though, really: So not my favourite, but it does work and come together beautifully. Found the audio copy of this at the library waiting for me to go to North Carolina. Made the miles fly by. While this was my 6th reading of this book, I apparently forgot the conclusion or the killer. I was driving along trying to figure it out when the light bulb went off.

Jul 29, Jeanette rated it really liked it. One of the earliest of the series that I'm going back to read. And this one is excellent. It seems to introduce Miss Climpson too- who is a spinster that works undercover for Lord Peter in her travels and visitations rift with gossip gathering gems of information.

Something that a high class Lord by his very presence and manner would not successfully approach. I love how Lord Peter continually rolls with the punches of the social order and locale or associated "conditions" to finding out what HE One of the earliest of the series that I'm going back to read. I love how Lord Peter continually rolls with the punches of the social order and locale or associated "conditions" to finding out what HE wants to know. Sayers is honed here in her conversational tidbits and dialect diatribes. Usually between groups of church women or female servants.

The case prime premise is essentially core to being a standard central original. She's the prime literary source, possibly, for this "method". Poisons have been SO overdone. Among other unique and original features of hers, hardly ever given the credit, IMHO! Agatha is colder, trickier and more devious in the tellings, but I do think that Sayers is far more inventive, actually.

Although their styles are so different, I can absolutely understand how Christie became the standard. Sayers is too unique and high brow of tones and of wit to be as universally admired. But I think in some nuance and critical thinking skill displays, she might be better than Christie. In this one we have some tricky moves that don't become apparent until 30 pages from the ending. Unlike some Sayers of Lord Wimsey, this one is not at all overlong. And he has not meet Harriet yet, nor is he at all embedded within great detail of Lord Denver or other family members.

This one is Det. Parker and himself with his "new" help. Bunter is not even centrally involved. I found the entire believable and an excellent and entertaining read. And the Vicar very much like the dozens of priests and brothers I have known. I'll definitely read them all. Top rung entertainment and all kinds of serendipity knowledge displayed! Lastly, all of these books my copies of various date publications but nearly all were the hardcovers - have delightful letters or some business correspondence or some other 2 page essential prize gem at the beginning or the ending.

It will "catch you up" or give essential past or family mood nuance - or plant the emotive specifics for a death or an inheritance or something. This one has an entire genealogical chart of 2 page width at the ending- which gives you the year or so family branch ancestor history for the "old lady" victim. I laughed out loud for the terms of "old" people in this book- twice. This ancient is Also a short aside warning to those of you who are highly politically correct social warriors.

This is a book of its era-the earliest quarter of the 20th century. The language and standards names used for other humans beyond the UK's high classes for other groups or visual conditions is quadruple XXXX. Do not judge these present day language bombs now of Sayers or Lord Wimsey's time by those of your own time. This was the best in the series so far for me. The introduction of Ms Climpson was a particular highlight and I hope she continues to help out Wimsey as we progress through the series.

I also liked that this one was a little less slap stick and a little more mystery. The development of the relationship between Wimsey and Parker is also progressing well. Mar 08, Jaya rated it liked it Shelves: Can't say am much impressed. It was just an okay read with a mildly annoying protagonist. The mystery wasn't much about who-had-done-it but how-it-was-done. Read this author for the first time, will try a few more of her stories before I pass judgement. Jan 15, Olga Godim rated it really liked it Shelves: