A Bit of Wimsey

I just finished reading Eclipse of the Sun by Michael D. O'Brien. It's a well-written and intelligently plotted Catholic dystopian novel with interesting characters. As a work of fiction, it's quite good.

But it IS very dystopian. And the world created in the novel uncomfortably parallels so much that is going on now, some 25 years after it was published, that it was sobering. Yes, the Lord wins in the end, but getting there means loss and struggle.   

After finishing it, I wanted to go on to something lighter! 

For me, that's means a mystery. Or two. Or more.

So I thought of Dorothy Sayers, a highly-regarded mystery writer more of whose Lord Peter Wimsey works I've wanted to read. Her ties to faith and to G. K. Chesterton add to the attraction. 

I had read Unnatural Death a couple of years ago. Back in the 80's I had read a few of her other books, but can't for the life of me remember which ones. 

So ...

 

A goal for the next yeas or two: Read all of her Wimsey novels.

There are 12 Wimsey novels written by her: 

Whose Body? (1923)
Clouds of Witness (1926)

Unnatural Death (1927) (U.S. title originally The Dawson Pedigree)

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928)
Strong Poison (1930)
The Five Red Herrings (1931)
Have His Carcase (1932)
Murder Must Advertise (1933)
The Nine Tailors (1934)
Gaudy Night (1935)
Busman's Honeymoon (1937)
Thrones, Dominations (1998) Unfinished Sayers manuscript completed by Jill Paton Walsh

There are also some Wimsey short story collections

Lord Peter Views the Body (1928)
Hangman's Holiday (1933) Also contains non-Wimsey stories
In the Teeth of the Evidence (1939) Also contains non-Wimsey stories
Striding Folly (1972)
Lord Peter (1972)

With that goal in mind, I stopped by our local library and was pleased to find they had several of her novels. I took out a few, and have started the first one, Whose Body?

Since retiring in 2020, I have set a few reading goals, and have completed several: I've now read all of Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries, all of Shakespeare's plays, all of his sonnets, all of Tony Hillerman's Navajo mysteries, and all of Robert Frost's published poetry collections. The Sayers goal is to try to find and read all of her Wimsey novels over the next two years. 

That should help to keep me out of mischief. 

There will be more reading goals, but I'll deal with them in my end-of-the-year reading tally post.

Pax et bonum