Reviews

Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers

midwifereading's review against another edition

3.0

A lot more dialogue in which Lord Peter and associates parse out the details, and a lot less action. Still, quite a fun read!

sherrahb's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

chrisscorkscrew's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood

bookishfelix5's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

lelia_t's review against another edition

4.0

Another good one by Sayers. I love the books with Harriet Vane. She’s such a bright spot, plus Sayers has fun playing with the conventions of detective fiction by having Harriet point out the plot devices she would use if she were writing the mystery we’re reading. My only complaint about this book is there’s a lot of hashing out who was where when - and then rehashing it. I understand this is an important part of solving a mystery but in this case it gets pretty tedious, as do the pages and pages of secret code cracking.

shareen17's review against another edition

2.0

I didn't like the previous Lord Peter Wimsey book I read but for some reason wanted to give the series one more try. Now I know I really don't like it. If you like a mystery with intricate detail of every bit of the investigation then this might be for you. I found it tedious. Also, even given some allowance for the era it was written in, it has a lot of racist content.

nianyigexiaodu's review

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

shalini_gunnasan's review against another edition

4.0

Loved the red herrings in this one!

lelainav's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

melissa_who_reads's review against another edition

4.0

A bit long winded at times, but a clever plot. I enjoyed the beginning and the end, and felt it got bogged down a bit in the middle. And pages of Lord Peter and Harriet solving a cipher ... well, I didn't grasp the concept of the cipher nor was I that interested in how it worked ... and having at first decided they needed an expert, they worked it out fairly quickly when the expert turned out not to be available.

Harriet is on a walking tour after her acquittal from murder charges. She's trying to work out the plot of her new novel, and getting a lot of fresh air after her ordeal -- and getting away from the attentions of Lord Peter Whimsey. And what does she do? She stumbles on a corpse. And because the corpse is about to be covered by the tide, she takes photos and removes some items to prove that it existed.

She is delayed getting to the police, and the tide is well and truly up by the time they are informed. The body doesn't reappear for some days. In the meantime, it is discovered it is a hired dancer in the big hotel in the larger town ... who was engaged to a much older and quite wealthy woman.

Lord Peter shows up, having been notified by friends in the newspaper business, and detecting the ways and means of the murder made to look like suicide begins. Once you know the main riddle, the plot comes apart ...

A classic, but not one of my favorites of her works.