Reviews

Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

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allyexa's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I’ve watched and enjoyed all the lord Peter Wimsey iterations from the BBC, but this is the first I’ve read.

Sayers had the gift of writing some of the more intriguing plots, almost like clickbait. And her characters were fun and flippant but with surprising depth from time to time.

Still, I found this mystery only okay. It was jarring to go from the carefree Wimsey world of fancy 20s slang and fine brandy, to the overlong and grisly details of a murder. There was a lot of going hither and thither, conversations with more detail than you’d ever need, and a whole lot of pondering in armchairs. Depending on my mood, it was either relaxing and pleasant, or frustrating and boring. I took to reading a few chapters each night before bed to help drift off.

5/5/25

lsupix's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

grahamjohnson's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

joedav's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

alexandra_7's review against another edition

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2.0

Why is this compared to Agatha Christie? This was so boring I could barely read it, I had to listen to the audiobook to help me get through it after the first 50 pages.

jobryant's review against another edition

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funny 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

3.0

english_lady03's review against another edition

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My first Lord Peter Wimsey mystery. I have watched several of these, but never read them. Amazon Kindle has had several on sale recently, so I decided to buy them.

Sayers was of course a friend of C.S.Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien, but she stands on her own as one of the great crime fiction writers of the 20th century, pioneering the private detective/amateur sleuth protaganist alongside contemporaries like Chesterton and Christie.

Lord Peter is just the shade of quirky and eccentric that I love in a character. Not the point of absurdity though, the man has an amazingly sharp mind, a great love for literature, and sadly PTSD from the first world war. He's one of the more interesting protaganists of mysteries from this period.

There are some fascinating and disturbing explorations of human pyschology and the criminal mind in this novel, all the more interesting since this was the time when pyschology was in its infancy. Some of the ideas espoused by scientists are an unsettling foreshadowing of events which which happen later in the century.

Recommended for any who love classic detective fiction.