Clouds of Witness cover art

Clouds of Witness

Lord Peter Wimsey Book 2

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Clouds of Witness

By: Dorothy L. Sayers
Narrated by: Jane McDowell
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About this listen

The best of the golden age crime writers, praised by all the top modern writers in the field including P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, Dorothy L. Sayers created the immortal Lord Peter Wimsey. His second appearance is a thrilling quest to save his own brother - the Duke of Denver - from the hangman.

The Duke of Denver, accused of murder, stands trial for his life in the House of Lords. Naturally, his brother Lord Peter Wimsey is investigating the crime - this is a family affair. The murder took place at the duke's shooting lodge and Lord Peter's sister was engaged to marry the dead man.

But why does the duke refuse to co-operate with the investigation? Can he really be guilty, or is he covering up for someone?

©1926 The Trustees of Anthony Fleming (deceased) (P)2014 Hodder & Stoughton
Classics Cosy Historical Traditional Detectives Mystery Fiction Detective Exciting
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Critic reviews

"She brought to the detective novel originality, intelligence, energy and wit." (P. D. James)
"D. L. Sayers is one of the best detective story writers." (E. C. Bentley, Daily Telegraph)
"I admire her novels . . . she has great fertility of invention, ingenuity and a wonderful eye for detail" (Ruth Rendell)

What listeners say about Clouds of Witness

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

god the woman is a bore when she shows off

However she was good at the twists and turns of a plot. Her characters are of her day. They are real and solid if you can make the step into a very different world that would now only be recognised by the likes oof Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, if you can get over the slightly annoying narration

I like this story for its background more than its plot - it is not as satisfying a mystery as some of the others, and has quite a few coincidental red herring - but it brings Peter somewhat closer to his family and sets up future plot lines nicely. As mentioned by other reviewers, the narration is rather irritating, I agree entirely with their comments so won't repeat them. However I'd say that I got used to the style after a while so it became less grating. Though the downright errors still did annoy (eg mispronunciations which would take just a little research to have got right, and saying "first" instead of "fist", and "word" instead of "Lord"). Saying all that, I would probably have overlooked these if it weren't for the price tag of over £20.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Clouds of Witness

This is the first Lord Peter Wimpsy stories which are great detective stories, brilliantly read by Jane MaDowell

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Disappointing characterisation

I was a little disappointed by the performance of the reader which brought little life to the familiar characters

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator Lets it Down

What did you like best about Clouds of Witness? What did you like least?

The twisting plot is interesting and you learn more of the history of the main character.

Any additional comments?

Like other reviewers, I really felt that the narrator was not the best choice for this book. The range of characters are not well demonstrated by the required dialects, or indeed changes in voice.

Maybe because this was written in a different era, but I found the story a bit boring in places, although the overall outcome was interesting.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

What you expect from as classic

This is a well produced and delivered piece of a classic Peter Wimsey. Always charming. Old style values and setting. Not too taxing. A pleasurable listen.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The narrators reading of the phonetically writtenYorkshire accents made me cringe

It’s a great story and on the whole I like this narrator. But she reads the Yorkshire accents (rendered phonetically in the book) as though she’s sight reading and has never heard a Yorkshire accent. I could barely follow the thread of the story at that point - and took to shouting the correct pronunciations at the speaker. This didn’t totally ruin the fabulous story but be warned!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Difficult narrator

I love the books of D L Sayers and have read them many times and was glad to be able to have them on Audible but they have been slightly spoilt for me by the narration. Jane Mcdowell has a pleasant voice but she does not read well.
Her pronunciation of any but the most common place words is often wrong and jars when listening.Her attempts at differentiation of Character voices is dreadful and she is not able to sustain any accent at all.I also find that she places strange emphasis on the wrong part of the sentence which often makes it hard to understand.

I would love to hear these reread by someone with a little more skill.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Clouds of Witness

Really enjoyed this. Very good characterisation by reader. Just a couple of odd pronunciations - sal volatile- vol-a -ti-lee
- Balliol - bale-i-ul

Look forward to my next Lord Peter Wimsey.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not the best reading

A classic crime story of the golden Age, but I did not take to the reading, lovely as the voice of the reader is. There were strange changes in emphasis mid-sentence causing the flow of the narrative to be spoilt. which is a shame. Also I may be old-fashioned but I think a male reader would have been better given the hero of the tale.

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2 people found this helpful