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Lord Peter Wimsey: The Complete Short Stories

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Lord Peter Wimsey: The Complete Short Stories

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

 Discover Dorothy L. Sayers' inimitable Golden Age detective in this complete collection of the complete Lord Peter Wimsey stories, together in one volume for the first time.

Presented in chronological order, these short stories see Lord Peter Wimsey bringing his trademark wit and unique detection skills to all manner of mysteries. From poisoned port to murder in fancy dress, Wimsey draws on his many skills - including his expertise in fine wine and appreciation of fine art - to solve cases far and wide, some even taking him to foreign countries and unexpected hiding places in pursuit of miscreants and murderers.

Containing 21 stories taken from Lord Peter Views the Body, Hangman's Holiday, In the Teeth of the Evidence and Striding Folly, now published together for the first time in one volume, this is the ultimate collection for fans of classic detective fiction and Dorothy L. Sayers.

'She brought to the detective novel originality, intelligence, energy and wit.' P. D. James

(P)2014, 2015 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©1928 Dorothy L Sayers Amateur Sleuths Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Crime Fiction Detective Mystery Traditional Detectives Fiction Crime Murder Short Story

Critic reviews

Be warned . . . once you make friends with Wimsey you'll want to get better acquainted (Christopher Fowler)
The books chronicling Wimsey's adventures remain models of their kind (Barry Forshaw)
In time of dire and immediate trouble, on might well call upon a Sherlock Holmes for a quick solution to one's trials. But for the balm that reassures one about surviving the vicissitudes of life, one could do no better than to anchor onto a Lord Peter Wimsey. (Elisabeth George)
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The narrator puts odd pauses into sentences, which I presume indicate punctuation in the original text. These disturb the delivery of quite a number of sentences, particularly narrated speech, so that I am left having to work out the grammar/attitude/personality in question, rather than having smooth storytelling quality. But Sayers's stories are good, even with this distraction.

Stories good, narration badly paced.

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I love the Dorothy L Sayers Wimsey stories. The short stories don’t have quite the same character as the longer books, but I still enjoy them. However, as other reviewers have said this narrator is dreadful. The stories use a male narrator yet someone chose to use a female to read them. That might work with a top class reader but not this one. Jane McDowell sounds disinterested and doesn’t do anything to bring out the character of the stories. I see with horror that she narrates many of the Wimsey books which I now won’t be buying. No-one could match up to Ian Carmichael’s interpretation of Wimsey, although Edward Petherbridge does a good job, but surely a male narrator could have been found who would do justice to the stories. I’m not being sexist here, I am a woman and am all for equality but a surely when a book uses a man to describe events, a male narrator should be used. Why, oh, why, does she decide to give Charles Parker a badly done regional accent? If he’d been a northern provincial policeman, I’d understand, but he’s a senior officer in the Met, who from the stories has worked in London all his life with no suggestion that he came from anywhere else. Sad that a good book is ruined by the narration. Ms McDowells mispronunciations also spoil enjoyment of the stories. Sadly, she is also the reader of many other detective stories I would otherwise have bought.

Love the stories but dreadful narrator

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I was surprised to find that I so much enjoyed hearing these stories read in a female voice, but the reader has a clear voice and a lovely tone. my only tiny quibble was the regional accent (with its dropped aitches) that she gave to Chief Constable Parker. I can't imagine Wimsey's sister being in the least bit attracted to someone who sounded quite so provincial. On the whole, though, this production is excellent.

Great Stories

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A treat for followers of Lord Peter Wimsey, all the short stories and a short, partial "biography" from his fictional uncle.

The narration is sympathetic and beautifully clear. There are a few slips of pronunciation, but these are few and far between, and don't mar the enjoyment of these cleverly crafted tales from the hero's bachelor days and on through to his later life as a family man.

Highly recommended!

Thoroughly enjoyable tales from the Golden Age

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DLS’s stories are old favourites of mine, read and re-reread many, many, times. These Jane McDowell readings are accurate and the French well rendered but the lady, hard though she tries, has a poor command of the idiomatic. She rather breathlessly renders many phrases with incorrect emphasis. Many an old-fashioned phrase is less than perfectly interpreted. Rehearsal and editing might help. A great pleasure tinged with irritation.

Wonderful story, accurately but poorly rendered.

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