{"id":15815,"date":"2021-09-30T19:53:37","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T23:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=15815"},"modified":"2021-09-30T19:53:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T23:53:37","slug":"clouds-of-witness-by-dorothy-l-sayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=15815","title":{"rendered":"‘Clouds of Witness,’ by Dorothy L. Sayers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is possible, my lord, if your lordship will excuse my saying so, that the liveliness of your lordship\u2019s manner may be misleading to persons of limited\u2014\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBe careful, Bunter!\u201d<\/p>

\u201cLimited imagination, my lord.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWell-bred English people never have imagination, Bunter.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cCertainly not, my lord. I meant nothing disparaging.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I was first introduced<\/strong> to Lord Peter Wimsey through the BBC production of Clouds of Witness<\/a><\/em> (the subject, in its book form, of this review) broadcast on Masterpiece Theatre back in 1973, with the irresistible Ian Carmichael starring. (He didn\u2019t actually resemble the character described in the books, but once seen, he\u2019s impossible to get rid of.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clouds of <\/em>Witness is one of those stories where coincidence and withheld information combine to confuse a fairly simple problem. Lord Peter Wimsey is in Paris, on his way home from a holiday in Corsica, when he learns that his brother Gerald, Duke of Denver, has been arrested for murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fatal events occurred at a hunting lodge in Yorkshire, where the duke and his family and friends were staying. Denis Cathcart, a slightly-too-smooth young gentleman to whom Peter\u2019s sister Mary is engaged, is discovered in the early hours of the morning, shot to death outside the conservatory. Sir Gerald is standing over him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary claims she was awakened by a gunshot, which is a lie, since the shot had been fired more than an hour earlier. Gerald refuses to explain what he was doing outside at that hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sir Gerald\u2019s lawyer, at his client\u2019s wishes, plans to base his defense on reasonable doubt; the gunshot wound could reasonably have been self-inflicted. But Lord Peter, when he shows up, is determined to get past the intersecting lies and discover what really happened. The true murderer must not be allowed to escape. The investigation will lead him to be shot at, to nearly drown in a Yorkshire bog, and to risk his life on a trans-Atlantic airplane flight in a storm (this story is set in 1920, you must remember).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clouds of Witness<\/em> is not Dorothy Sayers at the height of her powers, but it\u2019s a fascinating and original detective problem, enjoyable and well worth reading. I particularly enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek descriptions of the English nobility and their quaint customs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt is possible, my lord, if your lordship will excuse my saying so, that the liveliness of your lordship\u2019s manner may be misleading to persons of limited\u2014\u201d \u201cBe careful, Bunter!\u201d \u201cLimited imagination, my lord.\u201d \u201cWell-bred English people never have imagination, Bunter.\u201d \u201cCertainly not, my lord. I meant nothing disparaging.\u201d I was first introduced to Lord … Continue reading ‘Clouds of Witness,’ by Dorothy L. Sayers<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,15],"tags":[3876,3874,1704],"class_list":["post-15815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-reviews","tag-clouds-of-witness","tag-dorothy-l-sayers","tag-lord-peter-wimsey"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15815"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15817,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15815\/revisions\/15817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}