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    Clouds Of Witness: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery
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    Clouds Of Witness: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery
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    Clouds Of Witness: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery
    Ebook327 pages4 hours

    Clouds Of Witness: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery

    By Dorothy L. Sayers

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    When Lord Peter Wimsey’s future brother-in-law, Captain Denis Cathcart, is found dead, Wimsey must apply all of his detective skills to proving his brother, Gerald, innocent of the murder.

    Clouds of Witness is the second title in the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series.

    HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 17, 2015
    ISBN9781443444477
    Unavailable
    Clouds Of Witness: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery
    Author

    Dorothy L. Sayers

    Simon Winchester is the acclaimed author of many books, including The Professor and the Madman, The Men Who United the States, The Map That Changed the World, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and Krakatoa, all of which were New York Times bestsellers and appeared on numerous best and notable lists. In 2006, Winchester was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen. He resides in western Massachusetts.

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    Reviews for Clouds Of Witness

    4/5

    48 ratings53 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The second in Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series. He's still clever, yet Woosterish at times, and he comes to the wrong conclusion more than once before hitting on the solution. To begin, Lord Peter's future brother-in-law is found dead of a gunshot wound to the chest on the family premises; Peter's brother, the Duke, is suspected and arrested, but will say nothing in his own defense. Their sister, the dead man's fiance, begins acting very strangely, shuts herself in her room, and refuses all attentions. There is evidence at the scene that another person, identity unknown, was present on the night in question. Theoretically, this being a Golden Age mystery and Sayers being very particular about the fairness doctrine, the reader should be able to pick up all the necessary clues to solve the case. I quibble. When Lord Peter takes off for Paris, and then for America, to follow up his brainstorm (which is NOT totally shared with the reader), I could certainly see how he came to his deduction, but I could not make the deduction myself. Maybe I just need more practice. I enjoyed this one very much up to a point, and then I got a bit impatient for the reveal. I think there was one too many red herrings in the pot.
    • 3/5
      I'd read some of Sayers' lit. crit, but this was my first of her mysteries. I just felt it was too easy to see where this was going. The one really effective red herring falls apart half way through and then it's just a gradual unravel. I wasn't even convinced that the resolution was clearly inevitable from the clues provided. At one point there is a physical implausibility that seems to be sheer carelessness by the author. I'll read more by Sayers and hope they are better.
    • 3/5
      I continue to stumble my way through Golden Age mysteries in an attempt to understand what so many other readers enjoy in them. So far, my only real success has been with Gladys Mitchell's Mrs. Bradley, but I am determined to emerge triumphant with Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey. I have to admit that it's been a bit of a hard slog. Perhaps I should just jump ahead to the book in which Harriet Vane makes her appearance?The largest part of Lord Peter's investigation in Clouds of Witness seemed to be crawling around on the floor staring at the carpet, and I was about ready to admit defeat when Wimsey's sister finally decided to tell the truth. Then the mystery really began to get somewhere. I am glad that I soldiered on to the end because I do see glimmers of what this series will be in snippets of conversation between characters, and that "lost in the fog in the bog" scene is marvelous. I do enjoy historical mysteries, but I am most definitely a 21st-century reader, so I do sometimes doubt the wisdom behind my dabbling into these fabled waters... but it is for the very reason that these mysteries are fabled that I can't leave them alone!
    • 3/5
      Clouds of Witness was chosen as the book for the month for my mystery book club. This book is the first one that I have read by Sayers, and while the story was all right it was not a favorite of mine. However hearing other opinions at our meeting, it was said that there were other books in the series that were better and not to base this series on this one book. The mystery in the book was one the reader would definitely have trouble solving. There are many twists and turns however the ending came out of left field for me. I enjoyed the characters of Bunter and Parker and found Peter to be the most enjoyable of his family members. Clouds of Witness was a nice read however I am not sure I would have chosen it on my own.
    • 5/5
      Another wonderful title by Sayers and not to be missed.
    • 3/5
      Holds up better than the first book in the series. The characters are getting more depth to them now. The first couple of chapters are a bit dry as they're done in the form of court reporters. Once we get into first person viewpoints, it works a lot better.
    • 2/5
      Way too much writing in dialect. I recognize the urge to represent speech as an extension of character, but: why not leave some room for the imagination? Obviously an early entry in the series, Sayers still finding her feet as a mystery writer and possibly tossing off however many pages of hyperactive/manic camp because mysteries are what she wrote to make money. Happy for her gradual move away from preciousness and towards thoughtfulness in her later writing. The contrast between Clouds of Witness and Gaudy Night is almost shocking.
    • 5/5
      The plot is absurdly complicated, amusingly so. There are no end of intrigues in the country house where the murder takes place.

      But that's not the joy of reading a Sayers' novel: the pleasure is all in the humor. Wimsey acting a fool, Bunter's magical ability to produce anything needed, Mary's good heart, and the Dowager's formidable control of everything. It's Downton Abbey written by Oscar Wilde.

      Personal copy
    • 5/5
      I love Lord Peter Wimsey, he has an incredible sense of wrong and right, of honor and love of family. He finds that his brother has been accused of murder and jailed. Lord Peter drops everything and rushes to investigate. His brother refuses to talk,so he does it his way. This is a true British mystery which I love.***I received this book in exchange for an honest review***
    • 4/5
      Lord Peter's family is thrown into suspicion when his brother is accused of murder. The Duke of Denver is obstinate in his refusal to defend himself. Lord Peter tries to unravel the case. He finds multiple infidelities and secret affairs. Much of this book shows Wimsey interacting with his family. The book takes place at the family estate. Wimsey is delightfully snarky when dealing with his relations. Several of the chapters of this book are written as transcripts of newspaper articles or courtroom testimony, and I found that format to be somewhat tedious. I definitely prefer straight narrative. This is not my favorite Wimsey book, but lesser Sayers is still greater than many other options.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this more than 'Whose Body', maybe because I liked Lord Peter Wimsey better here (he was too flippant and silly in the other one for my taste). The characters were intriguing and one felt interested in their fates; the unfolding of the story and clues were good and I enjoyed much of the book. Unfortunately, I personally didn't feel very satisfied at the conclusion/solution--there were so many threads and possibilities, that what turned out to be the truth seemed anticlimactic.
    • 4/5
      Another great one. Beautiful language!
    • 4/5
      The second in the series, with a much better paced plot and clues. Lord Peter's brother, Gerald, is charged with the murder of Denis Cathcart, who is engaged to marry Lady Mary, sister to Gerald and Peter. Gerald and Mary appear to have discovered the body at the same moment in the middle of the night, but each seems to have something to hide which prevents them from telling the truth. More of a detective story, with less humour and sadly less of Bunter than the first, but a satisfactory ending.
    • 4/5
      Lord Peter Wimsey's older brother has just been arrested for murdering his sister's fiancee, whose body was found in the family ancestral home. Lord Peter shows up to find that his brother isn't cooperating with the police and his sister's version of the night doesn't hold up under scrutiny. With little help from his family, Lord Peter, manservant Bunter and police friend Parker have to piece together the dead man's past and childish Lady Mary's movements on the night he died.This is my second Lord Peter book, the first being Lord Peter Views the Body a few years ago. It's interesting and often funny, and the clues and red herrings abound. I know there was a time when the upper class English thought it hip to drop their "g"s to sound like hillbillies, I guess, but Lord Peter can barely get a complete word out, and it's kind of annoying to read a sentences filled with apostrophes. But a good mystery that went on slightly too long.
    • 3/5
      I fear I might have been really lucky with Gaudy Night (which I think is a masterpiece). Sayers has been disappointing ever since I started to read Peter in order. Oh well. I'll keep on reading and see if it gets better.
      The story's fairly good but the writing is incredibly heavy and the pacing is wrong - it's way too slow. I also was relatively indifferent to all the characters, which didn't help. Some funny moments mostly to do with Peter's personality but all in all frankly a bit of a bore.
    • 4/5
      A re-read, probably several times over. In this, Peter is called upon to investigate another murder, although this one involves his brother as suspect. The body of Lady Mary's fiance is found in the conservatory of the shooting lodge, with the duke bending over him, Mary leaps to the obvious (and wrong) conclusion, that Gerald did it. From there, it all goes downhill fast for Gerald, who refuses to say what he was doing. It all falls on Peter and Charles Parker to unravel the various mysteries that have enmeshed themselves around the 3 am discovery. Some fabulous side characters in this, although the level of co-incidence is markedly high. Peter discovers who did what and how, as usual, but it's a close run thing.
    • 5/5
      This is probably my second favorite of the Wimsey novels, after Murder Must Advertise, particularly for the trial before the House of Lords --a tradition now ended by later legal reform.
    • 4/5
      Clouds of Witness is wonderful. I was in the mood for a lovely mystery. This one seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

      I've decided to read these in order they appear on Goodreads. I liked Lord Peter Wimsey in Whose Body? and I loved him here. Not much has changed in this book. His quirks work so well in his world.

      In Clouds of Witness he is trying to save his brother (the Duke) who has been accused of murder. From their estate to Paris and back, from England to somewhere very far away, through the dangers of the moor and strange situations involving unexpectedly violent farmers, the Duke's side has their hands full. Lord Peter Wimsey, Bunter and Parker tirelessly work to find what exactly happened that night. The resolution is perfect.
      I found Peter's sister annoying as hell, but I guess certain things can be forgiven under the circumstances.

      Beside Lord Peter Wimsey, Bunter and Parker, one of my favourite characters ever is the Dowager Duchess.'My dear child, you can give it a long name if you like, but I'm an old-fashioned woman and I call it mother-wit, and it's so rare for a man to have it that if he does you write a book about him and call him Sherlock Holmes.' I'll avoid quoting half of the book, but its greatest strength is the humour. Some of it is profound, some ordinary, but it is never dull.
    • 3/5
      A true comfort read--or rather, re-read.
    • 4/5
      Lord Peter Wimsey sets about to clear his brother's name, the Duke of Denver when he is accused of murdering his future brother-in-law. A bit easier to follow than Whose Body?
    • 5/5
      I'd forgotten how much fun this was.
    • 4/5
      Wimsey is set to save his brother accused of murder. A series of coincidences - and bad behaviour - intermingle as the accused refuses to speak up. Sayers is witty and fun; she also has a real knack for accents. Her characters are lively and the plot is entertaining.A lovely read to relax
    • 4/5
      Red herring after red herring, and I have to admit that I wasn't really 100% convinced that the Duke didn't do it in the end, for all of Sir Impy Biggs' impressive summing up.
    • 4/5
      Another highly entertaining Wimsey mystery. Just the ticket after a(nother) crazy week in 2020 ... While I've read a few of the Wimsey tales out of order, I've now started to try and read them in order so I can get a better sense of the character development.
    • 4/5
      A vacationing Lord Peter Wimsey races to join his family at Riddlesdale Lodge in Yorkshire as soon as he learns of a family crisis. Wimsey’s elder brother, Gerald, the Duke of Denver, stands accused of the murder of their sister Mary’s fiance. Both Gerald and Mary appear to be hiding something. Wimsey’s friend, Detective-Inspector Charles Parker, is on the case and he looks forward to Wimsey’s assistance. With the aid of Wimsey’s man, Bunter, Parker and Wimsey race against the looming trial deadline to uncover the truth of what happened on that fateful night.The best parts of the book are in Wimsey’s voice, which sparkles with wit. However, the book loses momentum in long information dumps. I look forward to seeing more of Wimsey’s mother, the dowager duchess. If Sayers were writing today instead of nearly 100 years ago, the dowager duchess might have been the detective instead of her son.
    • 4/5
      The second Lord Peter Wimsey book. Lord Peter returns from Corsica to find his brother, the Duke of Denver, charged with the murder of his sister's fiance. There are numerous sub plots and the denouement, the trial of the Duke in the House of Lords (his peers) gets a little bogged down in procedure and legal argument. However, though not the best Dorothy Sayers outing, it's still a very enjoyable read and gives more insight into Peter's family background.
    • 5/5
      Sayers brings real comedy, history, and her Oxford training in languages to her inevitable detective stories. Dickensian names: Lord Peter Wimsey, lawyer Sir Impey Biggs (a handsome, big imp), opposing attorney general Lord Wigmore (in full wig). Mr Murbles, the senior lawyer, says " ‘Brilliant man, Sir Impey. He is defending Truth.’ Lord Peter, ‘Astonishin’ position for a lawyer, what?’ Mr Murbles acknowledged the pleasantry…’”(164).First heard this book aloud decades ago, by my wife, so I had not grasped all the wit, though I knew the plot was multiple, at least three affairs with three different couples all converging to one crime, of which the detective’s older brother, the Duke of Denver, stands accused. The Duke reserves his alibi which would compromise a married woman—perfect gentlemanly act which increases the difficulties of his defenders, including his detective brother (whose interests the Duke disapproves—incunabula and crime rather than football). Sayers gives us an intricate plot, with its culmination a long letter in French written by the victim the day of his murder. Lord Peter Wimsey has to go to the US by steamship to find it, and when he does, he flies back in a 1920’s plane, flimsy, the famous pilot’s jacket covered in rain. Flying through ravaging storm and fog, Wimsey’s arrival in doubt, his butler Bunter resolves to set a fire in his bedroom, hopeful.From our yearly visits to England, but perhaps more from watching TV mysteries like Midsommer and Father Brown, we have personal experience of much in this novel. Further, I have a coat that my British-resident friend asked if a Burberry. No, a wax-coated LL Bean, but… We “musn’t rest upon our oars” takes me back to college freshman crew on the Connecticut River (169). Also, my wife and I have had one cup of hot chocolate, with a jigger of brandy, every evening for over a decade. Our preferred brandy is Portuguese, not the priceless 1800 Napoleon served in Lord Peter’s house near Piccadilly.Many characters here are witty, including butler Bunter’s mother, who says, “facts are like cows. You look them in the face hard enough, they generally run away”(79). Lord Peter later informs his butler, “Well-bred English people never have imagination, Bunter.” “Certainly not, my lord. I meant nothing disparaging.”(175)Scotland Yard, headed by a Scot, and a crossword solution in Scottish, never spelled out for me. Broad Yorkshire dialect as well, as in the Yorkshire “national” anthem, “On Ilkley Moor Bat’ at,” quoted in, “Then doocks will coom an’ ate pop worms/ On Ilkla Moor…” (196).Be prepared for many un-American, British words: “widdershins” “gaiters”, and words like “loofah” which I had to search, evidently an organic sponge grown from a gourd—even in California.The real title should be “Cloud of Witnesses,” which appears late in the novel (258), but Sayers must have preferred the sound of both -s endings.Sayers considered her Divina Commedia translation to be her best work, in Dante's prosody,hendecasyllabic terza rima.
    • 4/5
      Members of Lord Peter Wimsey's family become suspect when a dead body is found at a hunting lodge in Yorkshire, and a charge of murder is quickly brought against Peter's brother, the Duke of Denver. Lots of humor and an intriguing mystery all in one book. Recommended.
    • 5/5
      2020 reread via audiobook narrated by Ian Carmichael:I can understand why this 2nd Lord Peter Wimsey book isn't a 5* for others - my love for it stems partly from the fact that this is the book that introduced me to Lord Peter and Sayers. Even without that sentimental reason, there are several aspects of this book which appeal to me - the involvement of Lord Peter's family, the brief look at English socialism/communism in the 1920s, the excitement of the Lord Peter's near escape from death in a bog, etc.Ian Carmichael gives a great narration.
    • 5/5
      In this episode, Peter and Bunter rush home from Corsica when they receive news the Peter's elder brother the Duke of Denver has been arrested for the murder of Peter's sister Mary's fiance Denis Cathcart.Peter finds the situation very complicated. The duke has no alibi for the time of the murder that he is willing to share. His sister Mary is lying about something. And there are mysterious footprints around the scene of the crime that don't belong to any of the people staying at the house when the murder was committed. Peter, Bunter, and Peter's friend Parker need to find out the truth about Denis Cathcart's death before the duke can be tried in front of a jury of his peers. As the busily try to track down the owner of the mysterious footprints, unravel Mary's series of lies, and investigate Cathcart's path they discover a number of secrets that all of them hold. The story was fast-paced and filled with interesting characters. I am becoming a huge fan of Bunter who manages to save Peter's life in this one. I'm also curious to know if Parker's relationship with Lady Mary has any sort of future. Peter, as always, is an entertaining and intriguing character.