More of Lord Peter and Dorothy Sayers

The copy of these books that I read was combined, so why not review them in the same post?

Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers
reviewed by Sarah
Start: Aug 13
Finish: Aug 14
Star Rating: As once said by someone whom I can sypathise with named Sam Goldwyn, "I read part of it all the way through." Therefore, I don't feel a star rating entirely fair.
"Movie" rating: As I didn't read the whole thing, I can't really say.

(Here Lord Peter Wimsey told the Sergeant what he was to look for and why, but as the intelligent reader will readily supply these details for himself, they are omitted from this page.)

This book was more of a puzzle for Detective/Mystery Novel Readers and People Who love to Solve Things. And I am not a Detective Novel Reader. I'm not in it for the Detecting, I'm in it for Lord Peter Being Funny While Detecting.

As you might guess from the title, this was a mystery which had Six Suspects--one was the Murderer, and the others were Red Herrings. WhoDunnIt? Figure it out as you read a couple hundred pages of why you can't prove that any of these guys did it!

Or skip to the end.

So, I read about the first 60 or so pages, and the last 60 or so pages. I got the mystery, and the very entertaining conclusion to the whole thing. I found the blank page where the reader was allowed to be smart Rather Frustrating. I don't mind being allowed to be smart, but I don't like being told that "intelligent readers will readily supply these details for himself" and then not be able to supply the details for myself. This implies that I'm Not Intelligent. I resent that implication. I think it much more accurate to say, not that I'm an Unintelligent reader, but rather a Lazy one. Knowing what we were supposed to pick up on, I think that if I had at the time felt the inclination--or, more specifically, if I weren't actually Rather Lazy--I would have gone back and read the whole scene over again looking for clues and perhaps even picked up on it.

But I didn't.

Instead I just kept reading for a bit, gave up, and read the end. Call me whatever you want, but I enjoyed reading the book this way. Since the only reason I'm reading these books is For My Enjoyment, I don't see that there can really be any problem.


Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers
reviewed by Sarah
Start: Aug 14
Finish: Aug 15
Star Rating: You know, I really really enjoyed this. So, while there were some flaws and things I didn't like, I'm actually going to give it nine stars. *********
Movie Rating: PG-13

"But you mustn't knock butter. They sell butter as well."

"Oh!"

"You can say it's as good as butter."

"But in that case," objected Mr. Bredon, "what does one find to say in favour of butter? I mean, if the other stuff's as good and doesn't cost so much, whats the argument for buying butter?"

"You don't need an argument for buying butter. It's a natural, human instinct."

Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey. Younger son of a Duke, hasn't worked a day of his life. Working For an advertising firm. Which, might I add, is a profession he is rather well suited to. And of course he drops the title, and he becomes the clever and rather well dressed Mr. Death Bredon, the new copy-writer at Pym's Publicity. What does this mean? Well, I'll tell you. HILARIOUSNESS.

This book was less of a puzzle than Five Red Herrings. Therefore it didn't make me feel Unintelligent. I rather like it when a book lets me feel Intelligent, even if I'm not particularly. (However, I might just add that its even worse when a book insults your intelligence. Just because its called "Juvenile" or "Young Adult" doesn't mean you have to be all condecending *climbs off soap-box*)

I really enjoyed the Bredon!Wimsey and the sort of busy, gossipy, friendly atmosphere of Pym's. Harlequin!Wimsey was less entertaining, but also less priminent and therefore we didn't really see much of him. :-D

So, whats next? I'm hoping to see more of Harriet, and Soon.