What comes after all the Wimsey books are done?

[dolorous_ett]

I've been working my way through Dorothy L. Sayers' books recently. I'm about 10 pages off the end of Busman's Honeymoon, which means that I'm about to run out of Lord Peter (who I'll miss) and Harriet (who I'll really miss. The more I read about Harriet, the more I like her, even though I know we're supposed to be more attached to Peter).

So what next? Should I try the Paton Walsh fanfic continuation of the saga? Or should I try some Josephine Tey? Or something else altogether?

Comments

[aella_irene]

Personally, I really disliked the Paton Walsh continuations, and don't reccomend them.

Have you tried Ngaio Marsh?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I've read no Marsh at all, though I've heard of her (?). Would you recommend any particular book?

[aella_irene]

Her. I started with Opening Night, but the first in the series is A Man lay dead, and Artists in Crime is apparently wonderful. I'm not sure that it matters where you start, really.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I really like the sound of Artists in Crime - it sounds just like a Harriet Vane novel! Thank you very much!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Artists in Crime is definitely worth a read. Different from Sayers (more of a police procedural, although hardly by modern standards), and with a nice heroine (pictured).

[dolabellae.livejournal.com]

And if you read it at least two people will know what on earth I'm going on about when I write my Troy and Marjorie crossover.

(talking about it in public will make me write it - that's the theory!)

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, if I'm to understand that crossover, I also need to find out who Troy is...

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

*sends encouragement anyway* It's bound to be a good story, even if I'm not totally au fait with the canon.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

She does look like a nice heroine. I think I should follow this up.

[white_hart]

I was just thinking of asking my FL that question... *makes careful note of answers given to dolorous_ett*

[dolabellae.livejournal.com]

So was I! Isn't LJ synchronicity brilliant?

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

eep. another series that i have t ocatch up to.
and what on earth was yoru current music here? i never heard of that.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I'd strongly recommend the Lord Peter Wimsey stories - they're classics, and rightly so, though I do think the ones towards the end of the series are more fun than some of the earlier ones, which tend to get a bit too bogged down by train timetables and the like.

The music is meant to be a French folk song that Lord Peter sings when happy - but as I'm transcribing it from memory and have no way of putting in the accents on a computer (even if I could remember which way round they go) it may not be a very accurate transcription! Sorry!

[ms-wanderlust.livejournal.com]

What about Striding Folly? There are two short stories in the book, one set on the evening of the birth of Harriet and Peter's first son and the other well into their marriage. Both written by Sayers. They're not in depth, due to their brevity, but are fun all the same.
And I did rather enjoy Thrones, Dominations, which was started by Sayers, and also enjoyed A Presumption of Death which I have on audiobook.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Striding Folly for definite, then. And good to know that the Paton Walsh books aren't a complete washout, as I was just starting to get really into the series, and will need a fix at some time before too long!

[ms-wanderlust.livejournal.com]

There have been a couple of people disagreeing with me about "A Presumption of Death". Fair enough. I've been thinking about it and am not prepared to dismiss it out of hand. However, I am prepared to confess that (as I said earlier) I have only heard it on audiobook and it is read by Edward Petherbridge. That might have something to do with it *sigh*

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

You are allowed to enjoy the things you like, you know! There is no syllabus or canon of permissible books for Livejournal!

I've managed to spedn all my time enjoying Wimsey books without ever knowingly hearing or seeing Edward Petherbridge (though apparently I've seen him perform in a school trip to the theatre, I have absolutely no recollection of it). Still, judging by his influence on others, it sounds like he's a pretty persuasive argument all by himself...

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

aaha. ok. we'l check into that.


oh i c oudl read the french alright. it was just one of those man ycases where i merel ysaw atitleand thought 'ah...so who sings this?"

Off to buy "The Far Side of the World"

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I think Sayers presents the same problem as "the Lord of the Rings". There isn't anything that gives quite the same hit, however good it may be itself. The first JPW sequel is worth a library look (though give yourself a break first, or the disappointment will be too great). I don't think the second is. I agree with ms_wanderlust that the two short stories (The Haunted Policeman and Talboys) are worth a look for amusement, though Sayers short stories are less good than her novels. Even the stories with werecats.

Marsh is a bit of fun, though occasionally painfully of her time (the ones with drug orgies being particularly bananas). I had a go at a Georgette Heyer interwar novel recently and guessed whodunnit on the basis of the author's class prejudices as evident in the text. None of the faux-30s mystery novels are up to a great deal, though some have their merits (I have a post in mind on the subject). On the detective front, have you read James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels? Utterly brilliant writing, and whilst I would not in a million years describe Dave as resembling Peter Wimsey, he is a great character in a fantastic (and to the UK reader) wholly alien setting.

On the something else entirely front, I also mean to do a post about Sigrid Undset's "Kristin Lavransdatter", the anti "Other Boleyn Girl", with a wonderful range of characters and an ending to the trilogy to rival the ending of Busman's Honeymoon (the last three chapters of which I think are so wonderfully bizarre and brilliant). Kristin is the sort of heroine who would nowadays be called feisty, except she isn't - she's brave, selfish, passionate, devout, pious and proud, and surrounded by a host of amazing male characters as well. (A

Oh, and have you read GRRM's vampire novel, "Fevre Dreame"> If you haven't, you really ought to give it a go.

Re: Off to buy "The Far Side of the World"

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I think Sayers presents the same problem as "the Lord of the Rings". There isn't anything that gives quite the same hit, however good it may be itself.

In a way, that's quite reassuring news. It's better to know this in advance, rather than set off on a long and ultimately fruitless search.

I have read neither James Lee Burke nor Sigrid Undset - must give them a whirl - thank you!

And I haven't yet read Fevre Dreame, but I do have a copye on my bookshelfe...

Thank you for some really good ideas!

And I hope you like "The Far Side of the World" - it's one of my personal favourites.

Re: Off to buy "The Far Side of the World"

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I forgot to say, if you think of giving Undset a try, make sure you get the modern Penguin translation by Tiina Nunally - the older one by Charles Someone is awful, full of terrible archaisms and occasional censorship (not that there is much to censor in an interwar Norwegian historical novel).

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

If you'll forgive a complete stranger butting in...

The Sayers Wimsey books have a permanent place on my bookshelves, for re-reading from time to time. The Jill Paton Welsh ones will not be joining them: I thought Thrones Dominions was not bad, and it was after all founded on DLS drafts and notes. The second book did not impress; I don't think I even finished reading it.

Ngaio Marsh is certainly worth trying. Roderick Alleyn is an upper-class sleuth of the same period, the difference being that he is a professional; in the course of the series he meets, and eventually marries, an artist (Troy), who is - like Harriet Vane - a well-developed and distinctive character. Artists in Crime (in which they meet) and Clutch of Constables might be a good place to start.

But what else to suggest? Oxford somehow seems to lend itself to a whimsical take on crime rather more convincingly than Cambridge, and Edmund Crispin's The Moving Toyshop is great fun. (We were talking about Crispin over on altariel's blog recently; there are several other recommendable Crispin novels, though The Gilded Fly is best avoided.)

Michael Innes (an Oxford don) chose to invent a university town for Death at the President's Lodging; if you like your crime with the odd literary allusion, that or Hamlet, Revenge would be worth trying.

Josephine Tey is another recommendable author in the same vein, who sadly wrote too little. The Daughter of Time is almost a serious piece of historiography (did Richard III murder the Princes in the Tower?) in the form of a crime novel; The Man in the Queue, The Singing Sands and To Love and be Wise are more conventional crime stories (though does the last of these actually involve a crime?)

I suppose the modern equivalent of these authors from the "golden age of crime" would be P.D. James - but I shall be interested to see if there are any other current authors recommended in this thread.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Not at all - charmed to make your aquaintance!

Marsh and Tey both sound like good news - must definitely give them a try. I'd try any book called A Clutch of Constables on the basis of the name alone! And I'm intrigued by the idea of an invented university town in the Innes books...

Personally, I'm less enthusiastic about P.D. James - though I very much liked Devices and Desires, I overdosed on her less good books after reading it, with the result that I feel I know rather more than I should about her preoccupations, in a way that's uneasy-making rather than charming. If you know what I mean?