From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Unnatural Death (Lord Peter Wimsey, #3)

Dorothy L. Sayers

Start date: April 15, 2025

Finish date: May 7, 2016

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: For all our Wimsey fans
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What Members Thought

Apr 15, 2014 Jan C rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, library, 2014, audio, 2017, england, hot-read, rtd-2016-sayers-challenge

Found the audio copy of this at the library waiting for me to go to North Carolina.

Enjoyable. Made the miles fly by.

While this was my 6th reading of this book, I apparently forgot the conclusion or the killer.

I was driving along trying to figure it out when the light bulb went off.

11 likes · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2015 Teri-K rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery-golden-age, historical-mystery, great-to-re-read

This is a transitional book in the series. Whimsey is moving away from being the idiot in the first two books to a more balanced character. We still get a lot of SI Parker and Miss Climpson, which I like. The mystery is interesting and builds nicely with a variety of characters. There is a little inappropriate treatment of minorities, as you will find in many books from earlier periods. The cause of death amazes Whimsey and Parker but not the modern reader who's seen it before. Still, if you lik ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 08, 2019 Zander rated it liked it

The whole mystery and a lot of deaths and near deaths could have been avoided by Wimsey seeing in person or even having a photograph of the suspected murderer. Starting a story already knowing who the murderer mostly is means the rest of the story has to be quite interesting in the how and the why. The why never really seems believable to me while the how is possible but not as easy as they claim in the story and they got the veins wrong. I also didn't like the "kill your queers" trope. While th ...more

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Feb 07, 2017 Ruskoley rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, book-3

The plot was difficult and messy. I got tired of it early on. However, Wimsey is so fascinating that you have to read on. Plus, Sayers has these sneaky little lines here and there that catch the reader and see if he is paying attention.

I think Sayers does keep a good balance between the ugliness of crime and the wit and humor needed to chase criminals down.

Much has been made of the many female characters in this novel. I do feel that it was a concerted effort by the author to examine the manner ...more

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Jul 08, 2020 Nanosynergy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series, mysteries-thrillers-espionage, fiction, british, fiction-1920s, 2020read

Enjoyable mystery from 1927. Be warned, it does contain material of its time on women and people of color. But at the same time, Sayers seems to attempt to try to be progressive on several things.

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 15, 2013 Ruth rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery

Simply brilliant. A lovely treatment of a solid mystery. I kudo its modernity (having a lesbian couple featured) and I kudo it twice as much for not making a big ole fuss about it. I've seen some whining about the West Indian priest and complaining about the "black guy" being the natural suspect, but frankly that's just hooey. None of the prime characters suspected him, as a matter of fact they all specifically touted his innocence.

I have to admit though sometimes I can't decide if there is cha ...more

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