From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (Lord Peter Wimsey, #5)

Dorothy L. Sayers

Start date: September 15, 2025

Finish date: October 6, 2025

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: Continuing our buddy reads of this classic series.
[close] Continuing our buddy reads of this classic series.

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What Members Thought

Nov 17, 2019 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mount-tbr-2019, audionovel, british-mystery, vintage-mystery, mystery

My haphazard rereading (listening) of the detective novels of Dorothy L. Sayers continues. This week's installment is The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928). One really must admire the British sangfroid which calls the death of a club member (which proves ultimately to be murder) "unpleasantness." I have, of course, read Sayers's novels many times--most recently here on the Block in 2011 for the As My Whimsy Takes Me reading challenge. At that time I read the books featuring Lord Peter Wi My haphazard rereading (listening) of the detective novels of Dorothy L. Sayers continues. This week's installment is The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928). One really must admire the British sangfroid which calls the death of a club member (which proves ultimately to be murder) "unpleasantness." I have, of course, read Sayers's novels many times--most recently here on the Block in 2011 for the As My Whimsy Takes Me reading challenge. At that time I read the books featuring Lord Peter Wimsey in published order...this time I really have taken them on "as my whimsy takes me." And my whimsy decided that it was time to sit down and listen to Ian Carmichael read to me about the death of General Fentiman again.

My previous review (see link above) gives details on the heart of the matter. At its most basic, it is a pretty standard plot with a pretty common motive--greed. Two elderly people have died and depending on who died when, somebody is going to very wealthy. At first, Lord Peter is merely asked to try and find out who died first--General Fentiman or his sister Lady Dormer. It soon becomes clear that some highly unpleasant shenanigans have been employed to mystify the times of the death. But that isn't all. Somebody has been even more unpleasant and rushed the General to his final reward. But who? And how?

It is always a delight to listen to Ian Carmichael read the works of Sayers. He was very invested in the characters--he had, in fact, tried very hard to get someone to film the books much earlier the 1970s (when he was, truth be told, just a bit too old for the part of the younger Wimsey. The Ian Carmichael of the 1950s would have been perfect--especially for the early books where he is a bit more "Bertie Woosterish with brains."). With this one slightly more full of gentlemen than some of the other books, Carmichael uses his full powers to give a different sound and quality to each speaker to help the listener keep everything straight. Another fine reading performance by a fine actor.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting any review content. Thanks. ...more

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Sep 24, 2018 Teri-K rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-golden-age

I've enjoyed this series for decades, but for quite a while now I thought I didn't like this particular book, so I always skipped it when rereading them. However, I needed to read several books that begin with "U" so I decided to bite the bullet - and it turns out I thoroughly enjoyed this! In fact I thought it was fun, with a number of twists and turns that had me thinking of a caper novel or even a farce.

The plot sounds straightforward - a very old man dies at his club on Armistice Day and Wi ...more

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Jan 05, 2022 Ruskoley rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, 1920s

I really enjoy reading Lord Peter, as many readers through the decades have said, I'm sure. So, spending time with him as he goes around and harasses and cajoles and banters with other characters is always time well-spent.

However, this story was a bit of a mess. I mean, I think Sayers really wrote a complicated plot, but it was so complicated over nothing, I think. Or, over-complicated. Or it just went on way too long.

There are some really fun moments - Peter at the Bellona Club, the scenes wit ...more

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Apr 20, 2018 Paperbackreader rated it it was ok

Shelves: all-collections, read-but-unowned, british, classic, mystery, detective, lord-peter-wimsey

For me, it is hard to enjoy a mystery when I do not like any of the leading characters. I disliked a majority of the characters in "The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club". Major Robert Fentiman, Captain George Fentiman, Ann Dorland, none of them caught my fancy. In Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, I am never sure about the attitude Sayers takes with the perpetrators. This book in particular left me feeling rather ambiguous about the final fate of the offender. I do not claim to be a great f ...more

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Mar 19, 2014 Christine PNW rated it liked it · review of another edition

48/150

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Sep 09, 2019 Zander rated it liked it

This is a rather boring entry with a plot where not a lot happens. It was pretty clear to me who was murdered and by whom and the ending was the kind that never actually happens. There were lots of red herring that weren't believable and of course people being stupid and leading to more confusion. ...more

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