Published originally 1927;
this edition 1972 by New English Library
The third book of the Lord Peter Wimsey series
244 pages
ISBN 45001249-2
Grade: 4/5
Will I read more of this author: yes.
Genre: cosy crime
Keyword: murder, women’s place in society, small town community, doctor – nurse relationship, inheritance laws, extended family relationships, detecting; Peter Wimsey,
Lord Peter, amateur detective, and his friend Charles Parker, the police detective, were eating out and discussion detecting, about how it is bad for the reputation of a medical doctor to speak up if a death is suspicious, when they were approached by a young doctor to whom such a thing happened. In a smaller town an elderly woman who suffered from cancer had a slow deterioration in spite of surgery; the patient lived with a niece, but there was also a nurse who took care of her and she got engaged to the doctor. According to the doctor’s story the niece, Mary Whittaker, also a nurse, claimed that the patient complained that the nurse tried to kill her and she was replaced. The niece is convinced the patient is much worse than the doctor estimates; so, when she died, he requested a post mortum which showed no crime committed but asking for post mortum caused a lot of gossip, and bad naming of the doctor and his fiancée, it got so bad that he had to leave his practice. The doctor did not want to reveal the name of town or of the patient, bur Peter promised that he will get in touch within a week.
Peter had established a group of ‘old maids, or spinsters’ to work and detect and ask questions a young man cannot ask. Miss Climpson was one of these women:
‘when I was young, girls didn’t have the education; I should have liked a good education, but my dear father didn’t believe in it for women. Very old-fashioned.’
The book is filled with references to the lack of opportunities available for girls (education wise) and therefore the ability for women to work and earn a living were extremely limited.
Peter got excited about the case, believed it is “the case of cases. The murder without discernible means, or motive or clue.” That lead to a discussion about failed crimes, those that are solved, while nobody knows how many successful crimes are committed, because they are not discovered and solved. Parker is not convinced a crime had been committed. Peter was excited to start this investigation, considered the criminal a mastermind although a dangerous one; although later on he came to believe that his meddling in the case caused unnecessary murders. Peter claimed ‘I shall use up-to-date psychological methods’ to detect.
But to find a motive depends on how deep you dig.
Miss Climpson found the town and the people involved, went there undercover to detect; she was introduced to the community through the church, became friendly with the people around Mary Whittaker. Peter started to look for the two sisters, Bertha and Evelyn, that had worked as servants for the patient, but was fired for what seemed not a real cause. Peter put a notice in the newspaper; but Bertha was murdered before she could contact to Peter. Evelyn had got married and moved to Canada.
There are one more murder of a young woman; there are three attempted murders, on Peter and a lawyer, that had been consulted on the new inheritance laws, as well as Miss Climpton.
A spoiler, the guilty was a woman, Parker believed that, ‘when a woman is wicked and unscrupulous, she is the most ruthless criminal in the world – fifty times worse than a man, because she is always so much more single-minded about it. To that Peter said: they’re not troubled with sentimentality, what’s why.’
I believe that is an untrue generalization, even though it is written by a woman writer (whom I like a lot).
My thoughts:
It is a complicated plot, some of the events are a bit overthought, but the story is fluent and logical; it has an old-fashioned feel to it. I enjoy very much Peter’s babbling about everything and anything. Also, I like the cozy atmosphere of a time past, a period when my grandmother was at her prime and my mother a toddler. We, as women, have come a long way, but there still is a lot to change. I read this series when I was in high school and remember how much I enjoyed them then as I do today; then I read them in English to practice my English for university and medical school. Today I read them just to enjoy, and I do.
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