MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Mystery and Crime Sayers, Dorothy L: Whose Body? v.1, 15 Nov 2007.

Patricia · 11-14-2007, 07:38 PM

A Golden Age crime novel.
First published in 1923, this is the first of the Lord Peter Wimsey detective stories, and the only one out of copyright.

A body is discovered in an architect’s flat. The corpse is in the bath, wearing nothing but a pair of pince-nez. A Jewish financier is missing. Could the body be his? If not, then whose it it?

One would imagine that a quick look at the corpse would establish whether it might be that of a Jewish man. Apparently Dorothy Sayers had intended Lord Peter to notice that the body was uncircumcised, while the dim Inspector Sugg didn’t think of looking. However, the publisher refused to countenance such indelicacy, so this obvious detail is not mentioned.

11-14-2007, 07:38 PM	#1
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	Sayers, Dorothy L: Whose Body? v.1, 15 Nov 2007. A Golden Age crime novel. First published in 1923, this is the first of the Lord Peter Wimsey detective stories, and the only one out of copyright. A body is discovered in an architect’s flat. The corpse is in the bath, wearing nothing but a pair of pince-nez. A Jewish financier is missing. Could the body be his? If not, then whose it it? One would imagine that a quick look at the corpse would establish whether it might be that of a Jewish man. Apparently Dorothy Sayers had intended Lord Peter to notice that the body was uncircumcised, while the dim Inspector Sugg didn’t think of looking. However, the publisher refused to countenance such indelicacy, so this obvious detail is not mentioned.