AWFUL! I've not read any of the Wimsey stories, so after starting a re-read of Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham, I decided to try Sayers. Both the other two had dire debuts, but this one was SO MUCH WORSE. For nearly the whole first half, it's OBSESSED with the fact that the missing man is "A Jew" "A Hebrew", "Jewish" "a Semite" etc, etc. The overwhelming frequency of comments like "I’m sure some Jews are very good people" (Dowager) "A good Jew can be a good man" (Bunter) is distracting and annoying. Throw in the "hero" describing someone as a "man with a face like a fish, keeps on sayin’ nuthin’—got the Tarbaby(!!!) in his family tree, I should think", and the book became barely readable.

Allingham's early Campion stories are often described as Wimsey ripoffs, but Wimsey himself seems like a parody in this one. I will try a couple more, both to give Sayers a chance to improve and because after a start this bad, the words of Yazz spring to mind "the only way is up". 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.