A Presumption of Death

Paton Walsh, Jill; Sayers, Dorothy L

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0754019888 ISBN 13: 9780754019886

Publisher: Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C, 2003

Drawing on the events of "The Wimsey Papers," a tale set during the Blitz in 1940 London finds Lord Peter conducting secret business for the Foreign Office, while Harriet, caring for the family, is shocked by the murder of a young Land Girl.

Review:

Jill Paton Walsh has...given us a Lord Peter story in the true Sayers' style and tradition (Norma Major - The Week on Thrones, Dominations)

A superb job of seamless collaboration. Thrones, Dominations is pure pleasure. (Wall Street Journal ON Thrones, Dominations)

What we have here is a true detective story unambiguously set in the Thirties and written so much in the style of Sayers that the narrative is virtually seamless. We meet familiar friends and old enemies: the dowager duchess, loquacious as usual; the duchess of Denver with her egregious snobbery and disapproval of her new sister-in-law . . . I didn't myself believe that the job could satisfactorily be done, but she has proved me wrong. (P. D. James, Observer)

An engrossing, intelligent and provocative novel in the guise of a conventional mystery. (Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times Book Review)

Jill Paton Walsh has...given us a Lord Peter story in the true Sayers' style and tradition

Could this be the best book Dorothy L. Sayers never wrote? She has done a splendid job - certain to please the legions of Sayers loyalists as well as readers new to the Wimsey canon . . . Lord Peter has been made much more human and interesting by marriage. . . and the story is full of twists and connivance. (Chicago Tribune on THRONES, DOMINATIONS)

Miraculously right: catching precisely the tone of the relationship . . . It comes out splendidly, . . . a thrilling denouement. (Libby Purves, The Times)

A must for all Wimsey lovers...an entertaining read which offers some longed for insight into the lives of the Wimseys after their marriage (Northern Echo (Presumption of Death))

Jill Paton Walsh does a fine job of taking the first third of a difficult novel of mores and manners and turning it into a readable mystery. She also answers an unasked question about Lord Peter and Harriet: Yes, dear readers, they have a lot of sex and they like it. (Globe and Mail, Toronto)

Vintage whimsey ... Wimsey lives on in delicious familiarity in this triupmh not just of one writer's art, but of two (Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Presumption of Death))

Book Description:

Although Sayers never began another Wimsey novel - she did leave clues. A series of letters from members of the Wimsey family published in the Spectator and several short stories. But until now, no one has really known what happened to them all.