A Presumption of Death (Lord Peter Wimsey): A Gripping World War II Murder Mystery

Jill Paton Walsh; Dorothy L Sayers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1444792911 ISBN 13: 9781444792911

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 2014

In A Presumption of Death, Jill Paton Walsh tells how World War II changed the lives of Peter, Harriet and their growing family.

The story opens in 1940. Harriet Vane - now Lady Peter Wimsey - has taken her children to safety in the country. But the war has followed them: glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalise the villagers; the blackout makes the night-time lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London. Then the village's first air raid practise ends with a very real body on the ground - not a war casualty but a case of plain, old-fashioned murder. And even before the second body is found, Lord Peter Wimsey and his brilliant wife are on their way to finding the killer.

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 An engrossing, intelligent and provocative novel in the guise of a conventional mystery. - Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times Book Review 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 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 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 An admirable page-turner with some fascinating detail - Publishing News

Book Description:

Return to a golden age of glamour, murder and intrigue. An exciting high profile relaunch with a beautiful new package for one of our best-loved detective story writers.