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Lord Peter Wimsey: The Complete Short Stories

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Lord Peter Wimsey: The Complete Short Stories

By: Dorothy L. Sayers
Narrated by: Jane McDowell
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About this listen

Discover Dorothy L. Sayers' inimitable Golden Age detective in this complete collection of the complete Lord Peter Wimsey stories, together in one volume for the first time.

Presented in chronological order, these short stories see Lord Peter Wimsey bringing his trademark wit and unique detection skills to all manner of mysteries. From poisoned port to murder in fancy dress, Wimsey draws on his many skills - including his expertise in fine wine and appreciation of fine art - to solve cases far and wide, some even taking him to foreign countries and unexpected hiding places in pursuit of miscreants and murderers.

Containing 21 stories taken from Lord Peter Views the Body, Hangman's Holiday, In the Teeth of the Evidence and Striding Folly, now published together for the first time in one volume, this is the ultimate collection for fans of classic detective fiction and Dorothy L. Sayers.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1928 Dorothy L Sayers (P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Anthologies & Short Stories Crime Fiction Detective Mystery Traditional Detectives Fiction Crime Murder Short Story

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Critic reviews

"She brought to the detective novel originality, intelligence, energy and wit." (P. D. James)
All stars
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The best I can say is that Jeeves and Wooster have aged much better than Lord Peter Wimsey.

The difficulty for the modern reader is to see past the class-entitlement, misogyny and overt racism that were totally acceptable when Dorothy L. Sayers wrote these short stories. I'm not one for trying to impose twenty first century standards on older books, and usually enjoy them is the spirit in which they were written, but Lord Peter does not have any of the endearing character that the likes of Bertie Wooster does.

The narration fails to bring the different characters to life and give them personality - which makes Lord Peter even more unlikeable.

Sadly Dated.

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Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Very strange delivery by McDowell. Made me think of the Turing test and whether she would pass. Good for insomnia. Very disappointing.

What did you like best about this story?

Reading it for myself.

Would you be willing to try another one of Jane McDowell’s performances?

Not in a fit!

Was Lord Peter Wimsey: The Complete Short Stories worth the listening time?

Nope.

Any additional comments?

Nope.

Robotic Wimsey

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Someone reading without knowing how to read out pounds, shillings and pence (the Macawber quote from Dickens), Blackguard (should be "blaggard") and a few other grating examples. I will be avoiding the rest of her narration work.

Narration a bit duff

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I got the dramatise books and really enjoyed them so thought I'd give this a go. Hard going listening to the monotonous narration. Wish they'd re-record the series and use someone else who is capable of using different tones and accents to differentiate characters.

monotonous narration, good story spoilt by reader

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I was surprised to find that I so much enjoyed hearing these stories read in a female voice, but the reader has a clear voice and a lovely tone. my only tiny quibble was the regional accent (with its dropped aitches) that she gave to Chief Constable Parker. I can't imagine Wimsey's sister being in the least bit attracted to someone who sounded quite so provincial. On the whole, though, this production is excellent.

Great Stories

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A treat for followers of Lord Peter Wimsey, all the short stories and a short, partial "biography" from his fictional uncle.

The narration is sympathetic and beautifully clear. There are a few slips of pronunciation, but these are few and far between, and don't mar the enjoyment of these cleverly crafted tales from the hero's bachelor days and on through to his later life as a family man.

Highly recommended!

Thoroughly enjoyable tales from the Golden Age

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Written over Miss Sayers’ LPW career this is a grab bag of tales. From peculiar to uninteresting to fun to brilliant… I get the feeling that if these had been turned in to a modern show runner, Miss Sayers would have been sent to re-write most of the lineup.

The language is as usually always elegant and enjoyable. The performance is middling - really good on occasion, very dull frequently.

The two final stories, The haunted policeman, and Tallboys, are delightful!

A mixed bag

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I love the detective stories of Dorothy L. Sayers, but the gloss is taken off this collection by the narration. I find nothing wrong with giving Inspector Parker a regional accent, but I simply cannot believe that it could be so broad. He was an educated man and had lived and worked in London for many years - a cosmopolitan place, where he would have been exposed to a variety of accents. In that situation any accent would fade to some degree.
I found this over-emphasised "Eee bah gummery" very jarring, particularly when every other working class character spoke with a similar accent. They can't all have come from the same part of the country surely?

Almost perfect

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Punctuation in speech leaves much to be desired. Far too shrill at times. Sorry ...

Very unhappy with the narration.

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I love the Dorothy L Sayers Wimsey stories. The short stories don’t have quite the same character as the longer books, but I still enjoy them. However, as other reviewers have said this narrator is dreadful. The stories use a male narrator yet someone chose to use a female to read them. That might work with a top class reader but not this one. Jane McDowell sounds disinterested and doesn’t do anything to bring out the character of the stories. I see with horror that she narrates many of the Wimsey books which I now won’t be buying. No-one could match up to Ian Carmichael’s interpretation of Wimsey, although Edward Petherbridge does a good job, but surely a male narrator could have been found who would do justice to the stories. I’m not being sexist here, I am a woman and am all for equality but a surely when a book uses a man to describe events, a male narrator should be used. Why, oh, why, does she decide to give Charles Parker a badly done regional accent? If he’d been a northern provincial policeman, I’d understand, but he’s a senior officer in the Met, who from the stories has worked in London all his life with no suggestion that he came from anywhere else. Sad that a good book is ruined by the narration. Ms McDowells mispronunciations also spoil enjoyment of the stories. Sadly, she is also the reader of many other detective stories I would otherwise have bought.

Love the stories but dreadful narrator

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