Whose Body? cover art

Whose Body?

Lord Peter Wimsey: Book 1

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Whose Body?

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

It was the body of a tall stout man. On his dead face, a handsome pair of gold pince-nez mocked death with grotesque elegance. The body wore nothing else.

Lord Peter Wimsey knew immediately what the corpse was supposed to be. His problem was to find out whose body had found its way into Mr Alfred Thipps' Battersea bathroom.

©1923 The Trustees of Anthony Fleming (P)2014 Hodder & Stoughton Cosy Crime Fiction Fiction Mystery Traditional Detectives Detective Crime

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Critic reviews

"She brought to the detective novel originality, intelligence, energy and wit." (P. D. James)
"I admire her novels . . . she has great fertility of invention, ingenuity and a wonderful eye for detail." (Ruth Rendell)
"She combined literary prose with powerful suspense, and it takes a rare talent to achieve that. A truly great storyteller." (Minette Walters)
All stars
Most relevant  
The Peter Wimsey stories need no introduction to cognoscenti oh Golden Age crime; if there is a weakness in this one it would be for me the lengthy confession in which the murderer describes his modus operandi.
I think a male narrator would have been preferable, and there were some avoidable mispronunciation ( such as Balliol) and unexpected reading mistakes. Does anybody listen to the recordings for howlers?

Whose body?

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When the lead character is male why choose a female narrator?
The narration, pronunciation and inability to remember which voice belongs to which character really spoils a good story.
I would have purchased the whole series, the use of this narrator throughout has made it highly unlikely.

Dreadful narration

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What did you like best about this story?

This is a humorous introduction to Lord Peter Wimsey and the characters that appear in this excellent series.

Which character – as performed by Jane McDowell – was your favourite?

I enjoyed all the characterisations - and the reason I entitled the review 'pleasantly surprised' was because of negative reviews from others. To my ears, Jane McDowell captured the capricious nature of Lord Peter nicely, and it is worth remembering that, in the printed copy (and TV adaptions), like so many aristo's of his day, Lord Peter dropped the 'g' from pretty much anything ending in 'ing', and also used 'ain't' more times than one can shake a stick at which is probably why some people thought he sounded like a cockney!! I especially enjoyed how Jane read the Dowager Duchess! I also didn't think she read too fast, although I tried slowing it down as had been suggested, but was quite happy with the standard speed.

Any additional comments?

I'm always a little bit sorry when I guess the murderer early on in the book (I'd really rather not be able to guess at all!), and this was the case here, but it is an enjoyable romp, and I would say well worth a credit! I will collect the entire Lord Peter series, and look forward to hearing Jane MacDowell reading them.

Pleasantly surprised!

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The story was good and well structured. Sadly, the narration was not. Obviously, such long narrations have to be recorded in chunks. In this case there were obvious changes in tone between sections. The narrator had the habit of occasionally pausing mid-sentence producing what sounded like two sentences which, inititially, was coburg until mentally stitched together. Another problem was differentiating different characters. The narrator's tone didn't always help to identify which character was talking. However, it was good enough for three stars.

Good story impaired by poor narration

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Whilst I adore the Lord Peter Windrunner books it was spoiled by the narrator who mispronounced words, (Arbuthnot has a th in it not a tt), put pauses in the wrong parts of sentences and sounded as if she hadn’t prepared for reading this at all. In future I shall be wary of any books read by her.
I did manage to complete it but struggled. I got used to her LPW voice but several other voices grated.

Whose Body

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Have enjoyed the shorter Whimsy stories on radio and the longer version is better. Darker with more misery and intrigue but still witty. But I did not enjoy the narrows voice, high pitched and difficult to distinguish the characters, possibly appeared worse in comparison to the full cast stories I have heard befor, but the plot keeps me listening.

Great story, bad reader

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Loved it, Dorothy Sayer is one of the best at bringing to life the 1910-1930s

Review

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I brilliantly written detective story with well rounded characters, and unusual plot. Read well by June McDowell but needs to keep the ascent sharper for each character.

Whose body?

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

Probably not

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

NOt got there yet...

Was Whose Body? worth the listening time?

Maybe

Any additional comments?

Tried this after hearing a program about Dorothy L Sayers on BBC Radio 4. Quite disappointed by how IRRITATING I find the characters. It's not my usual kind of book, but DLS is a classic writer. AH well. Live and Learn!

Irritating

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I’ve never read this book before although I was familiar with the story from the radio dramatisation. I felt it held up quite well for this type of story.

The narration is a real disappointment. Given that the vast majority of characters are male then a male narrator would probably been a better choice. I have other books, several of the ‘Ruth Galloway’ series, in which this narrator does a far better job. Here she gabbles and screeches. I seriously considered giving up several times.

Decent Story Spoilt by Poor Naration

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