Unnatural death

About the book

Lord Peter Wimsey hears about the death of an elderly patient whose illness makes suspicion seem unnecessary. A doctor's unresolved concern nevertheless prompts him to investigate, drawing Miss Climpson's skill at social observation into the case. Sayers makes conversation, family connections, and apparently unremarkable routines important sources of evidence. The inquiry raises an uncomfortable question about intervention: looking into a hidden crime may place other people at risk before it produces proof. The book's interest extends beyond an ingenious method to the pressures of inheritance and the forms of dependence within respectable households. Wimsey's wit remains present, but the consequences of his curiosity give it a darker setting. Readers must follow a suspicion whose moral urgency grows faster than its official credibility.

• Suspicion
• Inheritance
• Responsibility of investigation

Why read it

For the productive contrast between Wimsey's reasoning and Miss Climpson's ability to gather knowledge through ordinary company.

English text