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Last week, I wrote a preview post for September’s focus on Agatha Christie and her times and contemporaries, like fellow Queen of Crime, Dorothy L. Sayers. Jane reviewed Queen’s Play by Dorothy Dunnett, a novel about mercurial Francis Crawford of Lymond who is tasked with protecting young Mary Queen of Scots during her time in France.

Book: Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Publication date: 2022 (originally 1926)

Source: E-book borrowed from the library

Summary: Lord Peter Wimsey rushes home from a relaxing time in Corsica after reading headlines that his brother, Gerald, the Duke of Denver, has been arrested for murder. Wimsey doesn’t trust anyone to investigate except himself and Inspector Charles Parker, his friend at Scotland Yard.

The other sibling in the family, Lady Mary, was engaged to be married to Captain Denis Cathcart. That is, until she encounters her own brother outside the conservatory, kneeling over the body of her fiancé, who has been shot dead.

Unidentified footsteps, a jeweled cat pin, and uncooperative siblings lead Lord Peter Wimsey to pursue many directions, including one path that nearly kills him, by sinking in a bog.

Thoughts: Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers is the second installment of the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novels. I read it this year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication date, just as I read Whose Body?, the first book of the series, in 2023, 100 years after it appeared.

There are many places in Clouds of Witness that are obscured by slang words from another country and a different time. Other moments, though, ring with clarity. Here is a description of a piece of jewelry in a Parisian shop window:

It was a cat with a personality. Its tiny arched body sparkled with diamonds, and its platinum paws, set close together, and its erect and glittering tail were instinct in every line with the sensuous delight of friction against some beloved object. It’s head, cocked slightly to one side, seemed to demand a titillating finger under the jaw.

I can’t read that without feeling a cat rub against my legs.

Clouds of Witness gives us confusing accounts and false leads — too many witnesses and too much opacity, as promised by the title. I enjoyed watching Lord Wimsey and Inspector Parker bumble their way through the fog to find the clues that will lead them to the truth.

Whose Body? was not my favorite book of the Golden Age of Mystery, so I wasn’t sure if I would continue with the Lord Peter Wimsey series. I enjoyed The Nine Tailors, though, which I read many years ago when I was interested in the English art of bell-ringing, so I decided to give this a chance. I’m glad I did because I enjoyed spending time with these characters in these settings.

Have you read Clouds of Witness? What did you think?