The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers

I haven't read many of Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey novels that don't also include Harriet Vane so I decided to treat myself to one of the mysteries Lord Peter solves before Harriet steals his heart, and I just happened to pick the one that is reputed to be the best, The Nine Tailors. 

The reputation is well deserved as The Nine Tailors is a perfect mystery.  Plenty of suspects, some of them nasty and some of them nice, an intricate plot but not one that is so complicated it's unreasonable, and a lot of interesting stuff going on that is pertinent to the plot but doesn't seem to be.

I loved learning about campanology, the study of bell ringing--btw, the nine tailors of the title has nothing to do with sewing and tailoring but everything to do with bell ringing--and, of course, I enjoyed Lord Peter's many quotations, literary asides, dry quips, and general decency and good humor.  Those are the reasons I enjoy Lord Peter mysteries and gravitate to them as comfort food when the mood strikes.  I also loved reading about the Fens of East Anglia, where the story takes place, and their drainage problems as well as the architecture of the church, both of which also figure into the story.  I found myself picking up my iPhone frequently whilst reading to look up words and phrases, as well as maps and diagrams of sluices.

I followed up reading The Nine Tailors by checking out from the library the DVD of the episode of the TV series starring Ian Carmicheal.  It was alright--the first episode was a complete flashback which showed the theft of the emeralds at the heart of the mystery and then showed Lord Peter and Bunter in WWI, which was very weird because they looked no different, apart from facial hair and uniforms, than they did ~15 years later when the mystery is unraveled.  Apart from that, the adaptation was fairly faithful but nowhere near as enjoyable to watch as to read.  I actually found myself nodding off at times, something that never happened while I was reading the mystery.

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is Mrs. Q: Book Addict.

Here's a look at my most recent acquisitions.

Nightingale Wood, by Stella Gibbons - by the author of the absolutely fabulous Cold Comfort Farm, the novel has been recommended by people whose taste in books runs similarly to mine.  Here's the Amazon blurb:

Poor, lovely Viola has been left penniless and alone after her late husband's demise, and is forced to live with his family in their joy­less home. Its occupants are nearly insufferable: Mr. Withers is a tyrannical old miser; Mrs. Withers dismisses her as a common shop girl; and Viola's sisters-in-law, Madge and Tina, are too preoccupied with their own troubles to give her much thought. Only the prospect of the upcoming charity ball can lift her spirits-especially as Victor Spring, the local prince charming, will be there. But Victor's intentions towards the young widow are, in short, not quite honorable.

Simply irresistable, and it will be a fun respite from the serious Civil War related reading that has consumed me lately.

Drood, by Dan Simmons - this sounds absolutely wonderful and is a nice appropriate followup to the Claire Tomalin bio of Dickens that I finished in June and Bleak House, which I read in the spring.  Here's a bit from the New Yorker review, courtesy of Amazon:

In this creepy intertextual tale of professional jealousy and possible madness, Wilkie Collins tells of his friendship and rivalry with Charles Dickens, and of the mysterious phantasm named Edwin Drood, who pursues them both. Drood, cadaverous and pale, first appears at the scene of a railway accident in which Dickens was one of the few survivors; later, Dickens and Collins descend into London�s sewer in search of his lair. Meanwhile, a retired police detective warns Collins that Drood is responsible for more than three hundred murders, and that he will destroy Dickens in his quest for immortality. Collins is peevish, vain, and cruel, and the most unreliable of narrators: an opium addict, prone to nightmarish visions. The narrative is overlong, with discarded subplots and red herrings, but Simmons, a master of otherworldly suspense, cleverly explores envy�s corrosive effects.

I'm thinking this will be a good prelude to a book I hope to acquire and read by year's end: Unequal Partners: Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Victorian Authorship.

The Nine Tailors, by Dorothy L. Sayers - I haven't read a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery in years and it's high time I indulged in such a treat.  Besides there's a book club at my church and this is their selection for September and I'm hoping to attend the meeting.

Here's another quote from Amazon reviews:

Missing emeralds, unexpected corpses, a cryptogran, erudition, a touch of the macabre, an old church with ringing bells, and Peter Wimsy performing feats of deduction and exercising his freakish humor. A fine bit of writing, a good story, and at the same time a rattling good mystery.

First Family, by Joseph J. Ellis - a bio of Abigail and John Adams.  I read David McCullough's bio of John Adams last year, and then watched the mini-series...twice!  I am an Adams family fan, and hate that he is given such short shrift by the Washingtonians, Jeffersonians, and even Jacksonians.  Even the National Park Service lets Adams down.  After our visit to Concord earlier this month, we drove to Quincy to see the birthplaces of John Adams and John Quincy Adams as well as PeaceField, the farm that Adams retired to with Abigail.  I expected a full-fledged park and not just a sign. The birthplaces are particularly sad--just sitting there on a busy street corner with barely a marker to note their significance.  Peacefield was slightly better, but it also fell far short of my expectations.