Reading in Reykjavík

(?) after the title means I'm not sure if it's a real publication/book. Literature mentioned in Gaudy Night , by Dorothy L. Sayers. There were so many authors mentioned in this book that I didn't jot them down and have only included actual titles. I listened to an audio version of the book and the titles were gleaned after the fact from my print copy by scanning for italicised phrases. Therefore I may have missed some and this is by no means a definitive list. Fiction: The Aeneid (by Virgil ) Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll The Anatomy of Melancholy (by Robert Burton )  The Bible Brave New World (by Aldous Huxley) "A Chaucer Folio" "Kai Lung " (by Ernest Bramah ) - no particular title is mentioned "Three Kelmscott Morrises" The Man of Property (volume 1 of The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy) Religio Medici ( The Religion of a Doctor ) by Sir Thomas Browne  The Search by C.P. Snow  "A Shakespeare First Quart...

(?) after a title means I'm not sure its a real book/publication. Literature mentioned in Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers. Newspapers: The Morning Star and The Evening Banner (?). I know the Star exists, but am not sure about the Banner . It may have at the time of publication (1933). Non-fiction and reference: The Directory of Directors Bartlett's Familiar Quotations The Globe edition of the Works of William Shakespeare The Children's Encyclopaedia The Times Atlas Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (as Brewer) Novel: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (mentioned as Alice in Wonderland ) (by Lewis Carroll ) In addition, P.G. Wodehouse and Edgar Wallace are mentioned, but none of their books.

Originally published in May 2005, on my original 52 Books blog. This is the first of Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, written during the Golden Era of crime fiction, an era that produced many authors who are still in print and considered to be classics. They include Sayers, Agatha Christie, S.S. Van Dine, Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr, to name a few of the biggest. The story tells of how Lord Peter Wimsey gets involved in two criminal cases. The first is the mysterious appearance of a naked corpse in the bathtub of a respectable architect, and the second the disappearance of a rich businessman who had a strong resemblance to the dead man. Aided by his valet, Bunter, and his detective friend, Parker, Wimsey uncovers a clever and diabolical revenge scheme and a very ingenious method of corpse disposal, with a few red herrings thrown in to confuse both Wimsey and the reader. Wimsey has, when the story begins, solved at least one case of theft, and other criminal inv...

Year of publication: 1926 Series and no.: Lord Peter Wimsey, # 4 Genre: Mystery, cosy Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Semi-pro Setting & time: Rural England and London; contemporary Lord Peter Wimsey returns home after a prolonged stay abroad to find that his brother, the Duke of Denver, has been arrested on suspicion of having murdered the fiancé of his sister, Lady Mary, at a hunting lodge in Yorkshire. Both Mary and the Duke show suspicious behaviour and clearly have something to hide, even from their clever brother, who has to find out what they were really up to on the night of the murder before he can find out what really happened. This story has one of those wonderfully intricate puzzle-plots that I enjoy so much, besides featuring adventure, romance and humour and Sayers’ trademark high-quality writing style, not to mention great characters that seem to jump off the pages. This is a pre-Harriet story, and Peter is here still prone to play the up...

Genre: Mystery Year of publication: 1934 No. in series: 10 Series detective: Lord Peter Wimsey Type of mystery: Murder, theft Type of investigator: Amateur Setting & time: The Fens, England; contemporary An accident strands Wimsey and Bunter for several days in a small Fenland village on New Year’s Eve. Several months later, when an unidentified body is found in a grave originally dug just after the new year, the parson asks Wimsey to come and investigate, which he does with his usual insight and tenacity. This is another excellent mystery by Sayers, a well-written and dense puzzle plot. The plot features something that can be either a plus or a minus point, namely a gimmick few people know much about, in this case change-ringing . The (thankfully short) passages on change-ringing read like Chinese to me, and probably to most people, but other than this is an easy read, too easy perhaps, because I figured out just about the whole plot development way ahead of Wims...

Year of publication: 1936 Series and no.: Lord Peter Wimsey, no. 11. Genre: Mystery Type of mystery: Sabotage, poison pen letters, attempted murder Type of investigator: Amateur, aided by a semi-professional Setting & time: Oxford, England; 1930s Story: While visiting her old college in Oxford, Harriet Vane finds an anonymous poison-pen message seemingly directed at herself. She thinks no more of it until she is invited back and taken into the confidence of the Dean and asked, due to being a mystery writer and therefore a sort of expert on criminal behaviour, to help discreetly find out who has been sending these nasty little messages to students and various members of the teaching staff and committing acts of nasty but apparently senseless sabotage around campus. Harriet feels out of her depth, but agrees to the task and, over the period of almost 2 academic semesters, diligently gathers clues, but is unable to draw any significant conclusions from them. However, once she g...

Genre: Mystery, murder Year of publication: 1932 No. in series: 8 Series detective: Lord Peter Winsey Type of investigator: Amateur Setting & time: A fictional English resort town; 1930s. Story: Harriet Vane is on holiday and on a hike between two English coastal towns she comes across the body of a man, with his throat cut, on a rock on the shore. She is unable to drag the body off the rock, but is able to photograph the body and make some observations and remove the weapon that appears to have been used to kill him, before going for help. Once she is able to find help, the tide has dragged the body away and it isn’t found for several days, during which Lord Peter turns up and he and Harriet start investigating the case alongside and with the full co-operation of the local police. What emerges is a complicated and elaborate conspiracy plot about which I will say no more. Review: This is a well written and intricately plotted book with interesting and rounded characters, just...

This is the first volume in the four book story arc within the Lord Peter Wimsey series that describes his developing relationship with Harriet Vane, from first meeting to honeymoon. Two of the books are on the top mysteries list, but I will be reading them in order of publication to get the story as it should be read. Year of publication: 1930 Series and no.: Lord Peter Wimsey, no. 6 Genre: Mystery Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Semi-pro Setting & time: (mostly) London, England, 1930 Story: Mystery author Harriet Vane stands accused of murder, but Lord Peter, who has fallen in love with her at first sight, does not believe she is guilty. When a hung jury results in a mistrial (meaning the case will have to be tried again), he sees a chance to investigate the case more thoroughly, and does so, revealing a fiendishly clever and well-planned murder plot. Review: SPOILERS One of the drawbacks of doing research before you read a book is that it can take away some ...