Tickled to death, and other stories of crime and suspense Book

This should be great fun for most fans of Lord Peter Wimsey

Review of Kindle edition
Publication date: March 15, 1999
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Language: English
ASIN: B005J52SJ2
527 pages

No less an authority than Ruth Rendell said that it is impossible to tell where Dorothy Sayers ends and Jill Paton Walsh begins. Many other reviewers and critics agree. Others say that this is because the writing is all Jill Paton Walsh, that Sayers wrote only an outline and a little bit of the beginning. Still others say that it is easy to tell the difference between Sayers' writing and that of Walsh because Walsh failed to capture the voice and plotting of Sayers. Looking at the reviews, it is obvious that the nay sayers are in the minority. I can not tell you which POV is correct though I tend to trust Rendell in matters literary. I read all of the Lord Peter Wimsey books many years past and simply cannot recognize all of the nuances of Sayers' style.

Whether or not this is a good, almost seamless continuation, of Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries almost doesn't matter. Walsh has written a fine novel. Considerable effort has been devoted to characterization, setting the scenes of time and place, witty repartee and genial humour. The world of upper class England in the 1930's comes alive in these pages. Some mystery fans will not like it because it is about halfway through this 500+ page book before a murder occurs. More troubling is Lord Peter, Lady Harriet and Scotland Yard missing a few obvious and important clues and areas which should have been investigated further. I do not remember encountering such obvious mistakes in Sayers' mysteries. So four stars rather than five.