The New Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane Mysteries, books 1-4 – Dorothy L. Sayers, Jill Paxton Walsh Free Audiobook

Written by Dorothy L. Sayers, Jill Paxton Walsh
Read by Edward Petherbridge, Matthew Brenher
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Thrones, Dominations
Lord Peter Wimsey Series, Book 15
Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, Book 1
Publisher: AudioGO
Release date: December 28, 2011
Duration: 10:04:39

Lord Peter Wimsey and his wife Harriet Vane are settling into their new life together in 1930s London. But when murder strikes in their own social circle, Harriet becomes drawn into a very unexpected case…

Lord Peter Wimsey and his wife Harriet Vane are settling into their new life together in 1930s London. But when murder strikes in their own social circle, Harriet becomes drawn into a very unexpected case…Dorothy L. Sayers began writing Thrones, Dominations in 1936. Pressure of work led her to set it aside and later the trustees of the Sayers’ estate asked Jill Paton Walsh to complete it. The result is worthy of the mistress of the golden age of the crime novel.

Sayers never finished this, her last, Lord Peter Wimsey mystery. Here it is ably completed by Jill Paton Walsh. Peter and Harriet are married, living in London and working on an odd, high-society murder. Glimpses of their life together, the English class system and a bygone era combine for a most interesting period piece. Ian Carmichael, who has played Lord Peter several times for television, is excellent. Particularly enjoyable are his recreations of the self-proclaimed old lady/busybody who adds sparkle to the staid setting. Also his dramatic diary readings are a fun addition to the story. It is truly wonderful to have a new Sayers mystery worthy of her writing and characters, and Carmichael’s outstanding presentation adds to the literary treat. S.G.B. (c) AudioFile

A Presumption of Death
Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, Book 2
Lord Peter Wimsey Series, Book 16
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Release date: May 11, 2006
Duration: 09:16:50

In 1998, Jill Paton Walsh completed Dorothy L. Sayers’ last, unfinished Lord Peter Wimsey novel, Thrones, Dominations to widespread praise.

Here, using “The Wimsey Papers”— in which Sayers described life in Britain during World War II — Walsh devises an irresistible story set in 1940 at the start of the Blitz. While Lord Peter is abroad on a secret mission, Harriet Vane, now Lady Peter Wimsey, takes their children to safety in the country. But there’s no escape from war: rumors of spies abound, glamorous RAF pilots and flirtatious land-girls scandalize the villagers, and the blackout makes rural lanes as sinister as London’s alleys. And when a practice air-raid ends with a young woman’s death, it’s almost a shock to hear that the cause is not enemy action, but murder. Or is it? With Peter away, Harriet sets out to find out whodunit…and the chilling reason why.

The legions of readers who regularly reread Sayers’s 1930s mysteries can take heart. Jill Paton Walsh has produced a new Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane book based on notes left by Sayers. Don’t let loyalty to Sayers make you resist. This “Sayers” novel written by Paton Walsh, is tremendously good. It’s witty, subtle, and full of WWII period detail. In fact, it’s well-nigh perfect. Edward Petherbridge’s BBC television role as Lord Peter Wimsey is widely regarded as the best of the best. He captured the character’s nervy brilliance and his mix of fragility and strength. A narrator, of course, is called upon to make every character come alive. Petherbridge succeeds admirably, a particularly impressive feat with a story in which Lord Peter, who is off to war, hardly appears. This audiobook delights. May Jill Paton Walsh write many more. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2004,

The Attenbury Emeralds
Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, Book 3
Lord Peter Wimsey Series, Book 17
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release date: January 1, 2011
Duration: 09:36:52

The recovery of the magnificent gem in Lord Attenbury’s dazzling heirloom launched a shell-shocked young aristocrat on his career as a detective in 1921. Thirty years later, a happily married Lord Peter has just shared the secrets of that mystery with his wife, the detective novelist Harriet Vane. Suddenly, the new Lord Attenbury—grandson of Lord Peter’s first client—seeks his help to prove who owns the emeralds. As Harriet and Peter contemplate the changes that the war has wrought on English society—and Peter, who always cherished the liberties of a younger son, faces the unwanted prospect of ending up the Duke of Denver after all.

Edward Petherbridge is renowned for his portrayals of Lord Peter Wimsey. This story opens in 1951 as Lord Peter–now married to mystery writer Harriet Vane–and his manservant/friend, Bunter, recount the case that launched Lord Peter’s investigative career. In 1921, he retrieved the “king stone,” the pivotal jewel in the collection of the Attenbury emeralds. After the flashback storytelling, the current heir to the Attenbury title appears unexpectedly, wanting Peter’s help to determine the true provenance of the “king stone.” Over the past 30 years, murder, theft, and personal tragedy have befallen those connected to the emerald. Jill Paton Walsh does a terrific job with Dorothy L. Sayers’s posh P.I., and Petherbridge’s intimate style, offering charming throwaway comments, is genteel and subtle. Delightful listening. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2011,

The Late Scholar
Lord Peter Wimsey Series, Book 18
Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane, Book 4
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release date: May 5, 2015
Duration: 09:45:39

When a dispute among the fellows of St. Severin’s College, Oxford University, reaches a stalemate, Lord Peter Wimsey discovers that as the duke of Denver he is “the Visitor”—charged with the task of resolving the issue. It is time for Lord Peter and his detective novelist wife Harriet to revisit their beloved Oxford, where their long and literate courtship finally culminated in their engagement and marriage.

At first the dispute seems a simple difference of opinion about a valuable manuscript that some of the fellows regard as nothing but an insurance liability, which should be sold to finance a speculative purchase of land. The voting is evenly balanced. The warden would normally cast the deciding vote, but he has disappeared. And when several of the fellows unexpectedly die as well, Lord Peter and Harriet set off on an investigation to uncover what is really going on at St. Severin’s.

With this return to the Oxford of Gaudy Night, which many readers regard as their favorite of Sayers’s original series, Jill Paton Walsh revives the wit and brilliant plotting of the golden age of detective fiction.

In Walsh’s cleverly plotted fourth mystery featuring the titular husband-wife sleuthing team—her second wholly original effort authorized by the Dorothy Sayers estate—Wimsey has succeeded to the title of the Duke of Denver after the death of his elder brother, Gerald, in the previous book, The Attenbury Emeralds (2010). One of Wimsey’s new responsibilities as duke is to serve as “the Visitor” for Oxford’s St. Severin’s College, a role that requires him to referee disputes among the college’s fellows. Just such a controversy has sprung up. Some fellows want to sell a rare manuscript of Boethius’s Consolations of Philosophy that may have belonged to Alfred the Great, who translated the work from Latin into Anglo-Saxon, in order to buy some land, while others believe that such a sale would betray the institution’s values. A series of disturbing incidents—including a fatal fall down stairs suspiciously similar to a murder method that Wimsey’s detective-story writer wife, Harriet Vane, has used in her fiction—causes the couple to suspect a killer is at work. Walsh’s pitch-perfect re-creation of the charismatic leads is a delight. Sayers fans can only hope for more.