Lord Peter Wimsey is the detective hero of eleven novels and a short story collection by Dorothy L. Sayers, published between 1923 and 1937. Lord Peter is an idle gentleman-about-town who appears at first to be an effete, upperclass twit but who hides a keen intellect and a serious, sensitive soul. Lord Peter's character deepens and matures over the course of the series (literally, as time actually passes between each book in more or less realtime between publication dates). One central ongoing storyline through several of the books is Lord Peter's romance with fan favorite Harriet Vane, a spirited, fiercely independent crime novelist who is more narrator/protagonist than Lord Peter in some books. He is also faithfully attended by the loyal Bunter, who serves not only as valet but a sort of deputy, a skilled detective in his own right.
What I love most about these books is that they are character-driven, rather than idea-driven or cleverness-driven like most mystery novels. They're the perfect mysteries for people who don't like mysteries. While the mysteries are indeed well-constructed and difficult to guess, "whodunit" is not the point. The best parts of the books are the complex, nuanced, interesting characters, and the concepts and ideas: morality, truth, honor, gratitude, class, the role of women, friendship, love. They're well-written, funny, and incredibly comforting to read and re-read, even if you already remember the solution from last time.
Key Books
While I recommend all eleven novels--each one is one of my favorite detective novels, and anyway they're not a huge commitment like the Agatha Christies--I'm here to tell you which three you should read if you only read three. As always, they are listed in chronological order, and the first one I recommend is a good one to start with.
Clouds of Witness (1926): This is the second book in the series and it not only features a youthful Lord Peter at his babbling, trivial best, it also dives deep into his backstory, as his own family is the subject of the investigation: his father is accused of murdering his sister's fiance. Lord Peter is both spurred by, and hampered by, family loyalty and honor as he attempts to uncover the truth, whatever it may be.
(Even if you are planning to read more than three of the books, I still think this is the best one to start with. The first book, Whose Body?, I continue to find sort of boring and hard to get into.)
Strong Poison (1931): This book introduces love interest Harriet Vane in the most sensational possible way: the opening scene is her murder trial. She is a crime novelist accused of murdering her boyfriend. The jury is not buying her excuse that she bought poison for research purposes, nor do they understand her bohemian morality (living in sin, etc.) Lord Peter instantly develops feelings for this resolute, independent, unconventional woman and it is a race against time for him to find exonerating evidence before she is scheduled to be executed.
Gaudy Night (1935): This is the perhaps the weirdest of the Lord Peter novels, and it's absolutely the wrong one to start with (though I did, and loved it). Harriet Vane is the POV character and main hero--Lord Peter doesn't even show up till about halfway through the book--and it centers not around a typical murder, but a poison pen: the professors and students of a women's college have been receiving violent, threatening anonymous notes. Harriet, visiting for an alumni reunion, investigates as a favor to her academic friends and former teachers.This is a slow-paced, character-driven, highly informed and personal exploration of women-dominated academic environments and the way that misogyny can attack them from without and within. It is also a lovely and nuanced romance. This is an especially great mystery for people who don't like mysteries.
Bonus Books
It's going to be hard not to list every single other book here, but these are the ones I had to fight myself not to include in Key Episodes.
The Unpleasantness as the Bellona Club (1928) impresses me every time I read it. The death of an elderly gentleman at his club seems to be nothing out of the ordinary, but as Lord Peter pulls on the threads of a few odd discrepancies, he becomes more and more convinced that a crime took place. This book starts out as a typical jolly cozy mystery but gets darker and sadder as it goes on, a shift in tone not only for this book but for the series as a whole. A more serious Lord Peter emerges here, as we learn about his World War I service history and subsequent shell-shock, and begin to understand that his trivial persona is part of a deliberate attempt to suppress that traumatic period of his life.
Have His Carcase (1932) is the middle installment of the Harriet Vane romance storyline (between Strong Poison and Gaudy Night). On a solo vacation, Harriet stumbles on a body on a remote beach. She is reluctant at first to work with Lord Peter, to whom she feels a crushing weight of debt, but their collaboration turns out to be intellectual pleasure that includes codebreaking and undercover work.
Murder Must Advertise (1935, before Gaudy Night) was my favorite for a long time although in retrospect I'm not sure it's all that good. Lord Peter goes undercover in an ad agency, a setting about which Sayers is incredibly well-informed. The mystery aspect of this one is kind of phoned-in, but as a workplace story, it shines--the office drama, comedy, and characters feel fresh and timeless despite/because of their incredible specificity.
