I Read Books: Strong Poison

Lord Peter Wimsey is the forty ninth person to propose marriage to Harriet Vane. The first was her former lover, Philip Boyes. The other forty seven have come since she was accused of poisoning Boyes.

The story opens with the judge summing up the case against Vane, but some of the jury aren’t convinced. Nor is Wimsey, who is convinced she’s innocent. Unable to get a verdict, the judge orders a re-trial, giving Wimsey a month to clear her name.

So the novel opens with a recitation of the facts, and the case that Wimsey has to break. The best way is to solve it; to prove that Boyes poisoned himself or that he was poisoned by someone other than Vane. Yet no one else seemed to have much of a motive, and absolutely no one else had the opportunity, according to the documented events of the evening.

This is great fun, especially as Wimsey really cares about the case for once, making his silly-ass fool facade even more of a mask than usual. It takes in his ‘cattery’ – a bureau of professional women who make enquiries for him in between their main work of answering and exposing fraudulent adverts – details of arsenic poisoning, the Bohemian lifestyle of the arty set* and spiritualism. Along the way Wimsey even has time to sort out his sister’s lovelife.

Read This: For a really first rate 1930s detective novel
Don’t Read This: If 1930s or detection sounds boring

* Involves a lot more kippers than might be expected.

This cover is great and also misleading