Sayers, Dorothy - Have His Carcase

[oyceter]

I didn't like it.

Harriet Vane wants to take a nice vacation after the rather unsettling events of Strong Poison (where she first meets Lord Peter Wimsey, amateur detective extraordinaire). Unfortunately for her, she ends up finding a body on the beach. Peter drops by to help with the investigation, and ensuing mystery gets resolved.

I suspect I'm not much of a mystery person, because every time Harriet or Peter started to question witnesses or untangle alibis or the like, I had an extremely difficult time continuing with the book. Unfortunately, this was about 90% of the book.

The strange thing is that the only part of the mystery-solving that I enjoyed was when they were deciphering a letter. I didn't understand any of it, but I liked codes and ciphers.

I also reverted to grade-school reading techniques. I.e., every time Harriet and Peter were working on the case together, I mentally awarded each one points on how far they were getting, and got perpetually irritated because Peter would almost always come out on top. I get that he's the hero of the series, and I do know that it's a horrible grade-school thing. But it still annoys me. (does not put in horribly over-generalized rant about why the woman is never the expert in these things)

On the other hand, I really liked all the Peter-Harriet interactions that had more to do with the emotional side and didn't have to do with questioning witnesses or the like. I think this happened with Strong Poison as well. Alas, there was very little of this and very much mystery. I especially liked the heart-mind conversation that the two had (I'm pretty sure that's this book, right?).

Fear not, loyal Sayers readers! I am still reading Gaudy Night, and I am actually enjoying it a lot. This is quite likely because there isn't all that much mystery in it.

ETA: Further notes

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Have His Carcase bores me.

I do love Peter/Harriet, though. But Gaudy Night has the most Peter/Harriet, so I'm not sure I'd go on to Busman's Honeymoon after it unless you really want to.

[oyceter]

Heh, me too. Also, mysteries seem to bore me, or osmething.

I think I'll see how much I like Gaudy Night before I decide if I want to read more.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I realize this is a minority opinion, but I read Gaudy Night first and have never regretted it, because it made the weaknesses in the other books more tolerable for me.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I did too, and feel the same way.

[oyceter]

I think that would have worked better for me. The only reason I picked up Sayers again after bouncing hard off two other books of hers was for Gaudy Night.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Same here. I still usually recommend starting with Strong Poison, but I often suggest people skip HHC.

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

I read Have His Carcase first of all the Sayers books, in eighth grade, and it absolutely hooked me. I do think I'm unusual in that regard, though - the discussions on the Sayers reading group I help mod seem to indicate that it's not an ideal starting place for Sayers, and also that the cypher stuff can be boring to people.

I ate the stuff up - I liked the mystery and I adored the characters, so it was a nice big package for me to wallow in.

[oyceter]

I liked the cipher stuff and the Peter and Harriet moments, but otherwise, the mystery seems to bore me. Ah well!

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Awww, I'm sorry I forced it on you. As you could probably tell from the massive amounts of Agatha Christie surrounding my Sayers books, I love mysteries for themselves, and the Peter/Harriet relationship is just delicious frosting on a yummy cake. But enjoy GN if you can!

[oyceter]

Ah, that's ok! Guess I'm just not a mystery person!

But I am enjoying GN a lot!

[slrose.livejournal.com]

Personally, my favorites are Gaudy Night, Busman's Honeymoon, and Murder Must Advertise.

I also really like the Miss Climpson part of Strong Poison. :)

Of the short stories, my favorite is "The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste."

[oyceter]

I ended up getting stuck on MMA as well and never finishing that one. I suspect I just don't like mysteries at all and am reading them solely for the Peter-Harriet bits.

[kate_nepveu]

I had the same reaction until I read truepenny's long series on the book, which made it all work for me.

http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=truepenny&keyword=DLS&filter=all

But yes, even if you dislike _HHC_ you should like _Gaudy Night_.

[oyceter]

Thanks for the link! Those are cool essays indeed.

And I ended up liking Gaudy Night a lot!

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I read the Sayers books when I was really too young for them--so when I reread them later, as an adult, I already knew I liked them, and flaws didn't matter to me in the same way as they would with a book I was reading from scratch.

[oyceter]

*nods* That makes sense.

I actually had a really difficult time adjusting to the period bits and the language, and I suspect if I'd read these earlier, it wouldn't have been that much of a problem.