The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers

July 28th, 2008

Dorothy L. Sayers
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
285 p.

Victor Gollancz, 1937.
(First published 1928.)

Back cover blurb:

None

As good as everyone I know are huge Lord Peter Wimsey-fans. My sister, my mother, my godmother, my friends. Of course, everyone I can think of who swoons over Lord Peter is a woman (my dad isn’t a big fan, and my brother doesn’t read). I naturally wondered if it was that he had some manly charm and it was therefore everyone was so impressed. And so! I trekked out to discover, by reading The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. (I got my mother to pick out two Lord Peter Wimsey-books at the start of the summer. Murder Must Advertise is the other.)

And it was good. I’m not a huge fan of crime novels, but a bit here and there’s just fine. And really, it wasn’t the mystery that made it the most exciting. It was the dialogue. Oh, the dialogue! It’s beautiful and hilarious and just possibly the best dialogue I’ve ever written. It just makes me awe. And, also, the dialogue really does put Lord Peter in a good light. He’s so funny and sarcastic and just lovely. I had so much fun. The unpleasantness, which was an old man dying at an awkward moment, wasn’t maybe the most awesome thing ever, but that doesn’t matter. I’m sure the mystery’s very fine in Murder Must Advertise.

Entry Filed under: Crime, English, Fiction