Presumption of Death [Hardcover]

Jill Paton Walsh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2002

In A Presumption of Death, Jill Paton Walsh tells how World War II changed the lives of Peter, Harriet and their growing family. The story opens in 1940. Harriet Vane - now Lady Peter Wimsey - has taken her children to safety in the country. But the war has followed them: glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalise the villagers; the blackout makes the night-time lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London. Then the village's first air raid practise ends with a very real body on the ground - not a war casualty but a case of plain, old-fashioned murder. And even before the second body is found, Lord Peter Wimsey and his brilliant wife are on their way to finding the killer. Once again, Jill Paton Walsh has invented a mystery plot worthy of Sayers herself, while faultlessly capturing the voice of one of the most compelling writers of the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her second Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane whodunit, Booker Prize finalist Walsh (Knowledge of Angels) does a far better job of honoring Sayers than she did in their first posthumous collaboration, Thrones, Dominations (1998). Walsh's starting point here is "The Wimsey Papers," a series of letters on home front conditions, ostensibly written by various members of the Wimsey family, which ran in the Spectator at the outset of WWII. Lord Peter himself is offstage for most of the novel, involved in some covert mission in Europe, leaving his wife to take care of their household. When a young Land Girl is found murdered during an air raid, the local superintendent enlists Harriet's aid. Harriet's traditional line of inquiry into possible spurned suitors is diverted when an eccentric and seemingly paranoid dentist discloses that the quiet, ordinary village of Paggleham is actually a nest of German spies. Despite Peter's diminished role, he remains a vital presence throughout, thanks to his place at the center of Harriet's thoughts. Should Walsh have no further original Sayers material to draw on, she seems perfectly suited to continue the series entirely on her own.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In 1939–40, a series of letters, ostensibly written by Dorothy L. Sayers’ beloved characters, were published in The Spectator. Walsh has taken these letters and transformed them into an absolutely top-notch tale of what Lord Peter, Lady Harriet, and their extended families were doing at that time. Walsh captures voice and spirit and locale with vividness and pathos: Harriet is at Talboys with her two boys and three nieces and nephews; Peter and his gentleman’s gentleman Bunter are abroad on a secret mission; war work, rationing, and billeting of children and soldiers mingle with the quotidian countryside life. How Harriet handles the incredible task of managing life, children, and estate in wartime is gracefully portrayed and fascinating. How much she misses Peter catches the heart, especially when a cipher is brought to her, upon which his safety depends, that only she can unravel. There is a murder during a practice air raid. Bunter returns, exhausted and alone. The older children struggle with a crystal radio set. Harriet focuses her fierce intelligence on writing up, for Peter, the myriad clues about the murdered woman, and when he returns, they find resolution in a most unexpected series of ways. The details about life in wartime Britain are fascinating and rich with the warmth of reality. Longtime Sayers devotees will find references to many earlier cases expertly woven through the text. --GraceAnne A. DeCandido --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Hodder Library Hb (November 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340820659
• ISBN-13: 978-0340820650
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,166,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Channeled Sayers, April 16, 2005

By 

Bill Pen (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Presumption of Death: A New Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane Mystery (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've been a Sayers fan for many years, read all the novels and stories at least a couple times, and given scholarly papers on Sayers at conferences. I even named my youngest son Peter. I've never been able to get through "Thrones, Dominations," the first Wimsey book mostly by Walsh, as what I love most about Sayers is not the plotting (it's not all that believable, frankly), but the delightful writing, witty and full of literary allusions most people don't catch (for example, there are allusions to Gilbert and Sullivan scattered through nearly every book). It seemed to me that Walsh failed to capture Sayers' tone, feel, sound. I couldn't bear it.

I haven't read "A Presumption of Death," but rather listened to the unabridged CDs read by Edward Petherbridge (a wonderful reading). I was delighted to find that at last Walsh seems to have captured Sayers. Indeed, she seems almost to be channeling Sayers. Time after time I found myself saying, "Yes, that's how Sayers would have written that sentence. That's where the plot would have gone." I felt like Walsh had actually bothered to READ Sayers' other books at last. Of course, this doesn't read like the early Wimsey novels, but it does read like a logical extension of "Busman's Honeymoon," with less detecting and more relationship and family matters. Walsh does an especially nice job capturing the Duke of Denver, the Duchess, and the Dowager Duchess. If you couldn't stand "Thrones, Dominations" but love Sayers, do give this one a try. And if you loved Petherbridge as the ultimate Wimsey on TV and lament his passing, do have a listen to his reading of this. It's a treat.

59 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A good read with a relatively simple plot, March 8, 2003

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Presumption of Death: A New Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane Mystery (Hardcover)

The plot of A PRESUMPTION OF DEATH is relatively simple. The time is 1939 and England is at war. Lord Peter Wimsey is off doing his duty while his wife Harriet Vane --- mother, mystery writer and involved citizen --- has fled to the English countryside with her children and their cousins. After a practice air raid drill, a young woman of questionable virtue is found dead. Superintendent Kirk of the local constabulary calls upon Harriett to help solve the murder. Lord Peter usually undertakes this kind of investigation, but he is unavailable and a dead girl's killer must be found. "I don't know which way to turn, Lady Peter, and that's the truth," says Kirk, when he proposes that Harriet help him. She reluctantly agrees to step in: "It isn't easy  [s]tanding in for Peter", but this is " in various ways what I seem to be for, at the moment."

That particular murder is the epicenter around which Jill Paton Walsh builds her tale. She uses the "Wimsey Papers", a collection of works that Dorothy L. Sayers had published in The Spectator in the 1930s and 1940s. These papers comprise a series of letters written by the Wimsey family to each other and to friends. They become the voices of the characters, both familiar and new, that Sayers wrote about. Walsh comments: "In A PRESUMPTION OF DEATH all I had to use were propaganda letters, and so I had a completely free hand with the plot."

To recreate Harriet Vane in A PRESUMPTION OF DEATH, Walsh says, "  [Sayers] didn't exactly promote Harriet, who is not, by any means, an idealized character. Just compare her with Peter. Look how grumpy she is, how bad-tempered, how sometimes cool she is. She's not beautiful, and has a hard, chilly-eyed view of life. And that's what gives her [a] convincing quality." She is bored with "just" being Lady Peter and, while she adores her children, she yearns for the freedom she had before motherhood and the war imposed their restrictions upon her. Readers and fans will have to decide for themselves how they feel about these issues, but the truth is they do not detract from an otherwise well-told story.

Agatha Christie and many other writers kill off their central characters in order to preserve their place in the canon. Sayers did not do this and, clearly, she left the "Wimsey Papers" for someone to "keep alive" with her/his ideas. The challenge for Walsh is to decide whether or not she wants to "adopt" the Wimsey clan with all of their eccentricities, lordly ways, manners and humor, or if she will decide that two is enough. When asked if she would consider this proposition, she said, "I would be fascinated, but I would be increasingly careful. Each step you take away from an authentic piece of work the harder it's going to be to maintain authenticity and I would need to think really hard. I mean Lord Peter and Harriet are lovely fun, they're awfully entertaining to write about, and I can think of loads of books about them that I'd love to write --- that's not the problem. I would need to be sure I could do it well. And by well, I mean really consistent with Sayers's work."

Jill Paton Walsh is a writer in her own right. She is the author of several children's books and six adult novels. She was invited to complete a Sayers manuscript (THRONES, DOMINATIONS): I " had a lot of fun doing it" and she was applauded for her efforts. For this second book she had the "papers" to help bolster and frame her story. A PRESUMPTION OF DEATH is a good read. Fans will find that it is faithful to the personalities Dorothy L. Sayers created and the plot is one that certainly resembles the original Wimsey/Vane pattern.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very much a letdown, April 27, 2003

By 

Tim Shaw (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Presumption of Death: A New Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane Mystery (Hardcover)

This book does not honor the Sayers canon. It is full of allusions to moments from other books, as if Walsh is trying to say "See? I read then and know them! Trust me, I'm a fan!" But Sayers hardly ever repeated herself. The book has more dialogue and less intelligent introspection and analysis than any Sayers book. The scene in which Harriet puts an exhausted Bunter to bed would NEVER happen that way; Harriet wouldn't violate the social contract. Bunter would never be that familar with Ruddle. Trapp is not likely to tolerate Ruddle. In a late scene, Bunter appears in two places at once. There is no attempt to use dialect or idiom to distinguish people from different backgrounds. Poorly written, and VERY poorly edited. Looks like a rush job. I hope she does not write another novel using Sayers' characters. It is a disservice to the fans.