Early paperback edition cover of Murder Must Advertise

Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is a fictional character in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, in which he solves mysteries — usually murder mysteries. Image File history File links DorothyLSayers_MuderMustAdvertise. ... Image File history File links DorothyLSayers_MuderMustAdvertise. ... Murder Must Advertise is a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, published in 1933. ... A Lord (Laird in some Scottish contexts) is a male who has power and authority. ... Alice, a fictional character based on a real character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centers upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. ... Dorothy Leigh Sayers (Oxford, 13 June 1893 – Witham, 17 December 1957) was a renowned British author, translator, student of classical and modern languages, and Christian humanist. ...

Born in 1890 and aging in real-time, Wimsey is described as having at best average height with straw-colored hair, a beaked nose, and a vaguely foolish face (reputedly his looks were patterned after academic Roy Ridley). He also possessed considerable intelligence and athletic ability, evidenced by playing cricket for Oxford University while earning a First. Maurice Roy Ridley (January 25, 1890 - June 12, 1969) was a writer and poet, Fellow and Chaplain of Balliol College, Oxford. ... Bowler Shaun Pollock bowls to batsman Michael Hussey. ... The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees (bachelors degrees and some masters degrees) in the United Kingdom. ...

In How I Came to Invent the Character of Lord Peter Wimsey,^[1] Sayers wrote:

The novels are set in Britain contemporary to when they were written, from the early 1920s to the late 1930s; the story "Talboys" (and Jill Paton Walsh's recent continuations Thrones, Dominations and A Presumption of Death) continue this into the early 1940s. Aubusson is a town in the French département of Creuse, of which it is the only sous-préfecture. ... Daimler has, since 1896, been the motor car marque of the British Daimler Motor Company, based in Coventry. ... Jill Paton Walsh (born 1937) is an English novelist and childrens writer. ... Thrones, Dominations is a Lord Peter Wimsey murder mystery novel that Dorothy L. Sayers began writing in 1936 but abandoned. ... A Presumption of Death is a mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L. Sayers. ...

Biography

Lord Peter Wimsey is the second child of Mortimer, 15th Duke of Denver, and Honoria Lucasta, who lives on throughout the novels as the Dowager Duchess. A dowager is a widow who holds a title or property, or Dower, derived from her deceased husband. ...

Lord Peter was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he received a first-class degree in history. He served in the British Army from 1914-1918 (World War I) including a stint in the trenches, attaining the rank of Major in the Rifle Brigade. In the army he met Sergeant Mervyn Bunter, who had previously been in service. After sharing what the Dowager Duchess referred to as "a jam", the two arranged that if they were both to survive the war, Bunter would become Wimsey's valet (i.e., manservant, or gentleman's personal gentleman). The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a public school (privately funded and independent) for boys, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. It is located in Eton, Berkshire, near Windsor in England, situated north of Windsor... College name Balliol College Named after John de Balliol Established 1263 Sister College St Johns Master Andrew Graham JCR President Jack Hawkins Undergraduates 403 MCR President Chelsea Payne Graduates 228 Homepage Boatclub Balliol College, founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in... The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees (bachelors degrees and some masters degrees) in the United Kingdom. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Trench warfare is a form of war in which both opposing armies have static lines of defense. ... Please see Major for other countries which use this rank Major is a military rank of the British Army which is used by both the British Army and Royal Marines. ... The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consorts Own) was a regiment of the British Army. ... Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organisations around the world. ... Mervyn Bunter is a fictional character created by Dorothy L. Sayers in her Lord Peter Wimsey stories. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Wimsey suffered a breakdown due to shell shock and was eventually sent home. After the war he was ill for many months, recovering at the family's ancestral home in Duke's Denver (fictional like the dukedom it gives its name to) which lies some fifteen miles beyond the 'original' Denver on the A10 near Downham Market). Bunter arrived, and with the approval of the Dowager Duchess, took up his post. Bunter moved Wimsey to a London flat at 110A Piccadilly, W1 as Wimsey recovered. The military term combat stress reaction (CSR) comprises the range of adverse behaviours in reaction to the stress of combat and combat related activities. ... The A10 is a major road in England. ... Map sources for Downham Market at grid reference TF6103 Downham Market, also known simply as Downham, is a town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. ... Piccadilly is a major London street, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. ... The London postal districts are divisions of the London post town in England and are primarily used for the direction of mail. ...

Lord Peter begins his hobby of investigation by recovering the Attenbury Emeralds. He also becomes good friends with Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Charles Parker. Bunter, being a man of many talents himself — not least photography — often proves instrumental in Peter's investigations. However, Wimsey is not entirely well. At the end of the investigation in Whose Body? (1923) he hallucinates that he is back in the trenches. He soon recovers his senses and goes on a long holiday. New Scotland Yard, London New Scotland Yard, it blowwsssss often referred to simply as Scotland Yard or The Yard, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for policing Greater London (although not the City of London itself). ... Photography [fÓ™tÉ‘grÓ™fi:],[foÊŠtÉ‘grÓ™fi:] is the process of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or sensor. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... A hallucination is a sensory perception experienced in the absence of an external stimulus, as distinct from an illusion, which is a misperception of an external stimulus. ...

The next year he returns to Duke's Denver to assist his older brother Gerald, accused of murdering their sister's fiancé. As Gerald is the current Duke of Denver, the resulting trial takes place in the House of Lords. Lady Mary also falls under suspicion. Gerald's snobbish wife, Helen, and devil-may-care heir, Viscount St. George, also make appearances in the novels. The fictitious title of Duke of Denver was created by Dorothy Sayers for the elder brother of Lord Peter Wimsey. ...

It is not exactly known when Wimsey recruited Miss Climpson to run an undercover employment agency for women in order to be able to garner information from the world of spinsters and widows which neither master or man would be able to access, but it is prior to Unnatural Death (1927). Unnatural death is a category used by coroners and vital statistics specialists for classifying all human deaths not properly describable as death by natural causes. ...

In Strong Poison Lord Peter meets Harriet Deborah Vane and falls in love with her. Harriet is a cerebral, Oxford-educated mystery writer on trial for the murder of her former lover. Needless to say, Wimsey saves her from the gallows, but based on the principle that gratitude is not a good foundation for marriage, she politely but firmly declines his frequent proposals. Lord Peter does encourage his friend and foil, Chief Inspector Charles Parker, to propose to his sister Lady Mary Wimsey. They marry and have a son, named Charles Peter ("Peterkin"). Strong Poison is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her fifth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. ... Harriet Deborah Vane, Lady Peter Wimsey, is a fictional character in the writings of Dorothy L. Sayers. ...

Wimsey continues to pursue Miss Vane, but does not get much satisfaction. He investigates a murder while on vacation in Scotland (Five Red Herrings). On his return he finds Miss Vane is not at home. He learns her location when reporter Salcombe Hardy asks Wimsey to comment on the murder victim Vane discovered on her walking-tour of England's coast (Have His Carcase). Hardy does not have to point out that Vane may have committed the murder herself. One who was once tried for murder does not have the best reputation. The next morning Wimsey is at her hotel — to investigate the death and offer proposals of marriage, to be sure, but also act as her patron and protector with press and police. Despite a prickly relationship, they do work together to identify the murderer. Five Red Herrings are among the six suspects in the murder of an artist in a village in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, in this 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers. ... Have His Carcase is a 1932 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her seventh featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and her second novel in which Harriet Vane appears. ... Generally, patronage is the act of supporting or favoring some person, group, or institution. ...

Back in London, Wimsey goes undercover as "Death Bredon" at an advertising firm, working as a copywriter (Murder Must Advertise). Bredon is framed for murder, leading Charles Parker to "arrest" Bredon for murder in front of the press. To distinguish Death Bredon from Lord Peter Wimsey, Parker smuggles Wimsey out of the station and urges him to get into the papers. Accordingly Wimsey accompanies "a Royal personage" to a public event, leading the press to carry pictures of both "Bredon" and Wimsey. Look up Undercover in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A copywriter is a person who writes text, or copy, for clients. ... Murder Must Advertise is a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, published in 1933. ...

By 1935, Lord Peter is in Europe, acting as an unofficial attaché for the British Foreign Office. Harriet Vane contacts him about a problem she has been asked to investigate in her college at Oxford (Gaudy Night). At the end of their investigation, Vane finally accepts Peter's proposal of marriage. The couple marry, on October 8, 1935, at St. Cross Church, Holywell, Oxford (depicted in the opening collection of letters and diary entries in Busman's Honeymoon). An attaché is a person who is assigned to the staff of a diplomatic mission and often has special responsibilities or expertise. ... The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad. ... The University of Oxford (usually abbreviated as Oxon. ... Gaudy Night is a 1935 Lord Peter Wimsey detective story by Dorothy L. Sayers. ... October 8 is the 281st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (282nd in leap years). ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Busmans Honeymoon is a 1937 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her eleventh (and last) featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. ...

The Wimseys go off on honeymoon to Talboys, a house in east Hertfordshire near to where the young Harriet's father was a country doctor, and which she has loved from childhood, and which Peter has bought for her as a wedding present. There, they find the body of the previous owner, and spend their honeymoon solving the case, thus having the eponymous Busman's Honeymoon. Hertfordshire (pronounced Hartfordshire and abbreviated as Herts) is an inland county in the United Kingdom and part of the East of England Government Office region. ... Busmans Honeymoon is a 1937 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her eleventh (and last) featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. ...

The Wimseys have three children: Bredon Delagardie Peter Wimsey (born in October 1936 in the story "The Haunted Policeman"); Roger Wimsey (born 1938), and Paul Wimsey (born 1940). Note that in A Presumption of Death the second son is called Paul, because in the wartime publications of The Wimsey Papers Dorothy L. Sayers called him that. All three boys are presented in the 1942 story "Talboys," and it may be presumed that Paul is named after Lord Peter's Uncle Paul Delagardie. "Roger" is an ancestral Wimsey name. A Presumption of Death is a mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L. Sayers. ...

Other recurring characters include multiple appearances from solicitor Murbles, newshound Salcombe Hardy, and city whizz The Hon. Freddy Arbuthnot, who finds himself entangled in the case in the first of the Wimsey books, 1923's Whose Body?. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Among Lord Peter's hobbies, apart from criminology, is collecting incunabula (very early printed books). He is an expert on matters of food (especially wine) and male fashion, as well as on classical music. He is quite good at playing Bach's works for keyboard instruments on a piano he babies even more than his books, wines, and cars. One of Lord Peter's cars is a 12-cylinder ("double-six") 1927 Daimler four-seater, which he calls "Mrs. Merdle" after a character in Little Dorrit (by Charles Dickens). A page from a rare Blackletter Bible (1497) printed in Strasbourg by J.R. Grueninger. ... Bach in a 1748 portrait by Haussmann Places in which Bach resided throughout his life Johann Sebastian Bach (pronounced ) (21 March 1685 O.S. – 28 July 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Daimler has, since 1896, been the motor car marque of the British Daimler Motor Company, based in Coventry. ... Little Dorrit is a serial novel by Charles Dickens published originally between 1855 and 1857. ... Dickens redirects here. ...

Bibliography

Novels

With year of first publication

• Whose Body?, 1923
• Clouds of Witness, 1926
• Unnatural Death, 1927
• The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, 1928
• Strong Poison, 1931
• Five Red Herrings, 1931
• Have His Carcase, 1932
• Murder Must Advertise, 1933
• The Nine Tailors, 1934
• Gaudy Night, 1935
• Busman's Honeymoon, 1937
• Thrones, Dominations, 1998 (not finished by Sayers -- completed by Jill Paton Walsh)
• A Presumption of Death, 2002 (written by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on The Wimsey Papers)

Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Clouds of Witness is a 1926 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, the second in her series featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. ... Unnatural death is a category used by coroners and vital statistics specialists for classifying all human deaths not properly describable as death by natural causes. ... The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club is a 1928 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her fourth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. ... Strong Poison is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her fifth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. ... Five Red Herrings are among the six suspects in the murder of an artist in a village in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, in this 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers. ... Have His Carcase is a 1932 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her seventh featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and her second novel in which Harriet Vane appears. ... Murder Must Advertise is a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, published in 1933. ... The Nine Tailors is a 1934 mystery novel by British writer Dorothy L. Sayers, her ninth featuring sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. ... Gaudy Night is a 1935 Lord Peter Wimsey detective story by Dorothy L. Sayers. ... Busmans Honeymoon is a 1937 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her eleventh (and last) featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. ... Thrones, Dominations is a Lord Peter Wimsey murder mystery novel that Dorothy L. Sayers began writing in 1936 but abandoned. ... A Presumption of Death is a mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L. Sayers. ...

Short story collections

• Lord Peter Views the Body, 1928
• Hangman's Holiday, 1933 (also contains non-Wimsey stories)
• In the Teeth of the Evidence, 1939 (also contains non-Wimsey stories)
• Striding Folly, 1972
• Lord Peter, 1972 [See this article for complete list of stories.]

Lord Peter Views the Body Cover Lord Peter Views the Body, first published in 1928, was the first collection of short stories about Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L. Sayers. ... Hangmans Holiday is a collection of short stories, mostly murder mysteries, by Dorothy L. Sayers (ISBN 0-380-42010-4). ... In the Teeth of the Evidence is a collection of short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers first published by Victor Gollancz in 1939. ... Lord Peter is a collection of short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. ...

Dramatic adaptations

The cover of Gaudy Night, from the BBC series. Featuring Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter Wimsey

The novel Busman's Honeymoon was originally a stage play by Sayers and her friend Muriel St. Clare Byrne. Image File history File links Petherbridgeaslordwimsey. ... Image File history File links Petherbridgeaslordwimsey. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... Edward Petherbridge (born on August 3, 1936 in Bradford) is a British actor. ...

Some of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels were made into two very successful television series by the BBC. Lord Peter Wimsey was played by Ian Carmichael in a series that ran from 1972 to 1975 and adapted five novels, and by Edward Petherbridge in 1987, wherein the three major Wimsey/Vane novels were dramatized. Harriet was played by Harriet Walter. The BBC was unable to secure the rights to turn Busman's Honeymoon into the fourth part of the series. Both series are now available on videotape and DVD. The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey Ian Carmichael OBE (born 18 June 1920) is a British film, stage and television actor. ... Edward Petherbridge (born on August 3, 1936 in Bradford) is a British actor. ... Harriet Mary Walter, CBE, (born 24 September 1950) is a British actress born in England. ...

Edward Petherbridge also played Wimsey in the UK production of the Busman's Honeymoon play staged at the Lyric Hammersmith in 1988 (it also toured in the North of England), with the role of Harriet being taken by his real life spouse, Emily Richard. Edward Petherbridge (born on August 3, 1936 in Bradford) is a British actor. ...

Ian Carmichael also starred as Wimsey in radio adaptations of the novels made by the BBC, all of which have been available on cassette and CD from the BBC Radio Collection. In the original series, which ran on Radio 4 from 1973–1983, no adaptation was made of the seminal Gaudy Night, perhaps because the leading character in this novel is Harriet and not Peter; this was corrected in 2005 when a version specially recorded for the BBC Radio Collection was released starring Carmichael and Joanna David. The CD also includes a panel discussion on the novel, the major participants in which are P. D. James and Jill Paton Walsh. Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey Ian Carmichael OBE (born 18 June 1920) is a British film, stage and television actor. ... The BBC Radio Collection was an imprint or record label used for audio books from the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... Gaudy Night is a 1935 Lord Peter Wimsey detective story by Dorothy L. Sayers. ... Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park OBE (born 3 August 1920) is an English writer of crime fiction and member of the House of Lords, who writes as P. D. James. ... Jill Paton Walsh (born 1937) is an English novelist and childrens writer. ...

There was a 1935 British movie of The Silent Passenger in which Lord Peter solved a mystery on the boat train crossing the English Channel, but the film does not seem to be available on videotape, at least in the United States. Sayers disliked the film; James Brabazon describes it as an "oddity, in which Dorothy's contribution was altered out of all recognition."

The 1940 film The Haunted Honeymoon (US title) or Busman's Honeymoon (UK title), starring Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings as Lord and Lady Peter, is available on videotape in generic boxes on the secondary market. Any resemblance of its characters and events to those in Busman's Honeymoon is more than coincidental but less than satisfactory to Sayers's fans; the film script simplifies the novel's plot a great deal. (In the TV adaptation of Murder Must Advertise, a movie poster of Robert Montgomery is prominently visible on the wall in the secretaries' office). Sayers refused even to see this movie. Robert Montgomery (May 21, 1904 – September 27, 1981) was an American actor and director. ... Constance Cummings, CBE (May 15, 1910 – November 23, 2005) was an American-born British actress, known for her work on both screen and stage. ...

Books about Lord Peter by other authors

• The Wimsey Family (1977) by C. W. Scott-Giles ISBN 0-06-013998-6
• Lord Peter Wimsey Cookbook (1981) by Elizabeth Ryan ISBN 0-89919-032-4
• The Lord Peter Wimsey Companion (2002) by Stephan P. Clarke ISBN 0-89296-850-8 published by The Dorothy L. Sayers Society.
• Conundrums for the Long Week-End : England, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Lord Peter Wimsey (2000) by Robert Kuhn McGregor, Ethan Lewis ISBN 0-87338-665-5

As a footnote, Lord Peter Wimsey has also been included by the science fiction writer Philip José Farmer as a member of the Wold Newton family; and Laurie R. King's detective character Mary Russell meets Lord Peter at a party in the novel A Letter of Mary. Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Charles Wilfred Scott-Giles (1893-1982) was an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Philip José Farmer (born January 26, 1918) is an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. ... The Wold Newton family. ... Laurie R. King is an American author best known for her detective fiction. ... Mary Russell is a supportedly factual character in a book series by Laurie R. King. ...

External links

• Lord Peter Wimsey chronology
• Classic Crime Fiction illustrated bibliography and articles about Dorothy L Sayers
• A Lord Peter and things English Blog
• Lord Peter Wimsey portrait at Balliol, Oxford

See also

• Duke of Denver
• Eric Whelpton

The fictitious title of Duke of Denver was created by Dorothy Sayers for the elder brother of Lord Peter Wimsey. ... ERIC WHELPTON (1894-1981). ...

References

1. ^ Quoted by Barbara Reynolds in Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul with the parenthetical "not entirely accurate, but why should it be?", page 230.

• Lord Peter Wimsey's Who's Who or Debrett-like entry is located in most books. Depending on the printing it is in the front or the rear of each book. The same Who's Who article is consulted by Miss Meteyard in Murder Must Advertise when she begins to suspect that new copywriter Mr. Bredon is not just the bumbling oaf he pretends to be.
• A short biographical essay, said to be the work of Peter's uncle Paul Austin Delagardie, the brother of the Dowager Duchess, appears in many editions.