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Unnatural Death
Unnatural Death
Harper & Row, Publishers, New York Grand Rapids, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco London, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto WIMSEY, Peter Death Bredon , D.S.O. ; born 1890, 2nd son of Mortimer Gerald Bredon Wimsey, 15th Duke of Denver, and of Honoria Lucasta, daughter of Francis Delagardie of Bellingham Manor, Hants. Married 1935, Harriet Deborah Vane, daughter of Henry Vane, M.D.; one son (Bredon Delagardie Peter) born 1936. Educated : Eton College and Balliol College, (1st class
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Communicated by Paul Austin Delagardie I am asked by Miss Sayers to fill up certain lacunae and correct a few trifling errors of fact in her account of my nephew Peter’s career. I shall do so with pleasure. To appear publicly in print is every man’s ambition, and by acting as a kind of running footman to my nephew’s triumph I shall only be showing a modesty suitable to my advanced age. The Wimsey family is an ancient one—too ancient, if you ask me. The only sensible thing Peter’s father ever did
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Part I THE MEDICAL PROBLEM
Part I THE MEDICAL PROBLEM
“ But how I caught it, found it, came by it, What stuff ’tis made of, whereof it is born, I am to learn. ” Merchant of Venice...
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CHAPTER I Overheard
CHAPTER I Overheard
“ The death was certainly sudden, unexpected, and to me mysterious. ” Letter from Dr. Paterson to the Registrar in the case of Reg. v. Pritchard “But if he thought the woman was being murdered—” “My dear Charles,” said the young man with the monocle, “it doesn’t do for people, especially doctors, to go about ‘thinking’ things. They may get into frightful trouble. In Pritchard’s case, I consider Dr. Paterson did all he reasonably could by refusing a certificate for Mrs. Taylor and sending that un
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CHAPTER II Miching Mallecho
CHAPTER II Miching Mallecho
“ By the pricking of my thumbs Something evil this way comes. ” Macbeth The April night was clear and chilly, and a brisk wood fire burned in a welcoming manner on the hearth. The bookcases which lined the walls were filled with rich old calf bindings, mellow and glowing in the lamp-light. There was a grand piano, open, a huge chesterfield piled deep with cushions and two arm-chairs of the build that invites one to wallow. The port was brought in by an impressive man-servant and placed on a very
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CHAPTER III A Use for Spinsters
CHAPTER III A Use for Spinsters
“ There are two million more females than males in England and Wales! And this is an awe-inspiring circumstance. ” Gilbert Frankau “What do you really think of that story?” inquired Parker. He had dropped in to breakfast with Wimsey the next morning, before departing in the Notting Dale direction, in quest of an elusive anonymous letter-writer. “I thought it sounded rather as though our friend had been a bit too cocksure about his grand medical specialising. After all, the old girl might so easi
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CHAPTER IV A Bit Mental
CHAPTER IV A Bit Mental
“ A babbled of green fields. ” King Henry V Letter from Miss Alexandra Katherine Climpson to Lord Peter Wimsey. C/o Mrs. Hamilton Budge, Fairview, Nelson Avenue, Leahampton, Hants. April 29th, 1927. My dear Lord Peter , You will be happy to hear, after my two previous bad shots (!), that I have found the right place at last. The Agatha Dawson certificate is the correct one, and the dreadful scandal about Dr. Carr is still very much alive, I am sorry to say for the sake of human nature . I have b
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CHAPTER V Gossip
CHAPTER V Gossip
“ With vollies of eternal babble. ” Butler, Hudibras “So you are thinking of coming to live in Leahampton,” said Miss Murgatroyd. “How very nice . I do hope you will be settling down in the parish. We are not too well off for week-day congregations—there is so much indifference and so much Protestantism about. There! I have dropped a stitch. Provoking! Perhaps it was meant as a little reminder to me not to think uncharitably about Protestants. All is well—I have retrieved it. Were you thinking o
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CHAPTER VI Found Dead
CHAPTER VI Found Dead
“ Blood, though it sleep a time, yet never dies. ” Chapman, The Widow’s Tears “You know, Wimsey, I think you’ve found a mare’s nest,” objected Mr. Parker. “I don’t believe there’s the slightest reason for supposing that there was anything odd about the Dawson woman’s death. You’ve nothing to go on but a conceited young doctor’s opinion and a lot of silly gossip.” “You’ve got an official mind, Charles,” replied his friend. “Your official passion for evidence is gradually sapping your brilliant in
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CHAPTER VII Ham and Brandy
CHAPTER VII Ham and Brandy
“ Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are. ” Brillat-Savarin “Well,” said Wimsey, as Parker was ushered in that same evening by Bunter, “have you got anything fresh?” “Yes, I’ve got a new theory of the crime, which knocks yours into a cocked hat. I’ve got evidence to support it, too.” “Which crime, by the way?” “Oh, the Epping Forest business. I don’t believe the old Dawson person was murdered at all. That’s just an idea of yours.” “I see. And you’re now going to tell me that Berth
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CHAPTER VIII Concerning Crime
CHAPTER VIII Concerning Crime
“ Society is at the mercy of a murderer who is remorseless, who takes no accomplices and who keeps his head. ” Edmund Pearson, Murder at Smutty Nose Letter from Miss Alexandra Katherine Climpson to Lord Peter Wimsey. “Fair View,” Nelson Avenue, Leahampton. 12 May, 1927. My dear Lord Peter , I have not yet been able to get ALL the information you ask for, as Miss Whittaker has been away for some weeks, inspecting chicken-farms !! With a view to purchase, I mean of course, and not in any sanitary
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CHAPTER IX The Will
CHAPTER IX The Will
“ Our wills are ours to make them thine. ” Tennyson, In Memoriam “Hullo! hullo—ullo! oh, operator, shall I call thee bird or but a wandering voice? . . . Not at all, I had no intention of being rude, my child, that was a quotation from the poetry of Mr. Wordsworth . . . well, ring him again . . . thank you, is that Dr. Carr? . . . Lord Peter Wimsey speaking . . . oh, yes . . . yes . . . aha! . . . not a bit of it . . . We are about to vindicate you and lead you home, decorated with triumphal wre
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Part II THE LEGAL PROBLEM
Part II THE LEGAL PROBLEM
“ The gladsome light of jurisprudence. ” Sir Edward Coke NOTE —A genealogical table is printed at the end of the book...
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CHAPTER X The Will Again
CHAPTER X The Will Again
“ The will! the will! We will hear Caesar’s will! ” Julius Caesar “Oh, Miss Evelyn, my dear, oh, poor dear!” The tall girl in black started, and looked round. “Why, Mrs. Gulliver—how very, very kind of you to come and meet me!” “And glad I am to have the chance, my dear, all owing to these kind gentlemen,” cried the landlady, flinging her arms round the girl and clinging to her to the great annoyance of the other passengers pouring off the gangway. The elder of the two gentlemen referred to gent
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CHAPTER XI Cross-Roads
CHAPTER XI Cross-Roads
“ Patience—and shuffle the cards. ” Don Quixote Lord Peter took Mrs. Cropper down to Christchurch and returned to town to have a conference with Mr. Parker. The latter had just listened to his recital of Mrs. Cropper’s story, when the discreet opening and closing of the flat-door announced the return of Bunter. “Any luck?” inquired Wimsey. “I regret exceedingly to have to inform your lordship that I lost track of the lady. In fact, if your lordship will kindly excuse the expression, I was comple
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CHAPTER XII A Tale of Two Spinsters
CHAPTER XII A Tale of Two Spinsters
“ The power of perpetuating our property in our families is one of the most valuable and interesting circumstances belonging to it. ” Burke, Reflections on the Revolution The rainy night was followed by a sun-streaked morning. Lord Peter, having wrapped himself affectionately round an abnormal quantity of bacon and eggs, strolled out to bask at the door of the “Fox-and-Hounds.” He filled a pipe slowly and meditated. Within, a cheerful bustle in the bar announced the near arrival of opening time.
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CHAPTER XIII Hallelujah
CHAPTER XIII Hallelujah
“ Our ancestors are very good kind of folks, but they are the last people I should choose to have a visiting acquaintance with. ” Sheridan, The Rivals That excellent prelate, Bishop Lambert of the Orinoco Mission, proved to be a practical and kind man. He did not personally know the Rev. Hallelujah Dawson, but thought he might belong to the Tabernacle Mission—a Nonconformist body which was doing a very valuable work in those parts. He would himself communicate with the London Headquarters of thi
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CHAPTER XIV Sharp Quillets of the Low
CHAPTER XIV Sharp Quillets of the Low
“ Things done without example—in their issue Are to be feared. ” Henry VIII , 1, 2 “Murbles is coming round to dinner to-night, Charles,” said Wimsey. “I wish you’d stop and have grub with us too. I want to put all this family history business before him.” “Where are you dining?” “Oh, at the flat. I’m sick of restaurant meals. Bunter does a wonderful bloody steak and there are new peas and potatoes and genuine English grass. Gerald sent it up from Denver specially. You can’t buy it. Come along.
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CHAPTER XV Temptation of St. Peter
CHAPTER XV Temptation of St. Peter
Pierrot : “ Scaramel, I am tempted. ” Scaramel : “ Always yield to temptation. ” L. Housman, Prunella As Parker came out from the Chief Commissioner’s room, he was caught by an officer. “There’s been a lady on the ’phone to you,” he said. “I told her to ring up at 10:30. It’s about that now.” “What name?” “A Mrs. Forrest. She wouldn’t say what she wanted.” “Odd,” thought Parker. His researches in the matter had been so unfruitful that he had practically eliminated Mrs. Forrest from the Gotobed m
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CHAPTER XVI A Cast-Iron Alibi
CHAPTER XVI A Cast-Iron Alibi
“ Oh, Sammy, Sammy, why vorn’t there an alleybi? ” Pickwick Papers Miss Whittaker and the youngest Miss Findlater had returned from their expedition. Miss Climpson, most faithful of sleuths, and carrying Lord Peter’s letter of instructions in the pocket of her skirt like a talisman, had asked the youngest Miss Findlater to tea. As a matter of fact, Miss Climpson had become genuinely interested in the girl. Silly affectation and gush, and a parrot-repetition of the shibboleths of the modern schoo
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CHAPTER XVII The Country Lawyer’s Story
CHAPTER XVII The Country Lawyer’s Story
“ And he that gives us in these days new lords may give us new laws. ” Wither, Contented Man’s Morrice Letter from Mr. Probyn, retired Solicitor, of Villa Bianca, Fiesole, to Mr. Marbles, Solicitor, of Staple Inn. Private and confidential. Dear Sir , I was much interested in your letter relative to the death of Miss Agatha Dawson, late of Leahampton, and will do my best to answer your inquiries as briefly as possible, always, of course, on the understanding that all information as to the affairs
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CHAPTER XVIII The London Lawyer’s Story
CHAPTER XVIII The London Lawyer’s Story
“ I who am given to novel-reading, how often have I gone out with the doctor when the stranger has summoned him to visit the unknown patient in the lonely house. . . . This Strange Adventure may lead, in a later chapter, to the revealing of a mysterious crime. ” The Londoner “I think,” said Mr. Trigg, “that it was on the 15th, or 16th June, 1925, that a lady called to ask almost exactly the same question that you have done—only that she represented herself as inquiring on behalf of a friend whos
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Part III THE MEDICO-LEGAL PROBLEM
Part III THE MEDICO-LEGAL PROBLEM
“ There’s not a crime But takes its proper change out still in crime If once rung on the counter of this world. ” E. B. Browning, Aurora Leigh...
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CHAPTER XIX Gone Away
CHAPTER XIX Gone Away
“ There is nothing good or evil save in the will. ” Epictetus “You will not, I imagine, deny,” observed Lord Peter, “that very odd things seem to happen to the people who are in a position to give information about the last days of Agatha Dawson. Bertha Gotobed dies suddenly, under suspicious circumstances; her sister thinks she sees Miss Whittaker lying in wait for her at Liverpool docks; Mr. Trigg is inveigled into a house of mystery and is semi-poisoned. I wonder what would have happened to M
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CHAPTER XX Murder
CHAPTER XX Murder
Siegfried : “ What does this mean? ” Isbrand : “ A pretty piece of kidnapping, that’s all. ” Beddoes, Death’s Jest-Book Parker, too, had spent a disappointing half-hour. It appeared that Miss Whittaker not only disliked having her photograph taken, but had actually destroyed all the existing portraits she could lay hands on, shortly after Miss Dawson’s death. Of course, many of Miss Whittaker’s friends might be in possession of one—notably, of course, Miss Findlater. But Parker was not sure that
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CHAPTER XXI By What Means?
CHAPTER XXI By What Means?
“ Death hath so many doors to let out life. ” Beaumont and Fletcher, Custom of the Country The doctor turned out to be a plumpish, fussy man—and what Wimsey impatiently called a “Tutster.” He tutted over the mangled head of poor Vera Findlater as though it was an attack of measles after a party or a self-provoked fit of the gout. “Tst, tst, tst. A terrible blow. How did we come by that, I wonder? Tst, tst. Life extinct? Oh, for several days, you know. Tst, tst—which makes it so much more painful
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CHAPTER XXII A Case of Conscience
CHAPTER XXII A Case of Conscience
“I know thou art religious, And hast a thing within thee called conscience, With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies Which I have seen thee careful to observe.” Titus Andronicus Thursday, June 23rd, was the Eve of S. John. The sober green workaday dress in which the church settles down to her daily duties after the bridal raptures of Pentecost, had been put away, and the altar was white and shining once again. Vespers were over in the Lady Chapel at S. Onesimus—a faint reek of incense hung cloud
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CHAPTER XXIII —And Smote Him, Thus
CHAPTER XXIII —And Smote Him, Thus
“ ’Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but ’tis enough, ’twill serve. ” Romeo and Juliet Lord Peter missed both Miss Climpson’s communications. Absorbed in the police inquiry, he never thought to go back to Leahampton. Bunter had duly arrived with “Mrs. Merdle” on the Saturday evening. Immense police activity was displayed in the neighbourhood of the downs, and at Southampton and Portsmouth, in order to foster the idea that the authorities supposed the “gang” to be lurking i
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