Strong Poison (The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries Book 6) Kindle Edition

This is the first novel by Dorothy Sayers where Harriet Vane appears. She will reappear in a couple of forthcoming novels. She is a strong-willed outspoken woman in an age when women were felt to be better suited to look good but be silent and compliant. Lord Peter Wimsey, the whimsical hero of the Sayer novels, attends a trial where Harriet is charged for poisoning her lover, a man she lived with for some time. Both she and the man she lived with are novelists, but she made far more money with her books than he did. He refused to marry her until one day when he proposed. Harriet’s answer was to walk out on him. She is extremely fortunate to have as one of the jurors in her case a woman who works for Wimsey. As a result of this juror’s persistence, her refusal to agree with others and find her innocent, there is a mistrial, no decision, and a need for another trial, which would be held in a month. If proof could be found to show her innocence, it must be found within the month.The man died by arsenic poisoning. It could have been self-administered, suicide. But how can this be proven.As he sat watching the trial, Wimsey falls in love with Harriet, goes to the jail to meet her, and proposes marriage. He promises her that he will find a way to prove her innocence.Besides being a good mystery with clues, the book is filled with humor. The humor is found in the way people talk and act, all the people in the tale, especially Peter Wimsey. What he does makes sense, but it is eccentrics.

After reading  Whose Body: The Annotated Edition [Annotated] (Mysterious Annotations Book 1)  at the start of last year and not enjoying it, I was fairly concerned that I would dislike this book as much as I did the first. While I really enjoyed Lord Peter and his acquaintances, the plot was severely lacking and the mystery was extremely obvious. I was not sure a character could carry me through several books. Luckily, Strong Poison was exponentially better than Whose Body.Ironically enough, I gave the Lord Peter Wimsey series a second chance by reading a book about Lord Peter Wimsey trying to save a woman who has gotten a second chance to prove she is innocent of the murder of her lover. During the trail, Lord Peter Wimsey has become interested in the defendant and convinced that she could not possibly have murdered her lover. When the trail ends with a mistrial, Lord Peter offers his assistance to the prisoner along with something else..."What I mean to say is, when all this is over, I want to marry you, if you can put up with me and all that.”That escalated quickly. Who is this new character that has Peter acting more foolish then usual? Let me introduce you to Harriet Vane.Harriet Vane is an author avatar for Dorothy L. Sayers. Like Sayers, Harriet is a well educated woman, who writes mystery novels. Harriet has, also, live a Bohemian lifestyle with a fellow author that ended badly. Sayers uses her life experiences to create a backstory for this character and the murder in Strong Poison. This creates a realism to the events and points of view of characters that might come off as fake if another author had wrote this.While author avatars typically bother me, Harriet is actually quite likable in a flawed way. She fits in with the crazy cast of characters as well as being a good match for Peter. I adored every line of their playful banter. I already found Lord Peter Wimsey to be extremely charming. Now I'm ready to trade my boyfriend for Peter. (My first book boyfriend in over a year. How I have missed them!)However, the mystery was lacking once again. I have read reviews on Sayers' books that state the reviewer enjoys Sayers' books more because she does not hide clues like Agatha Christie does or you are let in on who Peter thinks the killer is sooner. This aspect does not really work for me in my mystery novels. I need the story to keep me questioning who I think committed the crime or I will not reach the end of the book. In Agatha Christie novels, a reader has to pay attention because the key to the mystery is usually mentioned in passing and can be easily missed. (Honestly, you begin to catch on to her tricks after reading several of her books.) On the other hand, Sayers basically gives it away by not having enough suspects. The mystery does not keep you reading until the end of the book. For me, it is the characters and Sayers commentary that keeps the book interesting until the end.As Peter and his associates investigate this death, Sayers interweaves a dialogue about expectations of woman at the time. The feeling that Sayers was bruised from her previous relationship is very clear. In Strong Poison, the trial has divided Harriet and the dead man's acquaintances with the majority of the men thinking the victim was a genius and that Harriet was jealous of him while the women pointed out that Harriet was supporting both of them with the proceeds from her work and that he had treated her badly. Characters that did not know either party believed Harriet was guilty of the murder just because she had lived with the dead man and they were not married. After reading Strong Poison, I was left with the impression that Sayers was a very forward thinker for her time.Strong Poison turned out to be a much stronger book than Whose Body. While the mystery is still not the best, the characters and dialogue about social expectations of the period make this an interesting read. I am very invested in the Peter/Harriet story line and I cannot wait to read  Have His Carcase (The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries Book 8) .

Having read all the P.G. Wodehouse novels multiple times (guaranteed funniest books I've ever read), I mentioned to my daughter-in-law that I was missing that British humor. She suggested I check out the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy Sayers. After checking out the reviews, I bought this one (Strong Poison). My first comment is this is not P.G. Wodehouse. The only similarities are the unique characteristics, mannerisms, and speech of the British upper class during the "between the wars" period in the 1920's and 30's. Lord Peter Wimsey is like Bertie Wooster only in the sense that he has lots of money, doesn't need to work, and exhibits some of the (what we would view now as) silly mannerisms of the young British upper class men during the aforementioned time period. But, even upon discovering early on this is not Wodehouse-like in terms of a consistent stream of harebrained humor, it is pleasant reading. Lord Wimsey is an amateur sleuth, and in this particular story he goes to great effort to prove that a woman being tried for poisoning her husband is not guilty, partly because he believes she is not guilty, and partly because he has fallen for her. When the Jury is hung in the first trial, the woman is held in jail/prison until the next trial can begin in about two months time. Lord Wimsey leaves no stone unturned in looking for evidence that she is not the murderer, and does a fairly decent job of it. So it is not really a humorous novel, but is more of a lighthearted detective story, with the only humor angle displayed in the British mannerisms, speech phrases, and general behavior of the time period. Not a bad read, and I'll peruse other Lord Wimsey books to see if any catch my interest. P.G. Wodehouse is still the undisputed king of both British Humor and literally laugh out loud stories and characters I've ever read. If you have never tried Wodehouse, your life is not complete until you do.

At last, Harriet Vane enters Lord Peter's life and just at a time when he is in need of emotional rescue. Of course Harriet isn't going to do that too easily though - when we first see her, she's in the dock and on the verge of being found guilty of murder. Thanks to the fabulous Kitty Climpson though, she gets a re-trial, and Lord Peter has never been so determined to find the real culprit.There was, I think, a marked difference in this book compared to the series so far. Sayers speaks out for women through Harriet's situation in a way that I suspect must have been quite shocking. Harriet has lived with her lover openly and even worse - she's refused to marry him when he finally condescended to 'make an honest woman of her'. The excellent Harriet refuses, and in doing so, becomes a fallen woman. I am really looking forward to reading how Sayers deals with this, but one example in this one of the hypocrisy of the society at the time (hmm, and really, things didn't change until surprisingly recently, I think), when Harriet tells Peter, that she's had a lover. His reaction is to say that so has he - love that! Of course later, he does inadvertently cast it up at her, and we can see that their courtship isn't going to be easy - but then of course it wouldn't be.As to the crime - this was one of Peter's tricksier cases, relying on him pulling all the strings with his detective friend (and Parker gets his reward in a very satisfying way) as well as requiring the doughty Kitty Climpson to come into her own - I love her, and I love the Cattery, it's so very subversive.Loved this one.

Of corse I read all Dorothy L Sayers long ago - and watched the very good Ian Carmichael adaption from yonks ago as well but I was tired, so tired, of all the murder and mayhem of today so wanted to go back in time to, perhaps, a gentler era. And call me an old romantic but I wanted to re-live the romance between Lord Peter and Harriet Vane again. I know the happy conclusion but there's a bit of a hurdle to climb to get there. That hurdle being the next book in the series!

Given that this is a classic of the Golden Age of British crime writing, I was surprised at how modern and progressive some of the characters appear in their thinking. There's no doubt Lord Peter Wimsey is deeply annoying with his extensive, whimsical ramblings. But he's remarkably tolerant of difference and those who live in, what was then considered, an amoral manner. This book is a fantastic period piece - revealing details of the living and working lives of single women. There's also a tremendous description of a "bohemian" party and excellent dialogue throughout. But above all, as a murder mystery, the plot is sophisticated and intriguing. It scoots along with satisfying measure until the very last page.

I’m reading these again, on kindle, as I used to get them from local library. Thoroughly enjoying returning to them, but having to skip over the sexism, racism etc. which was completely ‘of its time’ but unacceptable to modern readers.Was slightly confused by this one initially, as although I remembered it was about poisoning, I mixed it up with another book (not a Lord Peter one) about poisonous mushrooms. Must find that one again!The introduction of Harriet Vane, and the art of talking ‘piffle’ still amuses me. Some of the later books have literary references which are also lost on me, and that starts with this book.

book arrived in great condition and timely fashion. hadnt read dls before. peter whimsey is a great character - a bit two dimensional but almost has to be because of the humourous undertone that is taken to murder. i proposed this book as part of one terms study into female detectives looking at Sayers, Christie and James. Sayers is writing in the immediate aftermath of the first world war and there is a sense that human life is very dispensible and thats reflected in the corpses in much of sayers and christies writings. they cant afford for us to truly engage with the real devastation of murder so their characters are emotionally removed from the impact of death. books are mostly set in the world of the upper middle class which is also attractive to readers. all in all strong poison is an interesting book to read if you want insight into early detective writing but Im not sure it would entertain many people looking for a good murder/detective story in the 21 century although tv is still creating work from both women.