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Strong Poison (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery) [Paperback]

Dorothy L Sayers
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
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Book Description

31 Oct 1968 A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery
Can Lord Peter Wimsey prove that Harriet Vane is not guilty of murder - or find the real poisoner in time to save her from the gallows?
Impossible, it seems. The Crown's case is watertight. The police are adamant that the right person is on trial. The judge's summing-up is also clear. Harriet Vane is guilty of the killing her lover. And Harriet Vane shall hang.
But the jury disagrees.



'She combined literary prose with powerful suspense, and it takes a rare talent to achieve that. A truly great storyteller.' Minette Walters

Frequently Bought Together

Strong Poison (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery) + Gaudy Night: A Lord Peter Wimsley Mystery (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery) + Have His Carcase: Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks; New impression edition (31 Oct 1968)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0450013928
  • ISBN-13: 978-0450013928
  • Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 2 x 17.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 18,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'She brought to the detective novel originality, intelligence, energy and wit.' - P. D. James

'I admire her novels . . . she has great fertility of invention, ingenuity and a wonderful eye for detail.' - Ruth Rendell

'She combined literary prose with powerful suspense, and it takes a rare talent to achieve that. A truly great storyteller.' Minette Walters

About the Author

Dorothy L Sayers was born in Oxford in 1893, and was both a classical scholar and a graduate in modern languages. As well as her popular Lord Peter Wimsey series, she wrote several religious plays, but considered her translations of Dante's Divina Commedia to be her best work. She died in 1957.

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Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Hugely enjoyable 20 Jun 2007
By I Read, Therefore I Blog TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Given Harriet Vane's importance in the later Wimsey books, I was surprised to see her have such a small role in Strong Poison, although this is actually perfectly natural given that she's stuck in prison. She appears in only a couple of chapters and yet Sayers is skilful both at drawing her as a strong character in her own right - unconventional, witty, intelligent, very matter-of-fact and with her own moral code - and also at showing exactly why it is that Wimsey has fallen in love with her at first sight.

Wimsey himself was a revelation. I hadn't appreciated how much of a sense of humour he had and in fact, he spends a lot of time mocking himself, what he looks like and his own character - famously describing himself as having a "funny face". He's obviously intelligent, urbane, rich, powerful and famous and yet at no point does he ever come across as unlikeable or arrogant. There's also something quite romantic about the way in which he's convinced that he will eventually marry Vane, even though she has already rejected his proposal and he has rejected her counterproposal of just living in sin. The book ends with the two going their separate ways, but you just know that they'll end up together one day.

A second revelation was how small a part Wimsey actually plays in the actual detecting. There's no doubt that he's the intuition directing the operation, but when it comes to actually ferreting out information, Sayers uses characters such as his loyal batman Bunter, Miss Climpson (who runs the Cattery) and Miss Murchison (a member of the Cattery sent under cover). I found this fascinating - not least because modern crime novelists will often restrict their POVs to one or two (those usually being the main characters). I found that this approach really opened up the novel and kept it entertaining and I also enjoyed the fact that Sayers uses the jduge's summing up at the start of the book to convey the salient backstory and then an epistlery style to flesh out more background details as the book goes along.

The story itself is fascinating - firstly because of the way Sayers keeps the tension going between 3 possibilities - (a) Vane killed her lover; (b) her lover committed suicide because of her rejection of him, and (c) someone else killed him. Obviously, it couldn't have been Vane, and Sayers has a lot of fun keeping you on the path of (b), only gradually dripping in the information that leads you to suspect it could have been (c). It's an approach that's skilfully handled and keeps you guessing because once she's shown you who must have done it, she adds another element of suspense as you try to work out how it was done (and I'm not going to spoil that for you because it's the best part).

Much of the slang and dialogue in the book will seem very dated to modern readers, but I think that it adds to the charm and authenticity of the story.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Love at First Sight in the Dock 9 Jan 2004
Format:Paperback
In public life, Dorothy L. Sayers was a scholar, writer, and woman of impeccable morals. In private life, however, she had a torrid love affair and bore a child out of wedlock. In her literature, Sayers expressed the schism between these aspects of her personality via the character of Harriet Vane, who makes her first appearance in the Lord Peter series in STRONG POISON as a fallen woman on trial for her life.

Published in 1930, the novel opens with Harriet Vane in the dock, listening as the judge presiding over trial sums up against her. She is a writer of mildly popular mysteries who has had a liaison with Philip Boyes, a rather pretentious author better know to critics than to the public. Their acrimonious separation is quickly followed by Boyes' death from arsenic--and it seems that Harriet, and Harriet only, had both motive and opportunity.

But the judge reckons without juror Miss Climpson, employee of the celebrated Lord Peter Wimsey, who derails what would seem an open and shut case--and gives Lord Peter the opportunity to unravel the crime. And, not incidentally, to fall in love with the accused. With an infamous actress of the Victorian age lurking in the background and a sizable inheritance on the line, Wimsey rushes to sort out the mystery and save the woman he loves before the case can be retried.

STRONG POISON is not really among Sayer's greatest novels, which combine a unique literary style, memorable characters, and complex plots to remarkable effect. The opening description of the trial, with its detailed account of the judge's comments, feels excessive; the solution to the crime is tricksy and relies heavily on coincidence; and Harriet Vane stands out less effectively than such supporting characters as Miss Climpson. Nonetheless, it has its charms, most particularly in Sayers' witty and highly literate style and the continued evolution of the characters she had previously created.

Most particularly, STRONG POISON sets the stage for two novels in which Harriet Vane will become one of the most memorable characters in the golden age of the English mystery: GAUDY NIGHT and BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON, both of which are regarded as high-water marks in the genre. Sayers wrote several memorable novels in which Harriet Vane does not appear at all, most notably the famous MURDER MUST ADVERTISE, but her development of the character is a remarkable process to behold, and fans will enjoy watching the process. Enjoyable, but recommended more to established Sayers readers than first time visitors.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars detective story perfection 15 July 2009
Format:Paperback
This is my first review and I am writing it as I recently suggested it as next month's choice for a barristers' chambers bookclub. I therefore want to get my justification in first! The decision was that we try a detective story for a change. Sayers was generally thought to be of greater literary worth than most of "The Golden Age", certainly than Christie. The first suggestion was "The Nine Tailors" which is generally thought to be one of the greatest novels of the genre. I had to disagree as, although I loved these books when I first read them, I have found Peter Wimsey to be increasingly irritating and hardly more so than in "T9T". "Strong Poison" has an excellent plot (more why- and how- rather than who-dunnit), a superb opening device (the telling of the "murder" by the judge in his summing-up), the race against time before the re-trial, two wonderful sleuth characters in Miss Climpson and Miss Murchison and refreshingly little of Peter Wimsey and what there is is less irritating than usual. It is also tightly written without the sprawl of the following "Have His Carcase" and "Gaudy Night". In short, one of the best of its kind.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic mystery story
Interesting as a period piece when hanging was still the penalty for murder, but also still genuinely gripping. This is how Harriet and Peter Wimsey met. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Karen
4.0 out of 5 stars Peter meets Harriet
Well written and an attention-grabbing beginning to Peter and Harriet's relationship. A well worked- out plot that is quite suspenseful but a bit far-fetched perhaps
Published 2 months ago by B.E.
5.0 out of 5 stars A fan already
I knew the book from old but I still had immense pleasure reading this again. Wimsey's attraction to Vane and his subsequent fight to clear her name make for a good read
Published 3 months ago by Wimsey
5.0 out of 5 stars peter wimsey strong poison
Interesting plot which kept turning corners. Needed to keep reading to find the true ending. An easy but compelling read
Published 4 months ago by Mrs Carol Anne Jennings
5.0 out of 5 stars Lord Peter Wimsey is in love: but she's on trial for the murder of her...
Strong Poison is the fifth of Dorothy L. Sayers' full-length murder-mystery novels featuring aristocratic amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Theophania Elliott
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational
As the writer of golden age crime fictionHundred Thousand Dragons, A: Jack Haldean Series, Book 4 (Jack Haldean Mysteries) I have long admired Dorothy L Sayers and her... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Dolores Gordon-Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars Knight errantry in the thirties
Strong Poison opens with the judge at the murder trail of Harriet Vane summing up the case - she has been living "in sin" with an author, Philip Boyes,and when he decides she has... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Clive A. H. Still
5.0 out of 5 stars Strong Poison (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
Strong Poison (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery) an excellent book from a reliable supplier keeping up the Lord Peter Wimsey tradition. I recommend DLS a good read.
Published 10 months ago by Mr. Ian H. Kilshaw
5.0 out of 5 stars Strong Poison
Many years ago, as a young teeneager, I discovered Dorothy L Sayers and the Lord Peter Wimsey stories. I enjoyed them then, and enjoyed reading this book many years later. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Alan Reeve
5.0 out of 5 stars First in the Harriet Vane series
Personally I have always been an Agatha the Christie fan. My first encounter with Dorothy L. Sayers was the Mobile Mystery Theater series showing on PBS. Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2010 by bernie
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