Harriet Vane, a writer of murder mysteries, has escaped from the hubbub of 1930s London to a coastal resort town. One late morning, she hikes away from town along the coast road and descends a cliff to reach the beach, where she eats her picnic lunch. In the shade of the cliff, she naps. Upon waking she spies what appears to be a man sprawled on a large rough rock that's being surrounded by the incoming tide. She wades out to the rock to discover a fresh corpse, drenched in blood, its throat cut. She scans the cliff and the beach, but sees no one. Turning round, she spots a boat with a couple of men aboard, but she's unable to attract their attention. She takes mental notes of the body's appearance, apparent age, the time. And she takes a few snapshots of the body. She finds a straight razor and pockets it. Being entirely alone, she returns to the beach, climbs up the cliff, and begins the hike back to town.

There the police listen to her story and begin an investigation. At the same time, Lord Peter Wimsey is notified of the incident and of Harriet Vane's involvement. Wimsey is an amateur sleuth, legendary in England, highly regarded by police throughout the country. He's also been pursuing Ms. Vane, proposing to her at every opportunity. (She always turns him down.) The immediate conundrum is whether the death is murder or suicide. A neck slashed from ear to ear, a wound penetrating to the spine, is not evidence of murder to the police. They can't imagine how a murderer could get to the isolated rock, dispatch the victim, and depart without leaving a trace. And do it within minutes of Ms. Vane's discovery of the body. Can't be a murder, so it must be a suicide. No one, not one single character, asks if it is even possible for a person to slash his own throat so effectively.

Wimsey and Vane keep the investigation going, focusing on how a murderer could approach a rock that's completely exposed only at low tide, then escape without being seen, without leaving a trail. The approximate time of death, set based on the time the body is discovered, complicates the investigation, but it's only one of many complications.

The victim is a professional dance partner, employed by a ritzy hotel to entertain the single ladies who make up a significant portion of the hotel's clientele. His name is Paul Alexis, a Russian-born, naturalized British citizen. He's betrothed to Mrs. Weldon, a wealthy widow 35 years his senior. She, it seems, is the suitor. Henry Weldon, her only son, is opposed to the marriage.

Can they figure it all out? Of course they can.

Dorothy Sayers is contemporary of Agatha Christie and while Dorothy is talented, she is nowhere near the talent of Agatha.

These early books while clever, are not great. At times the puzzle outweighs the mystery and there is a lack of humanity that permeates the story. Both from the heroine, and the people involved in the murder. The second, "Have His Carcase" is especially problematic. She falls into the trap of using stereotypes to solve the case and I learned a number of new to me words that are now racist. I also learned what some original terms are (such as Gigolo).

Now, Ms. Sayers should be forgiven for her characters. These stories were written in the 1930's, and there was some very wrong ideas about what characterizes a "race". I suspect that for the time period, the characters are quite enlightened. But this doesn't excuse lazy writing.

I know these are early stories, and that the author was still figuring out her characters and finding her stride. But, Peter Whimsy is a cad, Ms. Vane doesn't have much in the way of personality (her personality here is "woman author") and the mystery itself overly written.

The stories are worth reading - they are an early product of a famous writer, but for the most part, can be skipped if you are looking for a good mystery. ( )

Strong Poison is the first book in the Lord Peter mysteries that introduces the character of Harriet Vane, and it's a very well-executed mystery. Harriet Vane is a mystery novelist who is standing trial for the murder of her lover Philip Boyes, who died by arsenic poisoning. They were estranged at the time of the murder, and all the evidence points to Harriet as the murderer. But Lord Peter is in the courtroom, and he doesn't think she did it, though he hasn't a shred of proof. The jury is unable to reach a verdict, and the retrial is postponed for a month. Lord Peter immediately offers his services to Miss Vane's lawyers, and his undying personal devotion to Miss Vane herself. Surely a prison visiting room is a most unusual place to receive a proposal!

I thought Harriet's relationship with Boyes was fascinating. He had cajoled her to live with him, but he wouldn't marry her because he didn't believe in formal marriage (though she did). They lived together about a year and seemed fairly happy, but when Boyes actually did offer her marriage, Harriet broke off the relationship. It seems that he only asked her to live with him to see if her devotion was abject enough, if she would crush all her personal scruples to do his bidding. When she had, he decided she'd "earned" the reward of formal marriage (which he did believe in after all) — and the worm turned. It is about a year later, after an unhappy interview with Harriet, that Boyes dies of arsenic poisoning. And Harriet is writing a mystery about arsenic poisoning at the time, and knows all about it...
Harriet has a wonderful sense of humor and she comes across as a very realistic character, despite the fact that she doesn't get much screentime in this story (unavoidable, I suppose, as she is in prison the whole time). I made the mistake of reading Gaudy Night, the third novel featuring Harriet and Lord Peter, before this one so I was slightly spoilered for the final result of the trial, though I didn't know the details. I wish I had read this one first, because Sayers creates a fantastic character arc with Harriet and it starts here.
Lord Peter is quite fun as usual, though certain things that would at first seem endearing are actually done for very selfish reasons (see his painfully honest confession in Gaudy Night — wow). I haven't seen much of his mother in the books I've read so far, and she was wonderful for the quick peek we got. I also really liked how Peter asked Inspector Parker what his intentions were regarding Peter's sister. Good stuff!
I am rather proud of myself for figuring out the murderer long before the end, and even a plausible way the arsenic could have been consumed. In some ways I like my solution better than Sayers'! I don't think this puzzle was about figuring out whodunit so much as howdunit. All in all, this is an excellent mystery with first-class characterizations. Highly recommended.
...

Have His Carcase is the second book about Lord Peter and Harriet Vane, and as in Strong Poison, the mystery is very much at the forefront and the characters' relationships are secondary to the sleuthing. And what a lot of sleuthing they do! This story has it all: chases through cities, disguises, political intrigue, bearded bad guys — and a solution that presents a question of its own.

Harriet is on a walking tour when she stumbles upon a corpse bleeding profusely on Flat-Iron Rock on the coast. There are no footprints in the sand except the dead man's own, but something about the case seems to point away from the obvious verdict of suicide. Harriet begins quiet investigations with Lord Peter at her side. The dead man was Paul Alexis, a gigolo at a local hotel who believed himself to be descended from the tsars of Russia. Found on his body was a cipher letter, a picture of an unknown girl, and 300 gold sovereigns. A pretty puzzle indeed.

As usual, Sayers' pace is leisurely and measured. A variety of interesting characters are introduced, and we get glimpses here and there of Harriet and Peter's relationship. Harriet's pet detective in her mystery stories make a few appearances too, when Lord Peter asks her what the indefatigable Robert Templeton would do. Funny.

As with several other mysteries by Sayers, the revelation at the end is not so much who did the deed, but how. The thing is patently impossible from every angle... until one little "fact" changes. And then everything falls into place. This is another excellent mystery by the inimitable Dorothy Sayers. I highly recommend reading it after Strong Poison but before Gaudy Night, to fully appreciate the character arcs. Good stuff! ( )

This is a fun read; interesting to see the manners and mannerisms of a by-gone time. Hardly politically correct in this day and age, but jolly good! ( )