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Have His Carcase

Lord Peter Wimsey, Book 8

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By: Dorothy L. Sayers
Narrated by: Jane McDowell
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Summary

The best of the golden age crime writers, praised by all the top modern writers in the field including P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, Dorothy L. Sayers created the immortal Lord Peter Wimsey.

In his eighth appearance (and the second book featuring Harriet Vane), he solves a murder on a deserted English beach. With an introduction by Elizabeth George.

A young woman falls asleep on a deserted beach and wakes to discover the body of a man whose throat has been slashed from ear to ear...

The young woman is the celebrated detective novelist Harriet Vane, once again drawn against her will into a murder investigation in which she herself could be a suspect. Lord Peter Wimsey is only too eager to help her clear her name.

©1932 The Trustees of Anthony Fleming (deceased) (P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton Classics Crime Fiction Detective Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Fiction Crime Murder
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Critic reviews

"She combined literary prose with powerful suspense, and it takes a rare talent to achieve that. A truly great storyteller." (Minette Walters)
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I love the Lord Peter Wimsey books and listening to them could be a real treat if it wasn't for the awful reader. She misses commas, mispronounces words and overall sometimes makes it hard to understand what she is reading. Her French accent has been learned from a computer and she doesn't know what she is saying! Please, please have someone else read these gorgeous books, someone with a more pleasant voice who can actually read? I've got three books read by her and I'm not getting more, not because of the stories - they are fab, that goes without saying - but because of that unpleasant, sharp voice and the total lack of understanding what she's reading.

Story fab, reader must be replaced

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Need to say that this reading is better than some of earlier ones in series...thank goodness! Less "affected" and hence more convincing!

Better read than other books in series

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The works of Dorothy L Sayers have long been favourites, both the dramatised and the unabridged audio versions of the books. As there are more of the former, I was delighted to see the complete works being recorded in their full versions. Until I listened to this narrator. She has no distictintive 'voice for Lord Peter Wimsey, which means it is often impossible to tell when he is speaking. This is incredible, given his ststus as the protaganist. When she manages a distinct accent for any other character, it slips within a few sentences. The beauty of Sayers work is partly in the wonderful cameo depictions of a great many minor characters, which are utterly lost in this narration. I felt there was no real pleasure in, or understanding of the text from the narrator. I have not bought any of the other books in this series read by this narrator, and am grateful that I have had the chance instead to collect as many of the Ian Carmichael readings as possible over the years. The 'Five Red Herrings as read by Patrick Malihide (?) is also excellent, with wonderful evocative Scottish Galloway accents. The only positive thing to have come out of these new editions are the beautiful graphics for the covers. Sadly, that simply isn't enough in an audio format. I am very sad to think that people new to this author may be turned off a fine writer by such a poor narrator.

So disappointed in this narrator

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Who on earth thought this narrator appropriate for this book? Ian Carmichael was the perfect narrator. Edward Petheridge would be fine. This person, no doubt good in her own sphere, has no idea of the tone or language required for a 1930s classic detective novel.

Rotten narrator

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Not my favourite of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels, but a good tale and an important point in the Peter/Harriet story. It is generally well read and Jane McDowell has a good voice for the story. I question the wisdom of reading out every letter in the ciphered document, which gets very tedious to listen to. Also, there are a few excruciating mispronunciations, not just of names (e.g. Bredon) but ordinary words like "mischievous". I'm not sure I will listen to it more than once.

A bit of editorial control needed

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