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Title: Dreadful - read only if you are addicted
Review: Dorothy L. Sayers has her points but she is neither a great writer nor a great crime novelist. This is, in my view, the worst of her Lord Peter Wimsey books. Nearly 400 pages in my edition - yet the mystery could have been set out and solved in a 20-page short story, which is what Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle would have done. Most of this book is about the relationship between Peter and Harriet, and I find this tedious at best - it often verges on the emetic. The unchallenged snobbery that runs through all the Wimsey novels is at its worst here. If I hadn't set myself the task of re-reading the whole series I would have put this one down after the first few pages.If you must read a Sayers novel, go for Murder Must Advertise or The Documents in the Case instead.
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