There is a Grand Jury hearing, and the case proceeds. At the inquest, Lord Wimsey refuses to state an alibi for himself, and the mounting evidence indicates he is guilty of murder. To make matters worse, the gun was Lord Wimsey’s own – kept in a drawer with the key in the lock. Since Denis Cathcart was engaged to Lord Wimsey’s sister, Lady Mary, Lord Wimsey confronted him regarding some discrediting information which resulted in Denis Cathcart abruptly leaving the house. Lord Wimsey had been heard quarrelling loudly with the deceased late that same night.

The groundskeeper said he heard a shot at 10 minutes before midnight, but nothing later. His sister, Lady Mary, also sees him and claims in the inquest that she heard a shot fired around 3:00 a.m. Lord Wimsey (Gerald, or Jerry) left the house late at night and trips over the body on his way back to the house around 3:00 a.m. At a hunting house party, Denis Cathcart is discovered dead – shot through the chest and apparently dragged from some bushes some distance away to a spot near the conservatory door. Published in 1926, this is a terrific murder mystery by Dorothy L. Something! Whatever it is, it made me want to keep going with the series. I didn't even consider that it might have been suicide.Īnd this time around the story and characters seemed to have a bit more juice.

While still not an ah-mazing story, it did have a nice twist at the end. But now that he's back from.wherever (again, sorry!) he's on the case and ready to do whatever it takes to save his family.Ī fun side story is that Lord Peter's close friend, Inspector Charles Parker, seems to be falling for his sister Mary. He knows in his heart that Gerald has an airtight alibi somewhere but he can't convince him to cough it up.

Gerry is a bit of the pompous sort and doesn't for a moment think he will actually swing for it. Gerald Wimsey, the Duke of Denver, says he didn't do it, but for reasons of his own refuses to tell Scotland Yard where he was on the night in question. <-after a heated argument heard by several people in the house wherein he tells Cathcart to stay away from his sister! All this after the duke receives a letter from a friend that Cathcart is a known cheater at cards (which was apparently a big fucking deal back in the day). Lady Mary, the Wimsey brothers' little sister was engaged to marry Captain Denis Cathcart until his untimely death by gunshot at 3 am on the night in question, when she finds her oldest brother leaning over his dead body. While Pete is on a trek to the wilds of.somewhere (I forget, sorry) his brother and sister are hosting an upper-crust hunting party in Yorkshire. So this time around Lord Peter's brother is on trial for murder. Thank you to all of the people who encouraged me to keep going with Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series.

Definitely more engaging than the first book.

Peter wimsey clouds of witness