Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L. Sayers

[meganbmoore]

This is a collection of twelve short stories, four with Lord Peter Wimsey, six with Montague Egg, and two independent stories.

The Wimsey stories were fairly normal Wimsey, but not long enough for Sayers to really get into Peter and his life, or to delve into the then-major social themes I’ve gotten used to. There’s also appalling little Bunter. Actually, Wimsey himself is sometimes more in the background of the stories.

This was my first introduction to Montague Egg, a traveling wine merchant. Unlike Wimsey, he doesn’t chase after crimes, he just has the bad luck to always be around when they take place. Somehow without seeming to fall under suspicion himself. He’s more obviously down-to-Earth than Wimsey, and rather deadpan. Unfortunately, as I’ve never heard of him, I suspect my chances of there being full length books about him are slim.

It’s not really outstanding on its own, but it’s an enjoyable read, and unspoilery if anyone feels like checking Sayers out without wanting to invest in a full novel. 

Comments

[melengro.livejournal.com]

I like Bunter a lot, actually. I'll admit that he's not as awesome as Peter, Parker, or Harriet, though, and his obsequiousness gets annoying at times.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I suspect Bunter is obsesquious primarily because Peter expects such things of his station. Unfortunately, he hasn't been overly prominent so far outside of Whose Body? and Clouds of Witness."

[melengro.livejournal.com]

We learn a lot more about Bunter and Peter's relationship later on, and a lot more about why Bunter acts the way he does. Hint: it's not because Peter expects it of him.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Bunter is much, much more class-conscious and fixated on How Things Should Be Done than Peter. And he's more than a little tyrannical under the obsequious presentation -- I think he and Jeeves and Hakkai, and Fumi Yoshinaga's Claude, share some sort of character-DNA there.

As for Egg, yep, no novels there, nothing but a scant near-dozen stories.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Tyrannical servants are excellent.

Are the rest of the stories collected in anything?

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I don't think there are any Egg-only collections, but the ones that aren't found in HH are collected in In The Teeth of the Evidence, along with a couple other Lord Peter stories and some non-series short mysteries.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Which, naturally, appears to be out of print. But probably available for a decent price used.