The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club - A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery

One of the most famous detectives of the British Golden Age of Mystery is not a policeman, but the brother of the (fictitious) Duke of Denver, Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey. He is wealthy enough to do what he wants with his life, and has devoted himself to oenology, bibliophily, and criminology, i.e. wine, antiquarian books, and murderers.

On Armistice Day, ninety-year-old General Fentiman is discovered dead in his chair in front of the fireplace at the Bellona Club. He had heart problems, so his death is not unexpected, but although rigor mortis has set in, one of his legs still bends at the knee. Was his body moved or otherwise mishandled after death?

The exact time of the old general's death must be determined because if his sister, who died on the morning of Armistice Day predeceased him, he will inherit her fortune, and his two grandsons will become rich men. If the General died first, his sister's money goes to a distant relation who served as her companion.

Lord Peter is called in to determine the exact time of the General's death and he is bothered by the loose knee. He is also worried by the fact that no one saw the old man come into the club that morning. Further investigation reveals that the General never returned home the previous night.

Where was he?

This is a complex and interesting mystery, and as always, I went after every red herring that the author dangled in front of me. Lord Peter has the General's body dug up after tricking the eldest grandson into signing the exhumation order, and it is determined that the old man was poisoned. All of the major suspects are lying about something, so that makes the murderer much harder to find.

I don't really read Dorothy Sayers' mysteries for the plots, but for the life she breathes into her characters. Lord Peter is a real human being with many flaws, including a tendency to revert to Bertie Wooster at his most vacuous. But I think Wimsey (in spite of being born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth) is the most lovable of all the great British Golden Age Detectives.

The Bellona Club is a Piccadilly club catering to military men, from aged Crimean War veterans dozing and complaining their way through long uneventful days to young World War I veterans like Wimsey still, in many cases, trying to adjust to civilian life and find a place for themselves in the world again. I think I remember reading somewhere that post-traumatic stress disorders were first diagnosed in WWI soldiers, and this book has characters whose nerves unfit them for work or stable lives as a result of their war experiences. It must have been very up-to-date in its day, and it still seems modern today. Wimsey, asked by his own family lawyer to look into a sensitive issue, is at his most professional and methodical here, with whimsy deployed only sparingly as needed.

The mystery focuses on two wills, written by an elderly brother and sister. Wimsey's task is to use his detecting skills to figure out who died first, since that will make a difference as to who benefits and to what extent. Old General Fentiman has been found dead in his usual chair by the fireplace at the Bellona Club one afternoon, but no one knows exactly when he died. His very wealthy sister died at her home that very morning, leaving nearly everything to the General. But for the General's two grandsons, one an active soldier, the other a veteran with financial problems, barely remembered in their great-aunt's will, the time of death will make all the difference. If the General actually outlived his sister, then one or both brothers will be very rich, but if he died first, the great aunt's fortune will go elsewhere. There's motive enough for murder, but did anyone have an opportunity?

Later on, Wimsey finds himself collaborating again with his Scotland Yard pal Parker, the only friend who never loses patience with him ("attraction of opposites," Parker explains.) As things become more complicated, there is a very atmospheric exhumation, and also some interesting conversations about marriage, love affairs, glands, and poison, among other topics.

Another excellent early club-land mystery, somewhat lighter in tone, is Richard Hull's 1935 "Keep It Quiet," in which the cook at the Whitehall Club fears he has made a fatal mistake in the preparation of his signature soufflé.

Published in 1928 this Lord Peter Wimsey mystery is set around Remembrance Day. When Wimsey arrives at the Bellona Club he meets up with his friend, George Fentiman, who is a victim of poison gas and shell shock during the war. He admits to Lord Peter that he is struggling financially and is upset that he is dependent upon his wife Sheila going out to work. This novel sees Lord Peter Wimsey, and author Dorothy L. Sayers, in a much more reflective mood. There is an obvious distance between the generations – as George Fentiman struggles with the post-war world, both his brother Robert and his grandfather, General Fentiman, see the war as something to be celebrated and the elderly General perceives George’s problems as weakness.

When the elderly general is found dead in his armchair at the club, there is an attempt to contact his estranged sister, Lady Dormer. However, it is discovered that, not only had she also died, but the two met on Lady Dormer’s deathbed only the evening before. Solicitor Mr Murbles asks Lord Peter to investigate which of them died first; as the terms of Lady Dormer’s will mean that if she died first, Robert and George Fentiman will inherit a fortune. However, if General Fentiman died first, the money will go to Ann Dorland, a distant relative of Lady Dormer, who acted as her companion.

Of course, what begins as a simple investigation to discover the time of General Fentiman’s death becomes a much more involved and complicated affair. There are mysterious sightings of someone who may be able to clarify the matter, chases across the Continent, wonderful detours into some of the popular fads of the period, and even an exhumation, before Lord Peter, along with his detective-inspector friend Charles Parker, discover the truth.

This is a well plotted and interesting novel – clearly showing how the WWI veterans are viewed by the older generation and highlighting the staid, unsympathetic opinions of the elderly, ex-military members who make up the majority of the gentleman’s club. They are a generation separated by a new kind of warfare and perfectly capture the truth that the generation gap is by no means a new experience. I love Dorothy L. Sayers novels and Lord Peter Wimsey is one of my favourite fictional sleuths. This is a wonderful glimpse into a vanished world, as well as a fascinating mystery.

Gentlemen's clubs are a peculiar facet of British upper-class life, serving as a place of retreat from family, from the hoi-polloi, and from all women. Most of London's clubs are rather different places now, but in the 1920s they still were going strong. On the morning of Armistice day, November 11, the many veterans of the Great War who are members of the Bellona Club put poppies in their buttonholes and go outside to observe the moment of silence in remembrance of their mates who didn't come home from France. And when they return to the warmth of the clubroom -- Lord Peter Wimsey among them -- they discover the body of the very elderly General Fentimen in his armchair by the fireside. Well, he was into his nineties; one can't be too surprised, right? Only, when one of the other members goes to call the home of the general's estranged sister to alert her to her brother's death, they find that the old lady has just died, too. A macabre coincidence, right? But then the terms of the two siblings' wills become known. The wealthy sister had left everything to her brother, but if he predeceased her, then it all goes to her young female companion. And the general left all his much smaller estate to his two grandsons. Obviously, if the sister died first, the general became (for a few hours) very wealthy indeed, and the grandsons inherit it all -- but if the general died first, the grandsons get only a few thousand pounds and the companion will be set for life. It's a complicated set-up, but a fascinating one. The lawyers ask Wimsey to look into the times of death of both parties, which are proving very difficult to pin down, and he begins to suspect the general's body was tempered with. The grandsons -- one an active-duty army officer, the other a victim of post-traumatic stress ("shell-shock" in those days) who had to resign his commission and who now cannot hold a job -- obviously would benefit from delaying the general's death, and that's where the first part of the story focuses -- but, as always in a Sayers novel, there's considerably more to it than that, and Lord Peter's investigations go far afield. While the plot will definitely keep your mind engaged and the dialogue is as snappy as usual (especially Wimsey's quotation-laden conversation), the author's characterizations are somewhat more melodramatic than usual. Though I'm rather partial to Murbles the solicitor. Still, it's a good novel. And Sayers makes the most of the opportunity to get in a few jabs at gentlemen's clubs!

Among the more successful mysteries is Dorothy Sayers' "The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club." A very wealthy woman dies, leaving a fortune to her brother if he is still alive, otherwise to a young female companion. When the brother is found dead in his chair at the Club, the novel becomes, not a whodunit, but a "whenwasitdun," a question much on the mind of not only the heirs of the two deceased persons but of Lord Peter Wimsey, who is asked by the brother's lawyer to help establish the time of the brother's death (that of the sister being certain).

The question of When is answered halfway through the novel. But even before that, the other questions of how he died and by whose hand become paramount; and Wimsey winds up offending almost everybody concerned in his inexorable quest for the solution. There is a certain tongue-in-cheek element in Sayers' writing that calls out for a good reading--and that is exactly what we get in the Audio Partner's set of 6 audio cassettes with none other than Lord Peter himself, which is to say Ian Carmichael, doing the honors.
Having read the book twice in the past and watched the Acorn Media video release many times, I enjoyed listening to this tape even more, picturing in my mind the scenes from the television version, which seems to be remarkably faithful to the novel. This set is highly recommended for those who love a good mystery, well-told and (here) well read.

When Lord Peter Wimsey comes down to the Bellona club to dine with an old friend he little expected to find the 90 year old General Fentiman sitting quietly by the fire in full rigor mortis. Nor, did he expect to be confronted with a case about which one of the General or his sister, Lady Dormer, predeceased the other. But, seeing that it was a matter of some half million pounds he was delighted to oblige old Mr. Murbles, the family solicitor.
It turns out that establishing Fentiman's time of death is going to be a major feat. No one, including his heirs, the staff of the Bellona Club and most of London seems to recall what the General was doing that morning, or when he showed up, opened his newspaper and promptly expired. Worse, what few facts that Wimsey can put together convince him that something was very, very wrong with Fentiman's timely ticking off. Suddenly this is no longer a case of friendly detection but a serious investigation into a murder.
'The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club' was one of Dorothy Sayers' early smash hits. It shows off Wimsey's charming urbanity against the gemlike setting of his friends and cohorts, only striking serious chords when grim necessity rears its monocled head. Wimsey doesn't act quite as foolish as he was prone to in past novels, which makes him likeable as well as witty. The other regular characters have also acquired some extra depth that makes everyone a bit more believable. Everyone but the bit players, of course. Each of those is, as usual, a quick, delightful pastiche, one of Sayers greatest talents.
This is one of Sayers' most memorable books, and, despite a plot that is a little too transparent, is one of her most re-readable. The odd thing about a Sayers mystery story is how unimportant it is whether you know or can guess the murderer. 'Who' is less important than 'how' in these tales, and neither is as important as the balletic interaction of the players, most of whom you would like to find in your sitting room - it you had a sitting room large enough, that is.
This is also the first book that displays Wimsey's softer nature with the ladies. While Marjorie Phelps is not destined to become Lord Peter's great love, we see glints of the Peter to come. He shows a fair and attentive style without a hint of macho that will serve him well in his trials to come. I am tempted to say that, if you don't enjoy this book, there is no hope for you as a Sayers fan. That's not completely true, but ' The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club' is a completely representative Sayers effort and one of my perennial favorites.

Peter Wimsey solves a classic locked-room mystery, as he tries to determine how the corpse of an elderly man came to be in the Bellona Club on Remembrance Day. The man died sometime after 10am, but the exact time of death is a mystery. It becomes a pressing mystery when it becomes clear that the time of death determines who will inherit a large fortune. The convoluted family argument and complex relationships make Wimsey's efforts more difficult. Halfway through the book the culprit seems to be apprehended, but Wimsey isn't so sure. I liked the model of a solution partway through the book that had to be unraveled.

This book had little engagement with Wimsey's life outside of the mystery. It is a book dependent upon Wimsey entering an existing situation. The details are numerous, and we get an interesting look at a London gentlemen's club in the 1920s. Overall, an entertaining classic mystery.

Lord Peter Wimsey has planned on spending a quiet Armistice Day, just stop by the Bellona Club, reminisce with some old friends and then a quiet memorial dinner. But since this is Lord Peter Wimsey, the aristoctratic amateur sleuth, (and this is a mystery novel) a death soon occurs. The deceased is old General Fentiman and since he is ninety his passing is rather sad but not surprising. Not at all the sort of thing to arouse Lord Peter's notice until the exact time of the old General's death becomes a matter of vital importance to his heirs, one of whom is a friend of Lord Peter.

As Wimsey looks deeper into the matter he becomes involved in the art world, a jilted lover, domestic tension and even receives a proposal. Of course he unravels the mysteries in the end, bringing the guilty to justice and protecting the innocent.

As always with this series the glimpses into Lord Peter's world are as entertaining as the mystery itself. We are treated to visits with Inspector Parker, Bunter, and Marjorie Phelps and if those names mean nothing to you, you would probably do better to start this series with one of the earlier books. For fans of the series this is a definite must read.

When an elderly gentleman, ensconced in a winged back leather chair close up to the fire and apparently reading the "Times", is found to be dead the word for this event, occurring as it does in a respectable London club in the 1920s, is "unpleasantness". When Lord Peter Wimsey investigates further and discovers that the death is actually murder, it is still not proper, in the Bellona Club, to abandon the euphemism "unpleasantness". Thus is established the tone and the subject of Dorothy L Sayers' fifth work of detective fiction, written in 1928.

Readers of "Golden Age" detective fiction will find the usual wit and polish in the writing and a central idea for a crime that derives from nice points of logic and a specialized knowledge of anatomy and medicine. Somehow these strengths, together with a preponderance of dialogue, also account for the book's weakness. It lacks atmosphere. After describing the opening scene in the Bellona Club with great care and effect, Miss Sayers rarely thereafter gives a thought to sketching in details of time, place, action or surroundings.

So this is one of Dorothy L Sayers' books that will always provide me with entertainment and rich enjoyment, while making me aware that it does not quite provide everything I ask of great detective fiction.

How could anyone resist reading a mystery with a title so very British as this one? I love the word "Unpleasantness" in the title, and I thoroughly enjoyed this, the fourth of Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey novels. I think this particular mystery was more solvable by the average reader than many of her stories, but that didn't make the book any less enjoyable to me.

The story is set at the Bellona Club, where a 90-year-old member is found dead. The time of his death will determine who inherits a large fortune. And, just as in the previous Wimsey novel, "Unnatural Death," the detective must determine whether this death was natural or whether it was murder. A very enjoyable read.

Dorothy L. Sayers' THE UNPLEASANTNESS AT THE BELLONA CLUB creates a world the reader perceives of a British club of the 1920s when England was slowly beginning to charge as they recover from the devastation of WWI.
The Admiral is dead, no one knows when he died sitting in his chair at the club, but the strange circumstances of his body leave no doubt that he was murder. Lord Peter is astounded that such as unseemly event could occur in the unlikely location.
This Lord Peter story ranks as one of the best produced by Mrs. Sayers and is often included in lists of one of the best detective stories written during the 20th century.
A must read for anyone who loves a good puzzle.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS.

This book was a pleasure to read. Dorothy Sayers writes with wit, wry amusement, and a certain joy, There is a comment by the diffident hero, Lord Peter Wimsey, that the books in a library are like "lobster shells from past feasts", kept around for the memories, and not actually reread. What an interesting perspective to those of us whose houses are burdened down with filled bookcases.

"The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club" is a reminder of just how good Dorothy L. Sayers was at her very best. The mystery is well-constructed, Lord Peter is as sympathetically sharp as he ever was, and the secondary characters are well-rounded and realistic.

Highly recommended.

This book shows the charming and dry British humor. The setting: an old austere British club in 1928. On Remembrance Day, three men are sitting down to lunch. One notices an old soldier sitting not far away. He has a newpaper in front of him and a drink to his side. He is quite dead, and so the Unpleasantness begins. Wonderful

This captures class and English crime fiction about as well as anything ever published. Sayers is at her usual best in creating a parlor mystery and Lord Peter is at her best in solving a somewhat complicated crime.

This is considered a classic mystery book by one of the great mystery writers. It was recently re-published in a very nice binding. Originally out in 1928. So it's true to its 1928 time period. Very suspenseful, entertaining, some romance, reference to WWI veterans, An absolutely great main character, Lord Peter Wimsey. I loved this mystery. Loved it.

I like the Lord Peter Wimsey series in small doses. It gets a little cloying if you try to read more than one in a short time span. Light read, not demanding on your attention, great for a long airplane ride.