Clouds of Witness: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery

Beginning and conclusion were fairly interesting. Rest of this mystery full of too many artists & situations to keep track of. Constant "supposes" and details of schedules left a muddle of confusion. Seems like author was constructing a puzzle but the result was pages of boring text. Not one of her better books.

I truly enjoyed re-reading this classic Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter book. Lord Peter's brother, the disapproving Duke of Denver, has found himself arrested for murder and it is up to Lord Peter to find the real killer, without his brother's help. Lots of English countryside humor and knowledge as they look for two mysterious women and Lord Peter finds out more than he probably wants to know about his brother. I own all of these books in print and am just now adding them to my Kindle collection.

If you like older English detective stories, than I think you will even like Peter Wimsey. He is one of my favorite characters in the mystery realm. My favorite author, however, is Agatha Christie. ALL of her characters are memorable, and sometimes I find myself quoting them. But Lord Peter is great also.

My first clue should have been the misspelling of the author's name...

This only gets one star because I couldn't give it zero. The story is, of course, brilliant but ths Kindle version is an insult. Words and phrases are obscured (presumably because this was scanned) and there's no proper paragraph breaks when the scene shifts.... a miserable reading experience, one I abandoned by chapter 2.
I strongly urge the store to review all products by this e-publisher and remove them.

the store currently offers two versions of this mystery novel. The first appeared in Kindle format on Oct. 9, 2010 and sells for about two dollars. The second appeared on Sep. 4, 2012 and sells for about three dollars. A reviewer of the earlier copy said, "...the formatting in the Kindle edition is bad to the point of distracting from the plot. Paragraphs are run together and the margins meander..." So naturally, I spent the extra dollar and ordered the later copy. It has formatting issues of its own. Specifically, quotation marks are replaced by question marks in little boxes. I can't reproduce the boxes in this review, but the following dialogue offers a short example:

The Coroner: ?You did not go out again??
Witness: ?I did not.?

Clouds of Witness is book two in the Lord Peter Wimsey series. Book one did not have any formatting problems. I enjoyed both novels (in spite of those distracting question marks). I decided to order the third book in the series but changed my mind upon discovering that the Kindle price is nearly twelve dollars. This seems out of line considering that the mass market paperback price for the same book is about eight dollars AND Agatha Christie mysteries in Kindle format run about seven dollars. It must be time to dig out my library card again.

I always enjoy the Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane series. I read the series about 30 years ago, and decided to celebrate with a reading now. This one carries the reader along on many "red herrings" (leading nowhere) but in the end we have an interesting surprise. Lots of fun.

This book was obviously when Sayers stepped into her own as a mystery writer. Lord Peter Wimsey's brother is arrested for murder when his sister's fiance is found dead outside of their hunting lodge. The fiance had been a bit of a cad, and Wimsey's brother had been heard threatening him...so of course in those days, when forensics were in their early years...a lot of cases were made on circumstantial evidence. And a lot of the circumstantial evidence was against the brother, who was being stoic and honorable and refused to open his mouth, to protect his sister and other women he was involved with. Lord Peter Wimsey comes running back from the Continent along with his detective friend, and his trusty valet, and gets to work on the mystery, finding plenty of people doing questionable things, including his sister and his brother. Once he gets his sister to spill her secrets and gets her to see her mistakes are hurting her brother, some of the knots start to unravel allowing Wimsey to find a way to save his brother from a noose.

What's great about these old mysteries is the sense of humor with which they are written. They are really funny, even now. Even being an American reading the rather droll British way of looking at things and being almost 100 years away from that time period, it is still charming. Apparently they did television shows of these mysteries back in the 70's but I'm wishing they'd redo them again now with someone more modern Britain to play the part of Peter Wimsey. I'm sure there are plenty of great English actors who could use the job...

Fun read with entertaining characters and plot twists. Editing needs work. Footnotes have been blended randomly into the text. Gaps in the text ("[MISSING]" or "[GARBLED]") proliferate towards the end, but don't cause confusion. No big issue at this price.

RIP OFF. Whoever put this mess together clearly did it the cheap and dirty way. It's unreadable; many places where the text is replaced by the word "garbled" in brackets, which doesn't even make sense. Shameful.

I liked all of Ms. Sayers Lord Peter mysteries - bar none. In most cases, a LOT of research on the cause of the bodies that seem to abound - as they seem to do in mysteries. And I love the Lord Peter character.

Dorothy Sayers is one of my favorite British mystery writers. Her stories capture British period life with style and humor. This book is an especially enjoyable example. If you like the older British authors, especially the women writers from the 20th century, then Sayers is for you.

In this book in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, Lord Peter must investigate the case of a body discovered on his family's ducal seat.This time, his elder (and very disapproving) older brother has been charged with the murder...

I, too got the version with all the [garbled] and [missing] problems. I love Sayers, her erudite and witty mysteries are a treat, but this version is terrible and purchasers should get a refund and/or a new corrected version!

Lord Peter Wimsey is the ultimate seemingly inbred rich wastrel. You cannot take him seriously, but he always wins out in the end. In his 1930's dialect he, without a sober thought, saves the family honor and the neck of his older and unimaginative brother. With his perfect foil Bunter he carries the day.

Lord Peter Wimsey at his best! Sayers mysteries never disappoint. Peter has to use all of his deductive powers to save his brother from the noose. This book will give you hours of enjoyment. Hard to put it down -- you will want to read it in one setting. These mysteries never go out of date.

It's a fun read! Those who want a straightforward or noir or typical PI book will read in vain, as Lord Peter and Harriet Vane are nothing if not the most fantastical investigators of murder. But the writing is jolly good and the social observations are cutting.

I love Dorothy Sayers work! She was a real master at it, and I'm happy to see that Jill Patton Walsh is now finishing some of her unpublished works. They are a real treat, definitely not to be missed by any fancier of British mysteries.

Very entertaining. This is just what the title states, yet knowing that, you still go down the various wrong paths with the author. She developed an ingenious plot. It seems impossible. I was intrigued 'til the very end. You will love it!

Where Lord Peter meets his fate - Harriet Vane! The detective marries the crime novelist, should provide some excellent breakfast table discussions! Still, Lord Peter doesn't have it easy it takes three more books before she succumbs to his charms!

The Kindle edition is a mess, missing far too many words to be worth even the 99 cents I paid for it. I'd give the novel itself three stars, but I'm leaving this review to warn others away from buying the Kindle version.

Where Lord Peter meets his fate - Harriet Vane! The detective marries the crime novelist, should provide some excellent breakfast table discussions! Still, Lord Peter doesn't have it easy it takes three more books before she succumbs to his charms!

The Kindle edition is a mess, missing far too many words to be worth even the 99 cents I paid for it. I'd give the novel itself three stars, but I'm leaving this review to warn others away from buying the Kindle version.

Early efforts in the Wimsey ouvre, she was still working out what she had to say with him. "Clouds" isn't very polished in its comedy of manners aspect, but in "Bellona" it really begins to hit its stride.

This mystery goes into the relationship between Lord Peter and his family in some depth. While still maintaining all the class distinctions of the era, she nevertheless allows Lord Peter to relate to the "common man" with respect.

Do not buy this edition. Full of typos, garbled text, missing passages.

Let me be clear: the book itself is one of my favorites. This is just a shoddy edition not worth any amount of money. Not even worth the time to download or get free.

I wish there were a way to give a minus 5 stars.