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Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reader Reviews 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs, July 27, 2003 Reviewer: Mary E. Sibley from Carneys Point, NJ USA This is still a masterpiece of the genre. Doroty Sayers was very aware of the issue of the writer as outsider. Her writing is sprightly. We begin promisingly, right in the midst of a trial. Nothing could be more action oriented. There is a wonderful jury instruction given on the burden of proof. Harriet Vane is charged with murder by arsenic and she is writing a mystery story about murder by arsenic. It is so very curious to write books about crime and to be accused of crime. There is a hung jury. With a month to erect a new defense if available, Lord Peter Wimsey undertakes to visit the father of the victim. Since both Harriet Vane , the alleged perpetrator, and the victim are writers, their books are selling enormously well. Wimsey seeks to insert his man, Bunter, into the household of the cousin with whom the victim resided and a lady confidential clerk into the cousin's law chambers. Lord Peter notes he collects books. Crime is not very decorative. Lord Peter's interference in bringing about his sister Mary's marriage is just dear. The plotting is excellent. The book does not age, although some of the renderings of the accents of the servants and the various classes of British society are heavy going.
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