BEST LORD PETER WIMSEY BOOKSįor those readers looking to get into the “Lord Peter Wimsey” series by Dorothy Sayers, this section will help with that. Edward Petherbridge played Peter in “Gaudy Night”. Ian Carmichael played the part in some radio adaptations and in “Murder Must Advertise”. A film called “The Silent Passenger” was made in the year 1935, to Sayers’ displeasure. There are many adaptations that have been made from the books in the series and many actors have played Peter Wimsey. Wimsey has become an archetype in crime fiction as the British gentleman detective. It is set in Britain, during the time period they were written, in the twenties and thirties. The series began in the year 1923 with the release of “Whose Body”, which is the first novel in the series. Peter is highly intelligent and considerable athletic ability, which he put on display while at Oxford as a cricket player (which got him a First). His looks were patterned after Roy Ridley, a poet and academic, that Sayers met after she saw him read a prize winning poem of his. Peter is described as having hair the color of straw, a beak type nose, and it looks like he has a foolish face. Below, you can see our top seven Dorothy Sayers books, which continue to impress us after all these years.He ages in real time, after being born in the year 1890. However, it’s the originals that we like best and often return to. Since the publication of Thrones, Dominations in 1998, Walsh has written three other Wimsey novels. While the series was incredibly successful, Sayers unfortunately abandoned her last Wimsey book in 1936.įollowing the author's death in 1957, author Jill Paton Walsh took Sayers' notes and turned them into a full book-the first Wimsey mystery to surface in more than six decades. Sayers’ eleven-book series follows the aristocratic Wimsey, his servant-and later on, his wife-as they solve murder mysteries in the 1920s and 30s. Dorothy Sayers, a Christie-contemporary and renowned English author, wrote a series of addictive novels whose hero, Lord Peter Wimsey, will call to mind your favorite literary sleuths.

If you’re an armchair detective looking for a new mystery series similar to Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, search no further.

First peter wimsey novel