25. Striding Folly by Dorothy L. Sayers

this image references
all 3 stories

I probably should not have read this book at this point in time, probably shouldn't have even picked it up, but here we are.  I say that because it is a collection of the final 3 Lord Peter Wimsey short stories with an essay about Sayers and Wimsey.  I was never going to be a completist with this character, so it's not a big deal, but I did feel a bit like I was cheating.  

The first story is about a retired man who is resenting the potential development of the estate land up which his small cottage looks.  When a stranger comes to visit and play chess with him (he is a known chess expert), it is actually an elaborate ruse to frame him for murder of said developer.  The chess match was cool, but they story and mystery were a bit pat and short to be satisfying, involving galosh prints in mud.

The second story has Wimsey, on the day of the birth of his first son, chatting with a perplexed police constable who thought he saw a murder through a mail slot and then returned to find nothing that he thought he saw to be anywhere near the truth.  I guessed this one but the answer seemed so silly that I dismissed it.  It was fun, though, to read the thoughts and dialogue of the aristocratic Wimsey thinking about being a new father.

The third story was the best, because of the funny way it captures the positive side of British upper class mores.  Wimsy is no on his third child, the first of which is accused of stealing prize peaches from a nearby neighbour.  The Wimseys also have a guest, the annoying Mrs. Quint, who keeps lecturing to them about child-rearing.  Wimsey and his son conspire her comeuppance as the former also solves the mystery, to the satisfaction and appreciation of the neighbour.  It's a lot of fun.

The essay by Janet Hitchman is okay.  It's an excellent reference if you want a summary of Wimsey's character and career as well as some biographical info on Sayers herself.  It doesn't have all that much interesting to say, though she tries, other than that.  The book itself is a nice NEL paperback and I hope that some Wimsey completist finds it when I give it away.