Lord Peter Wimsey Novels - pick one for me to read please!

[HollyGoHeavily]

My book group meets pretty soon and this month's choice is to read a Lord Peter Wimsey novel. I have never heard of him not yet had the pleasure so need some pointers. Which of the novels should I read? The first one? Or is there a stand-out one in the middle of the series?

I think the short stories are titled Striding Folly, but I'll check when I can prize DS2 from my lap.

Sorry, just seen Holly has already said it.

87-90 stealth

interesting, PrematurelyAirconditioned - 88-92!

You may be able to tell from my user name that I love Wimsey!

I think it's really interesting seeing how he develops as a character from the early 1920s novels to the later ones. I have a particular fondness for Strong Poison. Some of the short stories are really good too (try Lord Peter Views the Body).

Murder must advertise is still good about the industry, less US than mad men. Strong poison a good entry level. As a who dunnit Whose Body is good, I think the nine tailors a good novel per se and Gaudy Night mixes discussions about the role of women with slush.
They are usually thought provoking but as I've been reading them since I was 12 I may not be the best judge.

I love these books and yes as a teenager I wanted to be Harriet and marry Lord Peter. I was keen to call dd1 Harriet but dh wouldn't have it.
Murder Must advertise was the first I read but I love them all. I notice Unnatural Death and The Unpleasantness at The Bellona club haven't been mentioned much but I think they're as strong starters as the others. I actually wouldn't read Strong Poison first. You need to fall in love with Peter first before you get in to the Harriet stuff. In which case you need Clouds of Witness in which he is blood attractive imo.
The only I wouldn't recommed people start with is 5 red Herrings. The alibi stuff is so complex and all the artists so vile, it's not the most accessible book.

I agree about the JPW sequels - they're a fun read but not a patch on the orginal.

Did anybody else give serious thought to a cloth of gold wedding dress?

The Nine Tailors is brilliant, as are the Harriet Vane novels, as the first reply said. As long as you avoid The Five Red Herrings, which is mostly in Scottish dialect and pretty much unreadable, you should be fine. Love love love those novels.

As a diversion, does anyone also like Margery Allingham?

Diversion over. Feel free to ignore. But better still tell me you like her too.

suggest reading the ones forst wothout harriet vane in chronological order. I love them all and re-read every so often. din't like teh scottish dalogue in five read herrings, and nt so keen The tv dramatisations of teh harriet vanes ones were fabuluos - tehe actors edward petherbridge and harriet walter were just how I imagined the characters from the books. its not really a whodunnt becaue it is usually obvous who the murderedr is, but the sories are so well written that the deductive proces is fun. Gaudy night is quite erotic (tried marjorie allingham and ngaio march - no where near as fgood

another one who wnted sto be harriet. sadly did not read them till after university or would have applied to oxford

I think Gaudy Night is my favourite love story ever. It is swooningly romantic. In a good way of course! But yes, Murder Must Advertise and Clouds of Witness first.

I am almost jealous of you reading them for the first time.

I prefer Ngaio Marsh to Agatha Christie, but Rory and Troy are not Peter and Harriet. And Fox is no Bunter (with whim I am also a little bit in love).

Haven't read any Margery Allingham - off to look them up.

I like Margery Allingham's Fashion in Shroud. One of the books I reread. And Gaudy Night too, of course. Margery Allingham a bit more silly then DLS... Sweet Danger extremely silly but also one of my favourite rereads.

You are so right re five red herrings.

Margery Allingham is brilliant too (The Tiger in the Smoke = utterly fab), though maybe not as consistently as DLS? I haven't read all of MA, maybe eight or so. In my memory, most were excellent, but one or two occasionally seemed to linger a little too long on depicting the charming eccentricity of her characters' extended families. Like she slightly fell in love with her creation (as I know people say of DLS & Wimsey, too).

Love DLS as well, natch (Nine Tailors, Gaudy Night and Murder Must Advertise stand out in my mind).

Josephine Tey, anyone?

Daughter of Time I liked very much.

Sorry, further derailment

Ooh yes , Daughter of Time is great. There are quite a lot of other Tey ones, too: less famous, but still lots of fun. I've forgotten details of most of 'em, but have five or six in PB from a reissue about five years ago.

Not tried Tey, but taking kids to the library on Friday so making my list.

I have "worthy" books sitting on the shelf waiting to be read ...

The daughter of time is one of my favourite books and the Franchise Affair is bloody good too.

I am quite an Allingham fan although she does sometime go way off beam Has anyone read The beckoning lady? Love that. Also Traitors Purse, Death of a ghost, The Tiger in the Smoke - scary!

Love DLS.And Tey. And Crispin. How wonderful to have them all to read for the first time. As a consequence of reading Wimsey (and Crispin) repeatedly as a teenager, it never really occurred to me that I might go to university somewhere other than Oxford-it really had seeped into my consciousness. And I bet I'm not the only person to be inspired to take up bellringing by reading The Nine Tailors. That was the first one I read and would certainly recommend it as a good starting point. Or Murder Must Advertise.

I've read lots of the MA ones. Agree Tiger in the smoke quite scary. Also the books made me want to go to Suffolk which I've never been.

I had a teenage crush on LPW. He was tall in my mind. Led to me having a huge crush on a boy at school (tall, blond, v. slightly intellectual) that turned into, years later, a disastrous relationship. Mainly because I'd been in love with him since I was 12 without actually knowing his real personality. If that makes sense!

Anyway Murder must Advertise is great and fascinating for social history - all that females in typing pool, men in own office sort of thing. But they are all great.

I read Miss Pym Disposes (Josephine Tey) last summer. Set in a girls' physical training college. A bit like Murder at Malory Towers in some ways... I wasn't sure on first reading, but on second reading there was a definite edge.