I got this softcover from a local Annie's Book Stop, for another release copy.

This is one of my favorites in the series. Here, Lord Peter - whose reputation as an amateur sleuth has been a growing annoyance to his brother the Duke of Denver - finds himself having to try to solve a murder of which his brother's been accused! Lots of amusing byplay, especially when Peter and his friend Detective Parker are examining the crime scene:

Mr. Parker proudly stepped to a row of wooden frames, carefully covered with matting. Stripping this away, with the air of a bishop unveiling a memorial, he disclosed a V-shaped line of footprints.

“These,” said Parker, “belong to nobody—to nobody I've ever seen or heard of, I mean.”

“Hurray!” said Peter.

“Then downwards from the steep hill's edge
They tracked the footmarks small

(only they're largish).”

“No such luck,” said Parker. “It's more a case of:

“They followed from the earthy bank
Those footsteps one by one,
Into the middle of the plank;
And farther there were none!”

“Great poet, Wordsworth,” said Lord Peter; “how often I've had that feeling."

And there's considerable drama, as when Lord Peter finds himself lost in a treacherous bog. Oh, and some budding romance as well, in a rather unlikely quarter...

[There's a TV Tropes page on the Wimsey books, with some entertaining tidbits. And I enjoyed the 1972 TV adaptation starring Ian Carmichael as Wimsey - though I admit I liked Edward Petherbridge's Wimsey better.]

I left this book in my Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

Released for:

** 2024 Never Judge a Book By Its Cover challenge. **

** 2024 TV Series challenge. **