The Five Red Herrings

The Five Red Herrings is the sixth in the Lord Peter Wimsey series of mystery novels by Dorothy L. Sayers. The eleven novels in the series, as well as a number of short stories, are available for download (as e-books) at a Canadian website, fadedpage.com. I had downloaded the 11 e-books last year when I was on an Agatha Christie binge, but had neglected to read any until after coming upon  a review of her first novel by a Facebook friend.

After reading Whose Body? and clearing up a few books I had already put into the queue, I began reading the Lord Peter Wimsey series. I've read the first six, and for the most part, I've enjoyed what I've read. However, I'm afraid that I didn't care for The Five Red Herrings . I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I found Sayers' usage of a heavy Scottish accent in this particular book distracting. The story was far too complicated and difficult to follow, and the accents made it much worse. From wikipedia:

"The first edition was reviewed in The Spectator of 1931 by MI Cole who found the impregnable alibis of the rather indistinguishable artist suspects, and the elaborate examination of timetables, ticket punches and so on, to be really taxing to the intelligence. He noted that Lord Peter Wimsey and the author's usual pleasant fantasies have retired into the background leaving a 'pure-puzzle' book which is disappointing, dry, and dull. He acknowledged, however, that it has been appreciated immensely by puzzle fanatics who possess 'the type of mind that goes on solving crossword puzzles for ever and ever' ".

After reading The Five Red Herrings, I decided to put the last five books in the series on a temporary hold. I've gone off in a totally new direction with the book I'm currently reading - Good Karma : How to Create the Causes of Happiness by Thubten Chodron.