Lord Peter Views the Body (1928)

Lord Peter Views the Body, first published in 1928, is the first collection of short stories about Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Some stories, starting with “The Problem of Uncle Meleager’s Will,” had been previously published.

All twelve stories were included in later complete collections.

Synopsis

The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers

Members of London's "Egotists' Club" are telling stories of mysterious, unsolved happenings. One of the members' guests, a cinema actor named Varden, tells how he was invited to model for a wealthy sculptor, Eric Loder, and spent several months at Loder's New York mansion. After the war, Loder invited Varden to return to New York for another sitting. Varden noticed that Loder's mistress, Maria Morano, had disappeared, though a life-size silver-plated sculpture of her now occupied the living room. One night, Varden was wakened and told to flee for his life by a "funny-looking" monocled man. This man then smashed the arm of the statue with a fireplace poker, showing Varden a human arm bone inside. Varden fled the house immediately, but afterwards wondered if it was all a practical joke.

The "funny-looking man" – Wimsey, also a member of the club – appears and explains the mystery. Wimsey himself was a guest in Loder's mansion some weeks before Varden's arrival. A burst water bottle led him to abandon his bed for the living room sofa; there, he secretly witnessed Loder enter a hidden workshop behind a bookcase. After Loder left, Wimsey investigated and discovered an electroplating apparatus, as well as evidence that Loder had killed and electroplated Maria, and intended to do the same to Varden when he arrived. Loder had believed (incorrectly) that Varden and Maria were having an affair.

After frightening Varden away, Wimsey confronted Loder in the workshop. Loder tried to turn off the lights and attack Wimsey, but tripped and fell into the plating apparatus' cyanide tank, dying instantly. In trying to turn on the lights, Wimsey accidentally turned on the apparatus, causing Loder's hands to be electroplated in copper. Loder's death was ruled an accident, and Wimsey and Bunter gave the statue of Maria a Christian burial with the help of a sympathetic priest.

The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question

Peter and Bunter are queueing at Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris, when Peter overhears a conversation from a young woman in the queue that makes him curious, particularly when he notes that the woman and her companion are travelling to Dover. After patient investigation, Peter meets with his mother's friend, the Dowager Duchess of Medway, and through conversation learns that a highly valuable diamond necklace will be taken out of the family vault for her granddaughter's forthcoming wedding. He asks for and is granted an invitation to the wedding.

Arriving at the wedding, Wimsey finds Detective Inspector Charles Parker among the police presence there to protect the diamonds. A brief uproar arises when the bride discovers that the necklace is stolen. The thieves have already been caught, however, due to Peter's information, and he shocks the assembled wedding party by exposing the Dowager Duchess's French lady's maid as Monsieur Jacques le Rouge, alias "Jacques Sans-culotte", a notorious safecracker, thief, and female impersonator. Jacques cheerfully confesses, asking Peter how he knew. Peter explains that, while queueing at Saint-Lazare, he overheard Jacques in feminine dress refer to himself by the masculine article un instead of the feminine une. Jacques congratulates Peter for such a mastery of the French language, unique among English people. The Dowager Duchess is initially outraged that Peter knowingly allowed her to be dressed, undressed, and assisted to bed by a man, but when he apologizes she laughs it off, saying that not many women of her age can boast of such a thing.

The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will

This is the first published Lord Peter story; it was originally published in Pearson's Magazine vol. 60, July 1925, pp. 27–35. The version of the story published in Lord Peter Views the Body, however, was altered to set it after the most recent novel — when Mary mentions the Soviet Club, Peter refers to the events that happen there in Clouds of Witness.

When old Meleager Finch dies, he leaves two wills: the first grants his fortune to the conservative Primrose League, while the second leaves everything to his niece, Hannah, a young, serious socialist. He writes a letter to Hannah explaining that this second will has been hidden somewhere, and that her only chance of finding it is "by the exercise of a sustained frivolity."

Lord Peter, his sister Mary, and his valet Bunter travel with Hannah to help her find the missing will. They discover that Meleager was a crossword puzzle fiend, and find a trove of puzzles he had written, including one with no accompanying grid. When Peter falls into the impluvium, he discovers that the missing grid is the tiled floor of the fountain itself, and solving it reveals the location of the missing will.

The story is notable for containing an entire crossword puzzle in which all the clues are rhyming couplets (or quatrains): for example, clues the word ENDIVE. The answers were included at the end of the book, allowing crossword fans to attempt to solve the puzzle themselves.

The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag

Two motorcyclists enter into a high speed chase on the Great North Road, which carries on for many miles and passes many startled passers-by and motorists. They are blocked from tearing through a village by a brave policeman, who stands in their way. The second motorist (Mr Walters) explains that he was only chasing the first motorist (Mr Simpkins) because Simpkins dropped a bag further up the road. Simpkins vehemently denies owning the bag, much to Walters' astonishment as he actually saw the bag fall from Simpkin's bike. A passer-by discovers that the bag in question contains part of a corpse, and the two motorcyclists are detained just as Lord Peter arrives to claim the bag, which he claims was full of jewellery and was stolen from him.