Clouds of Witness
Dorothy L. Sayers
Read by Kirsten Wever
While Lord Peter Wimsey is on holiday in the wilds of Corsica, his brother Gerald, Duke of Denver, is charged with the murder of their sister Mary's fiance. According to newspaper reports, on October 13th the shooting party at the Duke's Lodge had retired for the night when, at 3 a.m. of a bitterly cold and wet morning, his sister found him just outside the conservatory door, leaning over the dead body of her betrothed, Dennis Cathcart.
Learning of his brother’s indictment for murder, Lord Peter and Bunter - his invaluable man servant qua assistant sleuth - fly to the scene. Scotland Yard is already at work, in the person of Detective Inspector Charles Parker, with whom Lord Peter had recently solved the Battersea Mystery. (See Dorothy Sayers’ first Lord Peter Wimsey novel, “Whose Body?”)
What were the Duke of Denver, Lady Mary and Dennis Cathcart doing there on such a night, at such a time? True, Cathcart had angrily left the house hours earlier. But why, in that weather, had he stayed out? If the Duke, as he claimed, came on the body while returning from a stroll, why such nocturnal wanderings in the fiercest of weather? What led Lady Mary to come down from her bedroom in the middle of the night in order to go to, of all places, the conservatory?
The mystery's apparently independent but closely intertwined threads are disentangled by the joint efforts of Lord Peter Wimsey, his friend Chief Inspector Parker, and the inestimable Bunter. - Summary by Kirsten Wever (11 hr 21 min)
Chapters
Reviews
A Literary Crime Novel
The Momtionary
A story with 1920's English nobility at in London, the moors, and Paris. If you want a mystery that anodes by the rules and has plenty of characterization, scenery, and the shadow of WWI still lingering over the war generation. The reader is a bit slow, but gets nearly all the pronunciation right, except for "viscount." The difficult French all was flawless, as far as I could tell, too.
Poppy
Well read, although the delivery was a bit slow and measured in tone, and didn’t convey Sayer’s sparkle. I sped it up by 10 percent. Her French pronunciation was perfect. All in all, a very credible job.
great mystery story
Suzie
It’s striking how true the old saw that rank has its privileges plays out in the book. But a rousing good story
Witness
Keith Horvath
Interesting story with many characters. Got a bit better as it went along. A great twist at the end!
Great story
Linda in PNW
This is fun to listen to. The plot is somewhat predictable but who cares. Excellent reader.
jmk89
Any criticism of this reading would be unhelpful nit-picking! A sympathetic rendition of the book.
Cloud Of Witnesses
AVID READER
Wimsey at his finest. Webber captures the mood of Sayers/Wimsey perfectly.
María Gagliardo
Extremely witty. It could be much more entertaining if it weren’t so long!