Question: What are the first words spoken by Lord Peter Wimsey in his literary life?

I remember the question from Trivial Pursuits. I don’t recall if I got the answer right or not. I would guess that I did not. Back when we played Trivial Pursuits, I was reading the Dorothy Sayers mystery novels, so it is possible that I did know the answer. Whether or not I got it right, the question has stuck with me.

It has been years since I last read any of the Dorothy Sayers’ books. For some reason the other day I decided to pull out the first, Whose Body?, and read it again. And so I was struck by the answer to the Trivial Pursuit question.

Answer: "OH, DAMN!"

Thus begins Whose Body? and thus begins the literary life of Lord Peter. I never thought much about it before I ran across the Trivial Pursuits question, but it is a somewhat odd way to begin a novel. I guess one of the tricks to being a successful novelist is to come up with a clever way to begin.

What I am struck by in reading the book again is how many times Sayers has someone commenting on how they are not in detective novel.

"Of course, if this were a detective story, there’d have been a convenient shower exactly an hour before the crime and a beautiful set of marks which could only have come there between two and three in the morning, but this being real life in a London November, you might as well expect footprints in Niagara."

It somehow seems amateurish for her to point out how her detective story is "real life" rather than a detective story. And after doing it once, you would think she would have refrained from bringing it up again. (And again. And again.)

But that is a minor criticism. And I might add, I realize how silly it is for me to comment on how Dorothy Sayers could improve her writing. It is like Mike Tyson lecturing Larry King on how to enounciate clearly. I realize I never have and most likely never will write anything as well as Dorothy Sayers has done.

I’m enjoying reading the book again. I find that I remember some things from it, but I have forgotten most of it. So in some ways it is an old friend and in others it is a new one.

My memory of reading the series of books was that Sayers got better as she wrote them. Her later books have better developed characters, particularly after she introduces Harriet Vain. But it is always best to go back to the beginning when you want to start again. And so, "OH, DAMN!" is where you start.