Just finished up In the Teeth of the Evidence by Dorothy L Sayers. This collection represents the last bit of Sayers' fiction that I wanted to read...just so I could say I'd re-read all of her fiction this year. The collection is okay. Decent. But I don't think it represents her best work. I much prefer her earlier collections (Lord Peter Views the Body and Hangman's Holiday) and even her final stories found in Striding Folly. The writing itself isn't at fault--it's terrific as always--but the stories seem more contrived and almost as if she were pushing a bit to produce them. Here's a brief run-down of the stories:Wimsey stories (read in the previous month):"In the Teeth of the Evidence": Lord Peter goes to his dentist for a filling and finds himself involved in a mystery he can really sink his teeth into. His dentist is called in to identify a man who has died in a blazing fire...only his dental records can prove his identity. And it's up to Lord Peter to help prove if it was death by accident or suicide....or even murder."Absolutely Elsewhere": In which Lord Peter proves that a murderer just might be able to travel at the speed of light.Montague Egg stories:"A Shot at Goal": The boss at the local mill is murdered and Monty shows that the solution depends on an error in spelling."Dirt Cheap": A case of murder and missing jewels. Monty's evidence makes it seem impossible for anyone to have done it."False Weight": Where the clue rests with a grandfather clock--is it telling the truth or not?"The Professor's Manuscript": Is the professor really who he says he is? And, if not, who is he?Others:"The Milk Bottles": Hector Puncheon, intrepid report, is pulled into an odd story of the milk bottles. For there's something decidedly fishy when the bottles start piling up outside the apartment where a man and his wife regularly quarreled--and now he's gone and she hasn't been seen for a week."Dilemma": This one is more a human interest story than a mystery. A night of tale-telling helps one man regain his self-respect."An Arrow O'er the House": What happens when a crime author's story is a bit too much like real life?"Scrawns": Where Susan learns that appearances can be deceiving."Nebuchadnezzer": Can a murderer stand to watch his deed acted out before him? Or will he break under pressure?"The Inspiration of Mr. Budd": Mr. Budd, hairdresser, uses an ingenious method to help catch a crook. His fellow barbers will soon be green with envy."Blood Sacrifice": Would a man give his own life, his own blood to be sure someone else would...die?"Suspicion": Mr. Mummery suspects that he's harboring a poisoner in his house. It could be that he's right."The Leopard Lady": How to effect the removal of extraneous people. 1,000 pounds payable in one lump sum--no questions asked."The Cyprian Cat": A very strange story about a man who can't abide cats and shoots one. Or did he?
A collection of short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers; all on the subject of mysteries and murder, but ranging from the almost silly misunderstandings to very dark murder plots. As with her past short story collections, Lord Peter Views the Body and Hangman's Holiday, this book has a few short stories about Lord Peter Wimsey, a few about Montague Egg and a few with no particular sleuth or recurring character. As I commented while reading this, I wish Sayers had just released her L.P.W. short stories in one collection, her Montague Egg stories in another and her random other stories in a third, as the Lord Peter and Montague Egg stories are more like her novels in characters and humor, whereas her other short stories can get rather dark and occasionally odd. (The Cyprian Cat in particular from this collection; though Nebuchadnezzar, Blood Sacrifice and The Leopard Lady, being explorations of murderer's minds are all rather dark.) This is not true of all the random stories, as The Milk-Bottles, Dilemma, An Arrow O'er the House, Scrawns and The Inspiration of Mr Budd all feel like ideas she had that she couldn't decide whether to involve one of her detectives or not and as the plots stand fairly solid on their own, decided to just leave be. Content notes: As with all collections, the tone and style can change quite drastically from story to story, however, as a whole the language is normal Sayers. There is some mild period swearing, but not generally a lot. Though affairs or infidelities are hinted at or implied as causes for characters actions, there really aren't any sensuality issues with any indiscretions happening "off page" and un-described. Violence-wise, a lot of the stories involve a murder mystery, so the recreating of the crime obviously involves someone dying, however the murders are not generally described in lurid detail. Car collision, poison and shooting are mostly to blame for deaths. Personally, I found the murderers obsessing and fantasizing about the deaths of their victims more disturbing than any of the actual murders.
Do You like book In The Teeth Of The Evidence (1969)?
This Sayers collection is of the old school mystery stories; a crime is committed by persons unknown, the daring detective (or traveling salesman in some of these) turns up and hears the clues. Through clever trickery or astute observations, the detective figures out quickly who the culprit must be, to the surprise of all around. They're perfectly fine stories for what they are, but they read far too much like Encyclopedia Brown stories, to me. This likely comes from both having read every Encyclopedia Brown story I could get my hands on when I was a child, and from having read too many modern mysteries that don't rely on such trickery for the plot. I say trickery because that's what much of it is. The "solutions" are often paper thin, relying on the guilty parties simply giving up as soon as they realize that the detective has them, even when the evidence against them is circumstantial at best. Not a bad collection by any means, but too many stories of the same type, all at once, to be a truly great collection.
—Roybot
A good mystery story is like a magic trick. We all try to find out what the secret is, but we are happy if we are defeated, and a trifle disappointed if we win. The only difference is that the mystery writer reveals her trick at the end, while the magician does not.If a full length mystery novel is a grand illusion with all the props, the detective short is a parlour trick. The illusion is cumbersome to set up and execute, but when properly done, very effective and hard to see through: the parlour trick, on the other hand, depends entirely on the speed of the magician's hand, and there is a greater chance of failure and embarrassment as the cards come slipping out of the sleeve.Which is why, I think, that there are very few "great" detective short stories compared to novels by the great authors. Dorothy Sayers is no exception.The present collection, even though enjoyable, fails to present us with any "great stories" (except one - Suspicion - which is excellently spine-chilling). The first two stories, featuring the famous Lord Peter Wimsey, are only average: in fact, the mystery in the first can be solved by any discerning reader immediately. The next five, featuring the travelling salesman Montague Egg, are only interesting with regard to their unusual sleuth - the stories are rather pedestrian. The remaining tales are all stand-alone stories, with two or three humorous ones where a dire secret is promised only to end in a comic whimper. While this is enjoyable once or twice, it does become stale when repeated too often.The last two stories do not belong to the conventional mystery canon. The penultimate one straddles reality and fantasy: the last one is an out-and-out horror story. They are interesting, but nothing to write home about.Overall verdict: a nice book to curl up with at the end of a tiring day.
—Nandakishore Varma
I've always enjoyed all Sayers' Lord Peter mysteries, and there are some lord Peter stories here, as well as some featuring Montague Egg, and others which don't include either detective. They are all very short; for the most part, there's one essential clue than unlocks everything. I confess to enjoying Wimsey much more than Egg. But my favorites here are really neither. What I liked best in this collection were the stories that had a surprising twist at the end, not necessarily having to do with solving a murder. "The Inspiration of Mr. Budd" is a great example.
—Susan
