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Striding Folly (1973)

Striding Folly (1973)

Book Info

Rating
3.97 of 5 Votes: 3
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ISBN
0450033406 (ISBN13: 9780450033407)
Language
English
Publisher
hodder paperbacks

About book Striding Folly (1973)

Just three quick stories in this collection, but well worth listening to. My favourite is the last, Tallboys, which features a little domestic mystery involving stolen peaches. It's less a tale of criminal activity than it is a moral fable about modern ideas of childrearing and how psychology has encouraged a foolish degree of indulgence in parents who are afraid to discipline their children when they are naughty. Here Sayers puts Peter and Harriet firmly on the side of "spare the rod, spoil the child" and features the abominable Miss Quirk as the irritating, foolish and completely obtuse house guest who drones on about the consequences of restrictions and limits, and how they will breed resentment and subversive behaviour in young and impressionable minds. Rubbish! Maybe it is just my time of life, when so many of my friends have young kids about and the topic comes up frequently in discussion, but I was cheering wholeheartedly when Miss Quirk gets her comeuppance at the end from Lord Peter and Young Master Bredon.The other two stories were pretty standard - very little in the way of blood and gore in this collection, nothing like the slashed throat in Have His Carcase. More mental puzzles involving elaborately constructed setups, especially the over-the-top first story about a chess player who dreams his way out of a murder conviction. (I mean, really. Come on!)The second story has a charming little spot of dialogue between Peter and Harriet and some of the house staff on the eve of the birth of their first child. Lots of champagne flows in the telling of the beleaguered policeman's tale, and the whole story has a sort of comic, upbeat, celebratory air about it - despite being, on the surface, both a murder investigation and a serious accusation of wrongdoing on the part of a guardian of the law.Overall, a nice little collection and a joyous conclusion to the grand romance of the Wimsey family. Peter is 52 at the conclusion of the book, and we are left to assume that he and his kin all live long and prosper. All out of Ian Carmichael audiobooks now, alas (this was the last), so must turn my attention to the weak methodone treatment that is "Thrones, Dominations" - Sayers' final, incomplete text that was finished by Jill Patin Walsh.

Review originally published at The Bookwyrm's Hoard.Striding Folly contains three Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, each one different in character. The first, "Striding Folly", has a dream element unusual in Lord Peter mysteries. The second, "The Haunted Policeman", takes place immediately after the birth of Peter and Harriet's first son, and involves a very clever hoax. "Talboys" shows the Wimsey family vacationing at their country house (see Busman's Honeymoon), where young Master Bredon is suspected of stealing Mr. Puffett's prize peaches. Peter exhibits his usual detective flair along with an affinity for boyish pranks. It's fun to see him as a family man; the interactions between him and Bredon are delightful.I first read these stories in Lord Peter, the complete collection of Lord Peter Wimsey stories. "The Haunted Policeman" and "Talboys" remain among my favorites of Sayers' short stories. As usual, Ian Carmichael (who played Lord Peter in the original British TV series) does an excellent job on the narration for the audiobook; he has a good ear for regional and class accents, and applies it to the character voices he creates.FTC disclosure: I borrowed this from the public library.

Do You like book Striding Folly (1973)?

This one merits a "meh." I've read and reread Dorothy Sayers books on Lord Peter Wimsey over and over again. He and his novel-writing wife, Harriet, are such charming characters. It was fun to get a little glimpse into what life was like for them after the end of Sayers last full-length novel about them. However, the first of the three stories was frankly a yawner (I gave up.) The second story, which takes place on the night of the birth of Harriet and Peter's first child, was fun, but the casual dropping of the n-word was disturbing to this modern reader. (Yes, yes…historical context...I don't care. I didn't like it). The third story was also entertaining, but it felt dated. Which is funny, because her novels feel "classic!" Other reviewers have pointed out that Sayers did not publish these stories in her lifetime; she may have felt that they were not up to her usual standard. They aren't.
—Turrean

Listened to this one and the reader is fantastic! This is a collection of three Lord Peter Wimsey stories and in only one of them is there a violent crime (I guess this is a spoiler of sorts.) One story takes place the morning after Peter and Harriet's first son is born and another story involves the same boy when he is around 12 years old. One story involves a strange dream and the game of chess. My favorite concerns a crimes that appears to have taken place in a room that never existed in a house with an address that is not on the street the police says it was on. Very light but elegant. Classic British mystery.
—Bonnie

This book is three short Peter Wimsey stories, all of which are a little strange. The first, Striding Folly, Mr. Mellilow plays chess with Mr. Creech every week. When Mr. Creech doesn't show up one night, a stranger, Mr. Moses, knocks on the door and wants to play chess. After the game, Mr. Mellilow discovers his goloshes are missing. He goes to the Folly to find them and next them he sees Mr. Creech dead. Wimsey figure out how Mellilow couldn't have murdered him. In the Haunted Policeman, a policeman sees a naked woman and dead man through the window of a door at Number 13; however, there is no number 13 on the street. In the last story, Talboys, one of Lord Peter's children is accused of stealing peaches for a neighbor and a snake is used to get rid of an interfering relative.
—Scilla

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