Average customer rating:
- Sayers' third-best mystery
- Worth your time.
- The romantic conclusion of the series!
- A Classic
- A Love Story With Detective Interruptions
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Busman's Honeymoon
Dorothy L. Sayers
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Sayers, Dorothy L.
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Similar Items:
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Gaudy Night (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
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Strong Poison
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Have His Carcase
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Thrones, Dominations (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
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Whose Body? (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)
ASIN: 0061043516 |
Book Description
Murder is hardly the best way for Lord Peter and his bride, the famous mystery writer Harriet Vane, to start their honeymoon. It all begins when the former owner of their newly acquired estate is found quite nastily dead in the cellar. And what Lord Peter had hoped would be a very private and romantic stay in the country soon turns into a most baffling case, what with the misspelled "notise" to the milkman and the intriguing condition of the dead man -- not a spot of blood on his smashed skull and not a pence less than six hundred pounds in his pocket.
Customer Reviews:
Sayers' third-best mystery.......2007-09-19
Others have covered the ground of the story itself pretty well so I'll try to add something new.
I liked "The Unpleasantness at the Belonna Club" and "Whose Body?" somewhat better than this title.... BUT this one is really still just a SUPER classic English murder mystery. The inclusion of Harriet Vane (mystery-writing wife of Lord Peter Wimsey), into the Wimsey series was, in my opinion, a big plus. She really gives Wimsey someone to play off of, in addition to the ever-present and loyal Bunter, Wimsey's astute right-hand man.
This work precedes "Thrones, Dominations," which was an incomplete manuscript by Sayers at the time of her death and was finished by Jill Paton Walsh, who did a superb job of tying up this worthwhile project. (I recommend that you read the two works sequentially!)
So, I highly recommend this fine mystery to all fans of the genre -- it's at least equivalent in pleasure value to Christie's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd."
Worth your time........2006-11-18
This entry in the Lord Peter Whimsey/Harriet Vane series is a little unusual because it has more humor than usual. You get to see a more light hearted Lord Peter, at least until the murder. Agatha Christi concentrates a little more on the relations between Lord Peter and Harriet, starting just after thier engagement and continuing through the honeymoon. You will have to sit through a lot of letter and journal reading in the beginning, but it is worth wading through for the background. A delightful story.
The romantic conclusion of the series!.......2006-08-06
Lord Peter and Harriet Vane are married. In a series of letters we learn the details of the wedding and honeymoon. Due to the malicious meddling of Lord Peter's sister-in-law and the hounding of the press, the bride and groom decide at the last minute to be married in a small chapel in Oxford. Harriet has asked Lord Peter to buy her a beautiful and ancient farmhouse in the country where they decide to go for their honeymoon.
The adjustment to marring someone with money is a hurdle for Harriet. She buys him an expensive wedding gift that is just right, and with the last of her money she buys a gold designer wedding dress from Worth which suits her dark beauty perfectly. Lord Peter has made her independently wealthy but she has difficulty understanding the details. All that matters is that she has completely given her heart to Peter.
However, the honeymoon is not the quiet country idyll the Wimseys were longing for. The discovery of a body in the basement of their new home causes Lord Peter and Harriet to be swept up in a murder investigation and the press are once again at their door. While distracting, the investigation does not keep them from sharing many deep passionate moments. It does, however, cause them to confront difficulties in their personalities and temperaments.
Sayers writes with her usual wonderful characterizations and evocative style. The reader is transported to 1930's England, a simpler more elegant time. The intricacies of a grisly murder investigation throw into relief the charm of the simple life. Yet somehow this story has a more somber tone than the other Lord Peter mysteries, perhaps because it is the last book of the series. At any rate, once again Sayers delivers prime entertainment and an enchanting detective mystery, only this time Lord Peter is finally in a settled relationship with his beloved.
A Classic.......2006-02-12
Busman's Honeymoon is a classic which deserves to be read and reread for a long time to come. It's beautifully written--funny, sad and suspenseful. Peter Wimsey is an extremely sympathetic character.
A Love Story With Detective Interruptions.......2004-07-11
Summer 2004 Reading List - Mini Review
I was intrigued by the premise of this book: An accomplished detective and a famous mystery writer marry, only to discover a corpse in the cellar of their recently purchased home the day after their wedding.
This book is subtitled "A Love Story With Detective Interruptions" and lives up to that billing. I had not read any of the previous books in the Lord Peter Wimsey series but I did not find this an impediment. Sayers did a good job of making Busman's Honeymoon accesible as either a stand alone novel or part of her Wimsey/Vane story line. I so liked the characters that I am going to try to read previous installments in the series.
Customer Reviews:
Last completed novel containing Harriet Vane........2006-11-12
The title "Busman's Honeymoon" is sort of a play on words. Look up busman's holiday in the dictionary. In fact it was a play that was also made into a movie "Hunted Honeymoon" (1940) starring Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings. There are still some short stories and a novel finished by someone else; however Busman's Honeymoon is the last of the novel series containing Harriet Vane. Some of the short stories are "The Haunted Policeman" and "Talboys."
The book starts off with a series of letters from well-known friends of the couple, described previous in Dorothy L. Sayers' novels. They bring you up to date while describing the wedding of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. Some of the charters are just referenced yes it ought on and you will have to have read the previous novels for fuller detail.
The primary thrust of this novel is the relationship between Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. With exquisite descriptions of their life and the English environment in which they live. Oh yes, there is also a mystery. However the mystery does not overshadow the rest of the story.
One of the most important overlooked items in most descriptions of this book is the expanded explanation of the history and relationship of Bunter to Lord Peter.
Customer Reviews:
Lord Peter and Harriet Vane.......2005-03-31
These four stories are the series of encounters focusing on the relationship of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. There is a later novel "Thrones, Dominations" that was finished for Dorothy L. Sayers (posthumously.)
In the first novel "Strong Poison" Lord Peter discovers Harriet while she is on trial for the poisoning of her lover. Naturally Lord Peter knows she is innocent and sets out sleuthing to prove it. Can he prove it in time? All the clues are there and you have an opportunity to beat him to the conclusion. Let's see how good you are.
In the second novel "Have His Carcase" Harriet is on a walking tour and comes upon a body on the beach. If she did not have her camera with her there would be no proof as high tide is coming in. and without a carcass the coroner can not sit. Lord peter steps in to help with the mystery of if it was murder, the "who and how and why" it was done. This story may include Bolsheviks and coconut fiber. Mean time Lord Peter is still perusing Harriet.
In the third novel "Gaudy Night" Which is more of a joyous night or a school reunion. Mysterious threatening notes and acts have been happening at the all-female Shrewsbury College at Oxford, from where Harriet graduated. Because of her reputation she is invited to the Gaudy and at the same time implored to seek out the source. Soon the threats are also addressed to her. Once again Lord Peter hears of this and lends a hand in the investigation. We get to meet his nephew and also learn more of Lord Peter's background and relationship with Bunter his man servant. And Lord Peter is still perusing the aloof Harriet. Will she ever give in?
In the forth novel "Busman's Honeymoon" Finally Harriet gives in and they are married. As a wedding present Lord Peter gives Lady Harriet the house where she was raised. Looks like it is not without its mysteries as one again a body is found in the basement. Again we are presented with sufficient clues to beat Lord Peter to the conclusion. However by the time you get to this novel you will realize that the murder mysteries are all secondary to the true story with is the relationship of Lord Peter and Harriet.
Average customer rating:
- Last completed novel containing Harriet Vane.
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Busman' Honeymoon
Dorothy L. Sayers
Manufacturer: Avon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LTJ7TA |
Customer Reviews:
Last completed novel containing Harriet Vane........2007-07-08
The title "Busman's Honeymoon" is sort of a play on words. Look up busman's holiday in the dictionary. In fact it was a play that was also made into a movie "Haunted Honeymoon" (1940) starring Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings. There are still some short stories and a novel finished by someone else; however Busman's Honeymoon is the last of the novel series containing Harriet Vane. Some of the short stories are "The Haunted Policeman" and "Talboys."
The book starts off with a series of letters from well-known friends of the couple, described previous in Dorothy L. Sayers' novels. They bring you up to date while describing the wedding of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. Some of the charters are just referenced yes it ought on and you will have to have read the previous novels for fuller detail.
The primary thrust of this novel is the relationship between Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. With exquisite descriptions of their life and the English environment in which they live. Oh yes, there is also an intriguing mystery for the couple to solve. However the mystery does not overshadow the rest of the story.
One of the most important overlooked items in most descriptions of this book is the expanded explanation of the history and relationship of Bunter to Lord Peter.
Product Description
9 Mass Market Paperback Titles in Wimsey Series - Lord Peter Views the Body - Unnatural Death - The Unpleasantness At the Bellona Club - Have His Carcase - Busman's Honeymoon - In the Teeth of the Evidence - Strong Poison - Five Red Herrings - Murder Must Advertise
Average customer rating:
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BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON
Manufacturer: PENGUIN (BRITISH)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H7WMPW |
Average customer rating:
- Last completed novel containing Harriet Vane
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Busman's Honeymoon
Dorothy L. Sayers
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GINM10 |
Customer Reviews:
Last completed novel containing Harriet Vane.......2006-07-21
The title "Busman's Honeymoon" is sort of a play on words. Look up busman's holiday in the dictionary. In fact it was a play that was also made into a movie "Haunted Honeymoon" (1940) starring Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings. There are still some short stories and a novel finished by someone else; however Busman's Honeymoon is the last of the novel series containing Harriet Vane. Some of the short stories are "The Haunted Policeman" and "Talboys."
The book starts off with a series of letters from well-known friends of the couple, described previous in Dorothy L. Sayers' novels. They bring you up to date while describing the wedding of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. Some of the charters are just referenced yes it ought on and you will have to have read the previous novels for fuller detail.
The primary thrust of this novel is the relationship between Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. With exquisite descriptions of their life and the English environment in which they live. Oh yes, there is also an intriguing mystery for the couple to solve. However the mystery does not overshadow the rest of the story.
One of the most important overlooked items in most descriptions of this book is the expanded explanation of the history and relationship of Bunter to Lord Peter.
Average customer rating:
- Last completed novel containing Harriet Vane.
|
Busman's Honeymoon
Dorothy Sayers
Manufacturer: Avon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000I8N9HA |
Customer Reviews:
Last completed novel containing Harriet Vane........2006-11-09
The title "Busman's Honeymoon" is sort of a play on words. Look up busman's holiday in the dictionary. In fact it was a play that was also made into a movie "Hunted Honeymoon" (1940) starring Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings. There are still some short stories and a novel finished by someone else; however Busman's Honeymoon is the last of the novel series containing Harriet Vane. Some of the short stories are "The Haunted Policeman" and "Talboys."
The book starts off with a series of letters from well-known friends of the couple, described previous in Dorothy L. Sayers' novels. They bring you up to date while describing the wedding of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. Some of the charters are just referenced yes it ought on and you will have to have read the previous novels for fuller detail.
The primary thrust of this novel is the relationship between Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. With exquisite descriptions of their life and the English environment in which they live. Oh yes, there is also a mystery. However the mystery does not overshadow the rest of the story.
One of the most important overlooked items in most descriptions of this book is the expanded explanation of the history and relationship of Bunter to Lord Peter.
Book Description
One of the greatest imaginative feats of the twentieth century: Gormenghast is the vast, crumbling castle to which Earl Titus Groan is lord and heir. Titus must contend with treachery, manipulation and murder as well as his own longing for a life beyond the castle walls.
Customer Reviews:
THE PEAKE OF CREATIVITY.......2007-08-04
I have been reading some of the more negative reviews of these books and decided it was time to update my remarks. Let me put it this way: Gormenghast, (like the Magic Theater in Hesse's STEPPENWOLF) is NOT for everybody. It is, indeed, just as great as others (including myself) have said. But! If you're a big fan of action--you won't find that here. If your particular bane is a lot of descriptive passages---flee these books as you would the Bird Flu.
HOWEVER: If you're in the mood for a slower read that inundates you with the wonderful power of the English language---then these books are for YOU!!! In THAT sense, this trilogy is perfect. This is the way the Masters USED to do it. Peake uses English the way Virgil used Latin...in other words, he had the vocabulary DOWN, man, and he shows it and there are a lot of loverly sounding (and emotionally evocative) words that we rarely encounter in the works of more modern writers that are, nevertheless, part of our heritage...and you will find a great many of THOSE here.
But, as I say, it isn't for everybody. It's for madmen only.Titus Groan (Gormenghast Trilogy)
Product Description
First printing of Ballantine's "revised, illustrated" edition, with cover by Pepper and line drawings by the author (who was himself a highly-regarded illustrator).
Product Description
3 volume set, Titus Groan contains 8 illustrations by the author.
Average customer rating:
- The coming of age of the Earl of Gormenghast
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The Gormenghast Trilogy: Titus Alone
Mervyn Laurence Peake
Manufacturer: David Mckay Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Peake, Mervyn | ( P ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9997527860 |
Customer Reviews:
The coming of age of the Earl of Gormenghast.......2000-06-03
Titus has fled Gormenghast and adventured out into the world. I won't tell you about what happens to him out their, but I will tell you this: Titus's conflict between his pride in his linege and his desire to be free breaks out into all out war. He desires to be home with the people he loves but the person he love's most, Fuchsia his sister, is dead and he loathes the mind numbing ritual and arbitary laws of Gormenghast. As he travels out he finds oppression everywhere, a police force that holds terror in the population of the unnamed land he visits, a thug who tortures and oppresses a refuge woman. Titus makes and looses friends, enemies, and lovers. His sanity is questioned (Peake was falling pray to hereditary insanity when he wrote this). After much pain and grief, he finally comes to terms with himself and his heritage and finds independence. This is the story of Titus's growth to manhood. In the end we are shown what makes us who we are.
Average customer rating:
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TITUS ALONE
Manufacturer: Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000FMK22O |
Average customer rating:
- Gormenghast trilogy - could it be read better by anyone else?
- Frustrating.
- Barely related to the first 2 books
- Awesome Virtuosity
- A new beginning rather than an ending
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Titus Alone
Mervyn Peake
Manufacturer: Overlook TP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Epic | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Peake, Mervyn | ( P ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:
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Gormenghast
-
Titus Groan (Gormenghast Trilogy)
ASIN: 1585679925
Release Date: 2008-02-26 |
Book Description
With Overlook's new single-volume republication of Mervyn Peake's timeless Gormenghast novels in individual volumes, readers everywhere have embraced Titus Groan all over again. Peake's trilogy is an undisputed classic of epic fantasy, and finally Titus Alone, the final volume in the series, is available again.
As the novel opens, Titus, lord of Castle Gormenghast, has abdicated his throne. Born and brought to the edge of manhood in the huge, rotting castle, Titus rebels against the age-old ritual of which he is both lord and prisoner and rushes headlong into the world. From that moment forward, he is thrust into a stormy land of a dark imagination, where figures and landscapes loom up with force and vividness of a dream--or a nightmare.
This final installment in the Gormenghast trilogy is a fantastic triumph--a conquest awash in imagination, terror, and charm.
Customer Reviews:
Gormenghast trilogy - could it be read better by anyone else?.......2005-11-12
I began to fall for the wonders of the world of Titus and Gormenghast after reading Titus Groan. The complexity and intensity of the language at times feels more like poetry than prose. For more info on the trilogy itself read the editorial review at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879516283/103-7360864-2418208?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance. If you can imagine Dickens writing gothic fantasy with the linguistic range of a poet then you are close. After buying the Audiobook trilogy by Michael Williams I can't recommend it highly enough. His voice is as rich as the characters that he is required to give life to. By turns crackling, humorous, bitter, angry, pathetic, depressed, ludicrous: Michael Williams voice catches the many moods and characters of these world's inhabitants and manages to convey the spidery, rasping, cloistered, dark and gothic atmosphere. If Amazon don't have it ask them to stock it! Also don't be put off by what some people say about the third book the third book is a classic if only for the character of Muzzlehatch.
Frustrating........2004-06-07
This is the third and last volume of the Gormenghast trilogy (after Titus Groan, and Gormenghast).
In this book, we follow Titus, now almost twenty, as he escapes from the Castle, flees its oppressive Ritual, and becomes lost in a sandstorm. Helped by the owner of a travelling zoo, Muzzlehatch, and his ex-lover Juno, he ends up in a big city. Of course, no one there has ever heard of Gormenghast, and the general opinion is that the boy is deranged, and with no paper, he's soon arrested for vagrancy.
Hopefully, there are a few people who believe in his story, or at least who are intrigued by it, and they try to help him. And now Titus, the deserter, the traitor, longs for his home, and looks for it all the time to prove, if only to himself, that Gormenghast is truly real.
I don't know how closely Titus Alone actually follows Mervyn Peake's intentions before mental illness struck him, but this final volume is indeed chaotic. Its characters and style, its setting and atmosphere have little to do with both previous books. Or maybe it's just me who didn't understand anything, but nevertheless, all I felt was bitter frustration.
Barely related to the first 2 books.......2002-06-22
This is supposed to be part 3 of the trilogy, but it has VERY little to do with the first 2 books (both of which I loved, BTW). The only thing in common with the first books is the character of Titus (who was a baby in the first book, so was really only a character in the second book). The first 2 books spend much (most) of their time in a rather enchanting world that is confined to a castle and the immediate area around it, yet none of this book takes place there. Much more disturbing, however, is this volume takes place in a VERY different time period than the first two books. The first 2 take place in a castle that is lit by candles and has no visible technology (the only thing that is described that was invented in the last 800 years is a reference to "guns", but they are never used and it is unknown how primitive the "guns" would be). In this book they have cars, airplanes(!), and tiny self propelled spy devices that don't even exist today! (Not to mention helmets that give you superhuman strength, and other fantastic future things - it goes from medieval castle straight to comic-book future). It is not even internally consistant - one woman flys an airplane to visit a ruin she last saw during a failed expedition to explore the unknown in one direction, an expedition that had to quit because of an unpenatratable LINE OF TREES (were the trees so tall they could stop the airplanes?). At "plot" is barely in existance, and has lots of people doing things for no rational or decernable reason (really a stark contrast to the first 2 stories, which went to some length to give you insight into the characters).
Read the first two, then skip this one - it is not only not in their league, it will actually diminish your remembered enjoyment of the first two.
Awesome Virtuosity.......2000-06-03
To my knowlege, the only thing ever written in the English language that even comes close is Shakespeare's latter plays. For characterization, plot, description, humor, pathos and sheer gothic intensity and wonder, Peake's Gormenghast trilogy may be without parallel in all of human literature.
Read it and find out what the English language is capable of.
A new beginning rather than an ending.......1999-10-30
I enjoyed this book very much but it IS rather different from the preceding novels (Titus Groan, Gormenghast), which are really complete as a pair. Though related it is not necessary to have read them in order to follow the action of this story.
Young Titus Groan, Lord of Gormenghast after his Father's assassination and the death of the villainous Steerforth, decides to set out to see something of the world beyond the eccentric traditions of his decayed and moribund realm. He finds a decaying and eccentric city, where he makes some allies as he becomes a nine-days wonder.
Peake excelled at depiction of a monstrous and decaying world filled with wierd eccentrics. If you like that kind of thing, you'll love this book!
Books:
- Cradle and All
- "D" is for Deadbeat (The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries)
- Dead Season: A Story of Murder and Revenge
- Death in the Dark Continent
- Death of a Gossip (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries)
- Death of a Nationalist (Soho Crime)
- Death of a Poison Pen (Hamish Macbeth Mystery)
- Deep Freeze
- Deep Lie
- Devil's Waltz (Alex Delaware)
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