Clouds of Witness (1926)
Blurb:
My review:
Plan of Riddlesdale Lodge.
A piece typical of the 1920s: dated without being period, and never escaping from its roots in sensational fiction (the Renaissance of detective fiction was still a year or two away). Wimsey, so fatuous and bright as to be positively lurid, is shot at by Bolshevists, lost on the Yorkshire moors in a fog and nearly drowned in a bog (shades of Hound of the Baskervilles!), and threatened by savagely jealous farmers while trying to clear his brother, the Duke of Denver, from the charge of murdering his sister’s fiancé. Physical clues (footprints and grains of sand) and the evidence given at the inquest (presented at the beginning to save the grind of interviews) lead to more scandals and histrionics before Wimsey’s dramatic trans-Atlantic flight allows him to arrive at the court at the very last minute to avert another scandal and produce the letter in French that proves the “crime” to be a disappointment.
The highlight of the book is Murbles’ account of the imaginary life led by a miser; the portrayal of wife abuse is also excellent.