Lord Peter Wimsey

Lord Peter Wimsey is a fictional character in a number of detective novels by Dorothy Sayers.

He is the main character of a number of novels and short stories in which he solves murder mysteries. The novels are set in a setting contemporary to when they were written in the 1920s and 1930s.

Lord Peter's fictional life starts in 1890. His full name is Peter Death Bredon Wimsey. His elder brother is the (fictional) Duke of Denver. Lord Peter served in World War I and got a bad case of [shell shock]?, which causes him occasional problems throughout the books. He has a manservant, Bunter, who served with him in the war. Bunter is a man of at least as many talents as Lord Peter. Photography is one of them. Lord Peter drives a Bentley?. In [Strong Poison]? Lord Peter meets [Harriet Vane]? and falls in love with her. Harriet is a mystery writer accused of having killed her ex-lover.

Novels and the year of first publication:

• [Whose Body]??, 1923
• [Clouds of Witness]?, 1926
• [Unnatural Death]?, 1927
• [The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club]?, 1928
• [Strong Poison]?, 1931
• [The Five Red Herrings]?, 1931
• [Have His Carcase]?, 1932
• [Murder Must Advertise]?, 1933
• [The Nine Tailors]?, 1934
• Gaudy Night, 1935
• [Busman's Honeymoon]?, 1937
• [Thrones, Dominations]?, 1998 (Never finished by Sayers. Completed by Jill Paton Walsh.)

Short story collections including stories with Wimsey as main protagonist:

• [Lord Peter Views the Body]??, 1928
• [Hangman's Holiday]?, 1933
• [In the Teeth of the Evidence]?, 1939
• [Striding Folly]?, 1973

The Lord Peter Wimsey novels were made into a very successful television series by the BBC. Lord Peter Wimsey is played by [Ian Carmichael]? during the seventies and later on by [Edward Petherbridge]?, Harriet Vane is played by [Harriet Walter]?.