Whose Body? (1923)

About this episode

This episode reviews Dorothy L Sayers' 'Whose Body?', exploring its themes of mistaken identity and social commentary.

When an inconvenient corpse is discovered in a Battersea bathtub, a complex puzzle unfolds for the London authorities. What's with the pince-nez and birthday suit combo? And isn't that a surgical college just across the rooftops? In this episode we strike a match and settle in with Dorothy L Sayers' "Whose Body?" and review the first appearance of Lord Peter Wimsey, her amateur sleuth of impeccable tailoring and disarming flippancy. Layered with mistaken identity, social satire and post-war unease, this celebrated mystery from 1923 balances classic whodunnit mechanics with sharp observations about entitlement and trauma in a changing world. FastFacts@12:45; Summary@47:25; PIPES@1:18:00

People in this episode

Host: Lighting the Pipes

Topics covered

• mystery
• literature
• whodunnit
• social satire
• post-war unease

Keywords

• mystery
• Lord Peter Wimsey
• Battersea
• whodunnit
• social satire
• 1923
• entitlement
• trauma

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Whose Body?

Places: Battersea, London

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