This is the second book on the NYT’s Book Review’s 10 great mystery stories from its 125th anniversary edition. Written in 1923, it was Sayers’ first Lord Peter Wimsey book, to be followed by ten more novels and three volumes of short stories about the second son of the Duchess of Denver.  Wimsey has proven to be one of the more durable characters of the 20th C mystery genre—clever, iconoclastic, a connoisseur of fine port, brandy, and cigars, and like his contemporary, Sherlock Holmes, vastly smarter than Scotland Yard’s Inspector Sugg.

In this volume, Wimsey solves two murders, not one. A prominent Jew (There it is again, the slightly sneering put down of Jews in these early 2oth C mysteries seen in Christie, Simenon, and now Sayers.  Not sure why that trope was so widespread, but it no doubt speaks to the socially acceptable anti-Semitism that would now lead to public censure.  Perhaps the world is improving?) disappears the same night that a naked body wearing only a gold pince-nez is found in an architect’s bathtub.  Sound far-fetched?  Not by the end when Wimsey’s conclusions are validated in a letter of confession by the murderer.

This is an entertaining example of what the NYT was honoring with its list.  Wimsey is a fine creation as is his Scotland Yard collaborator, Parker, and his mother, the Duchess.  A good read for a snowy night.