Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A-Z Wednesday: "S"

A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, just visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment.

This week's letter is "S." So I went to my shelves, and this is what I pulled out.

Strong Poison
Written by Dorothy L. Sayers
Published 1930

A photo of one of the earliest editions:


Description from Amazon.com:
In the first of Dorothy L. Sayers's famous Harriet Vane mystery series, amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey falls in love with mystery writer Harriet Vane as she stands in the dock of Old Bailey. Ms. Vane is on trial for the diabolically clever murder of her fiance. Not only does Wimsey believe in her innocence, he falls in love with her at first sight. . . .

What follows are the twin stories of Lord Peter's search to find the real killer and his romantic pursuit of Harriet. Both are charming. As always, Sayers has plotted her story brilliantly, with a satisfying mystery and a sly comic touch (a gentle poke at the spiritualist movement is particularly fun).

See the book's page at Wikipedia here.
See the author's page at Wikipedia here.

And a few covers from various other editions (click on image to enlarge):

One of my favorites of the Lord Peter Wimsey books, but then I love 'em all. I suppose there's not as much suspense here as in some of the others in the series, as we know from the outset that Harriet isn't going to end up on the gallows (she goes on to have a mystery series all her own). But it's still great fun, just like all the other Wimseys.

11 comments:

  1. I haven't read any of these books, but they sound intriguing...

    Here's mine:

    http://laurel-rain-outonalimb.blogspot.com/2010/06/z-wednesday_15.html

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  2. Hi!
    I haven't read this author or this series before. I'll have to check into them. Have a great day!

    Sherrie
    Just Books
    http://sherriesbooks.blogspot.com/2010/06/z-wednesday_16.html

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  3. So many cool covers!

    http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com/2010/06/to-z-starts-with-s.html

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  4. I haven't read any of Dorothy Sayers books. The covers look interesting.

    My `S` is up:

    http://newhorizonreviews.blogspot.com/2010/06/sacrifice-by-beverly-lewis.html

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  5. I need to read a Sayer's book one of these days. This looks like a great read. Here is my "S" book.

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  6. I've never heard of these books before but don't you just love it when you find a series that you adore?

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  7. I haven't read anything by Sayers, but would really like to.

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  8. I find it fascinating when book covers change over the years. I just read the picture book The Easter Bunny That Overslept by Friedrich. It was first published in 1957 and again in 1983 and 2002. According to what I can find, not only was the cover art changed but so was the text to reflect the change in times. I am awaiting the 1983 edition from the library to compare to the 2002 text.

    Joy, thanks for commenting on my blog - Reading, Writing, and Recipes.com

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  9. Love the covers!

    Thanks for playing!

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  10. Not familiar with Sayers' work. I love that you include all the different covers over the years.

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  11. I hate to say this, but I haven't heard of this book. It looks like something I would enjoy, so I'm glad I came across your post. Off to check this book out!

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