#If we only get one otp in this life mine's Peter and Harriet

[bookcoversproject]

Alternate cover for Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers

I'm working up to Gaudy Night, but it's daunting.

[Images adapted from Drew Bandy and Joseph Leyendecker]

[ibmiller]

LORD PETER ALERT!

So, after listening to the funny (but overlong, I think) BBC radio adaptation of Stella Gibbons’ most famous work, Cold Comfort Farm (which I read in high school and thought was fun, but not amazing), I did a bit of googling, and found that Gibbons actually wrote a large number of novels. Most of them are not in print in the USA, but I did find one recent ebook at the library, Nightingale Wood. It’s a sweet, very interbellum look at 1930s England rural life with the structure of a Cinderalla story (though I’m actually really pleased, because it has a B-plot romance between a woman of the gentry and a man of the serving class. That’s something I don’t see much, and I’m really happy with how it’s turning out.)

Anyway, the reason I’m posting about it is because there was just mention of an old gentleman planning to go home and read Dorothy Sayers’s latest story over a decanter. Nightingale Wood was published in 1938, according to wikipedia, and the most recent Sayers novel would have been Busman’s Honeymoon, published in 1937.

This tickled me immensely!

[ibmiller]

A real life Peter and Harriet? :)

"Either as Captain O'Shea or the vengeful Earl, John Emery was a fine young romantic actor. He had style and eloquence and was completely at ease in costume drama. In July of the same year [1937] I was to see him as Lord Peter Wimsey in Busman's Honeymoon at the Westport County Playhouse in Connecticut. As is the custom in summer theaters, his engagement was for only a week. He'd had but a week of rehearsal, yet he gave a deft and amusing performance. At the time I was living in a rented house on Long Island Sound, ten miles from Westport. It boasted a swimming pool and free liquor. There I held open house for the likes of Anna May Wong, Clifton Webb, Estelle Winwood, Vincent Price, Louisa Carpenter and a lot of other friends, overloaded with leisure.

"I got a sizzling crush on John on seeing his Wimsey. After the performance I went back to see him. Would he care to spend the week end with me? John readily agreed. I found him intelligent, amusing and exceptionally good-looking. He had good manners and seemed a good listener. This last marked him a rare bird in the set in which I traveled.

"But when John asked me to marry him, I looked upon his offer as an impertinence. Wasn't he getting presumptuous on short acquaintance?"

--Tallulah Bankhead on meeting her husband John Emery, from Tallulah: My Autobiography (Ch. 10)

Newlyweds John Emery and Tallulah Bankhead, September 1937 (x)

[ibmiller]

Response, belated

paintmeahero said: Wait. Did I miss someone actually talking about Peter and Harriet on Tumblr? I think I need to lie down. I love you guys, if that’s so. NO ONE reads these books.

There are a couple of use who read these books! And talkingpiffle posts several times a week with historical context information, which is simply frabjous.

[ibmiller]

These 90s editions with covers by Cathie Bleck were my introduction to the series, and I've managed to collect the whole series in that edition with the exception of Nine Taylors, which never got published in that edition for some bizarre reason (I'm sure related to publishing and copyright and tedious things like that). :D

Hooray hooray!

I caved and started buying myself physical copies of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries and I am SO happy to get to hold them in my hands. The 90s mass market editions I decided to go with are lovely and charming and just a little weird - the cover art reminds me of the illustrations in my elementary school reading textbooks. I love them so much 💕

[ibmiller]

"Oh, damn!"

I will never get over the fact that Lord Peter Wimsey's first words are "Oh, damn!" at a mistake in a taxicab, and his last words are "Oh, damn" as he weeps in his wife's arms because a man he helped convict of murder is being hanged.

Also, that, more than any other argument, convinces me that Busman's Honeymoon is the fitting and beautiful end of the series.

[ibmiller]

Placetne, Magistra?

[ibmiller]

IT GOT BETTER! THANK YOU! :)

Lord Peter Wimsey fantasy casting!

Aided by the brilliant @freenarnian, we have come up with the cast for a Lord Peter Wimsey movie or tv show that is just too perfect!

In the title role, we have Domhnall Gleeson! Right build, huge intelligence and sensitivity, great comic skills, and able to play both dumb and brilliant!

In the CRUCIAL role of Harriet Vane, Michelle Dockery! Her singing and voice are the key here - low, musical, and distinctive! And she looks great in the period fashions!

In the roles of Peter's sister Mary and best friend Charles Parker, we have Lucy Boynton and Will Poulter (fresh from their brilliant success in Why Didn't They Ask Evans!)

In the role of Peter's mother and brother, Emma Thompson and Hugh Laurie! (Don't bother me with their ages!)

In the KEY role of Bunter, Peter's manservant, we have Tom Bennett, from Love and Friendship!

Now I just need about 20 million dollars and a distribution deal! ;)