#miss climpson

[o-uncle-newt]

OK I've talked here, I think, about my strong belief that we need a Miss Climpson's Cattery TV show to jump on the mystery period drama bandwagon- and I've been thinking about what it might look like and have some ideas

Please feel free to add some in comments or reblogs!

The overall cast structure is basically like Call the Midwife S1 (or, more accurately, S2-3)- we have a POV "new to the crew" character who is purportedly the main character (but significantly lower-drama than Jenny lol) but it's functionally an ensemble. Miss Climpson is the Sister Julienne character, aka the on-the-ground boss, and then there are a bunch of other operatives, who all show up at SOME point in most episodes but only a few of them take center stage each episode in a particular case or two. There are also the support staff/actual typists, who are fun side characters.

Wimsey is a side character, and is played by a non-super-famous actor. He only appears in a few episodes at most in each season, usually as someone who is giving work to the operatives. While he can bring in operatives to help him on his cases, he is never allowed to solve any agency cases.

Harriet is a one or two episode max character. She meets Miss Climpson and possibly Miss Murchison but nobody else (as discussed in Gaudy Night). Honestly, if they don't show her that's fine too. At most she's brought in to provide help/insight on a literary world case.

The show starts right after the events of Strong Poison, and it's discussed as a recent case among the team. That said, unless it can be fit canonically into a Sayers story without undue bother, the episodes do NOT circle around existing Sayers plots.

Miss Murchison is a significant character, and has a love interest to whom she gets married sometime toward the third/fourth year of show canon (as we know that canonically she gets married sometime before the events of Gaudy Night). It is a cute older-nerd romance and everyone ships it. There is no "drama," just sweetness.

This is optional, but it is POSSIBLE that Wimsey brings Miss Meteyard into the firm, likely not permanently but possibly on a one-case basis for her advertising world expertise. She is initially snobbish about it but soon grows out of it.

As I've alluded to above, the main rule is- Sayers canon can never be violated. There is SO much space for great story and characterization that falls totally in line.

Everything else... is totally up to whoever! And I'm absolutely up for other ideas! These are just the main things I've thought of and I may come back and make additions/edits but here we go for now.

Though... casting idea- I'm not usually very good at this but I really feel like, speaking of Call the Midwife, Georgie Glen (Miss Higgins) could be an interesting Miss Climpson. Quite different than the excellent one in the Petherbridge/Walter adaptation of Strong Poison, but still good. I'm completely open to other suggestions though, as well as casting suggestions for other characters (including just actors who you think would be good for random currently-nonexistent/hypothesized ones- it's just so open ended, there are so many choices!).

[lliyrapohl]

Like a FOOL I thought I’d escaped the pornbots because I hadn’t had a single one in two days. but NO !!! they’ve just been GATHERING THEIR FORCES before descending upon me like VERMIN fleeing a collapsing house !!!! Which frankly is an insult to VERMIN. I’m SORRY, but I am a little upset !!!!

[fictionadventurer]

I humbly request details of your Lord Peter Wimsey/Star Wars fic.

The AU started with noticing that Harriet Walter, who played Harriet Vane, played a doctor in The Force Awakens. I imagined that that doctor was Harriet Vane, and that she had met Peter when she was a member of the Rebellion, and he was a double-agent working undercover as an Imperial officer. The details of the two worlds lined up beautifully, and I outlined the idea in this post.

The fic would have had a framing story where Peter is visiting Harriet at the rebel base during the events of The Force Awakens, when the destruction of the Hosnian system overwhelms his Force sensitivity with the "voices crying out in terror". Harriet has to help him recover, and then they both prepare for the attack on Starkiller Base, and then return to their home system to help with Resistance efforts. Within this story, there would be long flashbacks to their first meeting, their courtship, and their eventual marriage. (The best detail that never made it into the outline was that Miss Climpson was a droid technician who modified droids to work as spies).

It had a detailed outline, but I never got more than a few paragraphs written of the story. Since I'm no longer actively a Star Wars fan (and I'm disillusioned after the ending of the sequel trilogy), I'll never write this, but it was still a great premise that I have fun thinking about.

[thesarahshay]

On the subject of Lord Peter Wimsey screen adaptations: I just want more people to be aware of the fact that Shirley Cain, who played Miss Climpson in the 1987 Strong Poison miniseries, also played Miss Rossiter in the 1973 Murder Must Advertise, which I *think* makes her the only actor to appear with both Ian Carmichael and Edward Petherbridge as Wimsey.

[dandelionsandderivatives]

Am spinster. Can confirm.

Dorothy L. Sayers was really like spinsters talk half the time in italics.

[of-a-toast-and-tea]

Already into Unnatural Death (perhaps the most aptly named detective novel of all time?) and am exquisitely delighted by Lord Peter inviting Parker out to see Miss Climpson, and Parking thinking he's going to meet Lord Peter's mistress. Poor man pretending to be very casual about it all while internally panicking. Delightful.

[kamreadsandrecs]

Title: The Mischief of the Mistletoe (Pink Carnation #7) Author: Lauren Willig Genre/s: historical, romance, Regency romance Content/Trigger Warnings: period-accurate misogyny, bullying Summary (from author’s website): Arabella Dempsey’s dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpson’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas, she accepts a position at the quiet girls’ school in Bath, expecting to face nothing more exciting than conducting the annual Christmas recital. She hardly imagines coming face to face with French aristocrats and international spies… Reginald “Turnip” Fitzhugh—often mistaken for the elusive spy known as the Pink Carnation—has blundered into danger before. But when he blunders into Miss Arabella Dempsey, it never occurs to him that she might be trouble. When Turnip and Arabella stumble upon a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message written in French, “Meet me at Farley Castle”, the unlikely vehicle for intrigue launches the pair on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austens’ modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Dukes of Dovedale, where the Dowager Duchess is hosting the most anticipated event of the year: an elaborate 12-day Christmas celebration. Will they find poinsettias or peril, dancing or danger? And is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella and Turnip’s hands, in the form of a festive Christmas pudding? Buy Here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-mischief-of-the-mistletoe-a-pink-carnation-christmas-lauren-willig/11108093 Spoiler-Free Review: So I know this is technically meant to be a holiday/Christmas romance sort of thing, but I’m reading this series in order right now so whatever - but also it’s coming on to summer right now where I am and any thoughts of the cold and the snow sound WONDERFUL when the heat index is in the 40s Celsius. Thoughts of the cold aside, this reread actually made me love this book so much more than when I first read it! A lot of that has to do with Turnip and Arabella’s romance: how Arabella manages to see through Turnip’s seeming buffoonery to the kind, earnest man he actually is, and Turnip seeing Arabella for the playful, witty woman she can be underneath all her no-nonsense sensibility. Their romance is about them being actually, genuinely SEEN for who they really are - and being loved for it, rather than judged or, worse, mocked. I don’t know anymore why I wasn’t raving about their romance when I first read this book, but now I definitely am, because I love how Arabella and Turnip fall for each other when they finally see each other for who they really are, and encourage each other to be their truest selves even if the rest of the world thinks them strange. I also liked the inclusion of Jane Austen in this novel. There was a nonzero chance that this would be an awful idea, but the author handled this pretty well, a nice little wink by the author to the genre this series belongs to. After all, without Austen, the Regency romance genre might not even be a thing. Plus, including Austen and making Arabella belong to more or less the same social class as her opened up a chance for the author to highlight how different the lives of highborn/wealthy women are, versus their lowerborn/poorer counterparts. In all the previous books the female leads have been titled and/or wealthy, whereas Arabella is neither. Thus, she and Austen offer a glimpse of what the life of the “average” Regency woman was like, which is a glimpse I appreciate. Another interesting thing about this particular novel is that, unlike the previous six books, this does NOT include Eloise Kelly and Colin Selwick’s storyline. And honestly, I didn’t miss them, but that’s mostly because I’m more hooked on the Regency-set storylines - which is kind of the point of these novels anyway, at least in my opinion. So overall, this was a lovely diversion from the usual format this series tends to follow, with a focus on a romance that is absolutely touching and squeeworthy in equal measure. Rating: five mistletoe sprigs

[esters-notepad]

There's an instance of 9 in a Lord Peter Wimsey book (I think it was Unnatural Death). Parker has been looking for Miss Climpson, and the other old ladies at the boarding house are very curious why a bobby would be looking for her. To deflect suspicion, she says he's her nephew Adolphus.

You’ve heard of “Fake Dating.” Now get ready for

Fake Family

1. “This guy is being a creep and won’t leave me alone. Will you pretend to be my overprotective older brother for five minutes?”

2. “The nurse said only family was allowed back here, so I told her we were siblings. Just go along with it.”

3. “That person asked if I was your S/O. I’m sick of people not believing when I say we’re friends, so I said we were siblings.”

4. “I’m your bodyguard, but the event you’re going to does not allow bodyguards, so I’m now your sibling.”

5. “I was on a date, and the person made me uncomfortable, so I told them my parent was a cop. Only problem: My parents are dead, and you’re the only cop I know. Help?”

6. “We have a very elaborate story of how we’re related that we tell everyone when they meet us. No one has any idea that it isn’t true.” 

7. “I told someone we were siblings, but we look nothing alike, so you said I was adopted. Now they want to have dinner with my family… Are your parents good at lying?”

8. “We always joke that we’re siblings, but someone didn’t realize we were joking, so now we’re seeing how far we can carry this out.”

9. “Our organization is extremely covert, but your friends have caught me at your place a few times picking you up. I just found out that you’ve been telling them I’m your hysterical aunt who calls you every time she has a new heartbreak. Really? You couldn’t come up with a less embarrassing cover?” 

10. “Look, I love you, too, but if you keep telling people you’re my grandchild, I’m going to scream. I’m not that old, you know?”

[quotabili-tea]

     "I'm feeling better already, Miss Climpson, fitter and brighter in every way. Either I'm getting a line on the thing, or else it's your tea. That's a good, stout-looking pot. Has it got any more in it?"

     "Yes, indeed,' said Miss Climpson, eagerly. "My dear father used to say I was a great hand a getting the utmost out of a teapot. The secret is to fill up as you go and never empty the pot completely."

--from 'Strong Poison' by Dorothy L. Sayers

--line drawing from The Folio Society edition illustrated by Natasha Ledwidge

[j-august]

Miss Climpson was one of those people who say: 'I am not the kind of person who reads other people's postcards'. This is clear notice to all and sundry that they are, precisely, that kind of person. They are not untruthful; the delusion is real to them. It is merely that Providence has provided them with a warning rattle, like that of the rattlesnake. After that, if you are so foolish as to leave your correspondence in their way, it is your own affair.

Dorothy L. Sayers, Unnatural Death

[fromthedeskofcripslock]

@tragicfantasy-girl This! Oh my word, exactly this.

I started them out on a whim (no pun intended) and out of curiosity because a post here said that the detective Benoit Blanc (of Knives Out/Glass Onion) most resembles is really Lord Peter Wimsey and not Poirot or Holmes. [Edit: It was this post. Thank you, @mywingsareonwheels for literally changing my life.]

Whose Body Chapter II's description of 110A Piccadilly's library and the presence of the debate between a physiological intellectual basis for mental health (nerves in the canon terminology) in the guise of Sir Julian Freke caught my brain; the scene between Lord Peter and "Sergeant" Bunter—that closing line!—in Chapter XVIII caught my whole heart.

The heart was cinched in Clouds of Witness with Lord Peter's actions in Peter's Pit, and his understanding of what faced Mrs. Grimethorpe within the context of the inequality of society's treatment and husbands and wives. That understanding, incidentally, is one that I view as both plausibly in-character, and a wonderful moment of the author(ess)'s voice shining through.

By the time I'd made it to The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, the glorious prose, the human characters and the treatment of inter-generational relations, along with her continued engagement with how society coped (or failed to cope) in the wake of WWI and PTSD (The War and shell shock, to use Sayers' terms) meant that D.L. Sayers had (and has) my soul .

All of the above is to say nothing of the impact Sayers's writing has had on me because she writes a respectful treatment (in the sense that it is nuanced and fully-formed) of characters like Ann Dorland and Lady Mary and Annie and

Miss Twitterton; she creates Miss Climpson and her agency of women, and Harriet Vane and her own agency—in the other sense of the word! —and the plethora of more minor female characters who populate the later books. It is an absolute joy and privilege to read women characters of that time written by THAT women author at that time.

On that note, I hope that @kindredspiritsandgoodomens won't mind if I share here their tags on a post by @itspileofgoodthings about Ann Dorland.

This really ought to top every “Best Opening Lines,” list. The 21st century reading public is sleeping on Dorothy L Sayers.

(Have His Carcase 1932)

[fictionadventurer]

A Suggestion for PBS

Want a female-driven historical mystery show that fits in the television landscape populated by things like Call the Midwife? Produce a series set in Miss Climpson’s detective agency. It ties into a literary setting, drawing in fans, but you can make up original stories and don’t need to worry about fealty to the books. The office is a core setting where our ensemble cast can interact before splitting up to investigate various parts of the mystery, and you can fill the agency with a wide variety of strong, single women of varying personalities and backgrounds. Lord Peter Wimsey is a mostly off-screen presence, the mysterious patron of their business who makes cameo appearances at key moments that give us hints about the mysteries he’s investigating.  (If desired, Strong Poison could be an extra-long event episode, or it could remain whispers in the background while our cast focuses on their own mysteries).

It would be a fantastic look into the lives of single women in the post-WWI landscape while also being a fun and frothy mystery series. You’d have at least one loyal viewer.

[awhisperofcinnamon]

Behind every great monocle-wearing detective is a great girlboss scammer

[talkingpiffle]

‘With regard to the suggested broadcast in reply to “Lord Haw-Haw,” I have noticed in the course of my researches that a great many people, while listening-in to his remarks are instinctively moved to utter derisive ejaculations, such as: “You don't say!” “What about Old Gobbles?” “Have a nice cup of bramble-tea!” “What’s become of the ‘Deutschland’?” and so on, according to the subject he is discussing. This makes me think that it would be amusing, and afford relief to irritated feelings if a running commentary could be broadcast SIMULTANEOUSLY with his on the same wave-length, so as to give the effect of a speaker being HECKLED at a public Meeting! The listeners could JOIN IN with shouts and cheers, and a GOOD TIME would be had by all.’

--Letter from Miss Alexandra Katherine Climpson to Lord Beetle of the Ministry of Instruction and Morale (The Wimsey Papers, Pt. IX, published in The Spectator on January 12, 1940)