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Unnatural Death, published in 1927, is the third novel written by Dorothy L. Sayers featuring her aristocratic detective Lord Peter Wimsey.
The story begins with a conversation in a restaurant between Wimsey, his friend Detective Inspector Charles Parker, and a doctor who tells them about a situation he was involved in: an elderly lady, suffering from a slow-acting cancer, died suddenly and unexpectedly with no obvious immediate cause of death. She died intestate, but her great-niece, with whom she was living, was set to inherit the considerable estate. Suspecting something wrong, the doctor demanded an autopsy, which showed nothing unusual, but stirred up such local animosity that the he was forced to abandon his practice. Wimsey, sensing a mystery, decides to investigate—but his investigation triggers a series of deadly events.
One of the delights of the book is the introduction of a new character in Miss Alexandra Climpson, a middle-aged spinster whom Wimsey employs as an investigative agent, and whose effusive reports of the gossip she picks up in the town are very amusing.
Unnatural Death is notable for its inclusion of one clearly lesbian character—a decision unusual in detective fiction at the time—and the very sympathetic treatment by Wimsey of a black character (though offensively racist terms for him are used by others in the book).
An adaptation of the book was made for BBC radio in 1975.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
Private investigators, Lord Wimsey, Peter (Fictitious character), Open Library Staff Picks, English Detective and mystery stories, Fiction, Large type books, Wimsey, peter, lord (fictitious character), fiction, Fiction, mystery & detective, general, Fiction, crime, Crime, fiction, Private investigators, fiction, England, fiction, Fiction, mystery & detective, traditional, Private investigators -- England -- Fiction, Detective and mystery stories, Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction, Wimsey, Peter, Lord (Fictitious character), 1890- -- Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, generalPlaces
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Unnatural Death (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)
2024, Warbler Press
in English
1962572315 9781962572316
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Unnatural Death (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)
2024, Warbler Press
in English
1962572323 9781962572323
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Unnatural Death: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery
2023, Murine Publications
in English
195799018X 9781957990187
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Unnatural Death: Lord Peter Wimsey Book 3
2016, Hodder & Stoughton
in English
1473621305 9781473621305
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15
Unnatural Death: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)
Jan 07, 2014, Bourbon Street Books
0062311921 9780062311924
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Unnatural Death: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)
September 28, 2007, The Audio Partners, Mystery Masters
Audio CD
in English
1572708549 9781572708549
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21
Unnatural Death (BBC Radio Collection)
May 7, 2002, BBC Audiobooks, BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Audio cassette
0563528109 9780563528104
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Unnatural Death (BBC Radio Collection)
May 7, 2002, BBC Audiobooks, BBC Books
Audio CD
0563528117 9780563528111
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Arrêt du coeur
April 4, 2001, Librairie des Champs-Elysées
Mass Market Paperback
in French
2702430139 9782702430132
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Unnatural Death (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)
July 2000, The Audio Partners
Audio Cassette
in English
- Unabridged edition
1572701447 9781572701441
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27
Unnatural Death (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)
August 1, 1995, HarperTorch
Mass Market Paperback
in English
0061043583 9780061043581
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Unnatural Death (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)
August 1, 1995, HarperTorch
in English
0061043583 9780061043581
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30
Unnatural Death (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
July 1993, Perennial
in English
0060923865 9780060923860
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Unnatural Death (Paragon Softcover Large Print Books)
September 6, 1993, Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C
Hardcover
- Large Print Ed edition
074513386X 9780745133867
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Unnatural Death (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
July 1993, Perennial
Paperback
in English
0060923865 9780060923860
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Unnatural Death (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries (Audio)) (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)
September 1, 1990, Chivers Audio Books
Audio Cassette
in English
- Unabridged edition
0745162622 9780745162621
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Unnatural death
1987, Perennial Library, HarperCollins Publishers, HarperPerennial
in English
- 1st Perennial Library ed.
0060808403 9780060808402
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Unnatural Death (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
November 1, 1982, New English Library Ltd
0450001016 9780450001017
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Keines natürlichen Todes: "Unnatural Death": Kriminalroman
1981-04, Rowohlt
Taschenbuch
in German
- [1. Auflage]
3499147033 9783499147036
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Unnatural Death/(English Title = the Dawson Pedigree)
June 1927, Harcourt
Hardcover
999753073X 9789997530738
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