a book recommendation

[newmoonstar]

Hi, since in the last post here someone asked if Jill Paton Walsh's Wimsey continuations were worth reading, it got me thinking of what books were the best for those of us suffering from Sayers withdrawal, and at the top of my list is a book entitled The Wimsey Family: A Fragmentary History Compiled from Correspondence with Dorothy L. Sayers

Comments

[doriscrockford2]

Laurie R. King's "A Letter of Mary" has a guest spot by Lord Peter. (In my opinion the Sayers people should have asked her to write the other 2 books instead of JPW.)

Oh, most definitely!

[dakiwiboid]

As I recall, she got in a lot of trouble with the Fleming estate for writing that, which is a damned shame.

Of course, the Fleming estate is more than a little short-sighted. Consider the fact that they wouldn't allow a facsimile publication of the actual Thrones, Dominations manuscript, even after the horrid Paton Walsh book came out, despite the fact that there would have been a wide market for it.

Re: Oh, most definitely!

[nineveh_uk]

The one hope for the Fleming Estate is that the, er, chief dies before the MSs in their hands get too affected by damp. and then we might get a shot at the facsimile, not to mention other stuff coming at least into a proper archive (though could it be possible for the contract with JPW to include the facsimile not being published for a set period of time?).

(I don't think the legal people are short-sighted, rather they are hamstrung by the personalities, who are not so much short-sighted as totally nuts. There is actually another heir - John Antony's daughter - but attempts to find her or her descendents have been unsuccessful.)

What a shame we can't turn to the Cattery

[dakiwiboid]

I'm sure they could turn up the missing heiress and her family in no time flat!

I would bet that some far-sighted person at Wheaton College made an illicit copy of the Thrones, Dominations ms. before they turned it over to the Fleming estate. I visited that library a couple of times, and the archivists struck me as mighty smart cookies.

I also had the inestimable privilege of reading one of the copies they allowed you to read at the time. Sigh. What a book it would have been if she hadn't thrown up her hands in disgust and deserted detection for Dante.

[nineveh_uk]

I like The Wimsey Family a lot - it's light and frothy, but good fun and with some real treats in it.