Lady Peter Wimsey at home
Harriet Waugh
THRONES, DOMINATIONS by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh Hodder, £14.99, pp. 313 Writers rarely keep their masterpieces hidden away, unpublished, to be discovered long after they are dead, and I doubt whether Dorothy L. Sayers abandoned Thrones, Dominations in 1936 with that in mind. Most writers probably leave a book because it does not seem to be going very well. In the case of a detective novelist it might be that they cannot see their way to bringing the novel to a satisfactory conclu- sion — although nowadays that rarely seems to stop them. In the case of Dorothy Sayers I think that she saw this book as being fatally flawed. The cast of characters is too small to leave the reader in much doubt as to who is guilty.
That is not to say that for aficionados of Sayers's work Thrones, Dominations, seam- lessly completed by Jill Paton Walsh, lacks interest. Another possibility is that, having married off Peter Wimsey to the bohemian detective writer Harriet Vane in Busman's Holiday after their enjoyably tense five-year courtship, she found following them into marital bliss anticlimactic. For Thrones, Dominations is a domestic novel showing how the newly married couple manage when they return from honeymoon and set up residence in Lord Peter's house in Audley Square, newly decorated and appropriately furnished by his mother, the Dowager Duchess of Denver.
They are comrades as well as lovers, and work hard to overcome the emotional and physical changes in their life. The situation is more difficult for Harriet, who tries to concentrate on writing her new novel while her disapproving sister-in-law demands she do her duty by the name of Denver and produce a third-in-line heir, and frivolous women expect her to lunch with them. Then Lord Peter's manservant, Bunter, announces that he wishes to follow his master's example into marriage, which means that he must leave his service. Thus master and servant are in terrible emotional straits at the prospect of parting. This, and acceding to Harriet's desire for them not to dine at opposite ends of the table when they are alone together, are the main stumbling blocks to Lord Peter's domestic happiness.
Although the primary interest of Thrones, Dominations is the home life of the Wimseys there is, of course, a murder to jolly things along. Rosamund, the beau- tiful wife of Laurence Harwell, a theatrical producer with more money than sense, is found strangled in their country cottage. The Harwells are so publicly and exclusive- ly in love that they make the Wimseys look prosaic and even chilly. There is no doubt, though, of which marriage Dorothy Sayers approves. Lord Peter is called in to help the police because it is a society murder and he is acquainted with the couple, while Harriet feels mildly guilty because she had advised Rosamund to take herself off to the country and redecorate the cottage rather than hang around disconsolately while her husband makes deals in theatre- land.
There are three possible suspects: a couple of low-life blackmailers, the hus- band and the would-be lover. This is not quite good enough, but those who feel defrauded at being left adrift not knowing how the Wimseys fared after their incident-strewn honeymoon chronicled in Busman's Holiday will be pleasantly reassured by Thrones, Dominations.
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