All pretty enjoyable because Sayers is a good writer, but the mysteries themselves are mixed quality. The crossword one is really impressive and a few of the others are interesting and comment on the mystery genre itself but the longest story is a bit silly (one of the main elements had no use at all and was actively dangerous to the plan, which relied upon a really major but highly unlikely thing another person did that everyone else in the story tried to stop, and that going exactly according to how they wanted it as well). Enjoyable but not a stellar collection. Worth reading if you enjoy mystery stuff though cause Sayers is great, even if she has her own ridiculous prejudices. She can convincingly write a charming detective and funny dialogue (not laugh out loud funny, but smile-raising), which is rare among detective writers.

A side note, an example of the bizarrely twisted morality at work in these sorts of books: an uncle makes a will leaving all his money to his sister and his niece, but hides it. His niece is a socialist and he doesn't like her. He makes an easily findable will that leaves all his money to an organisation promoting the Tories. Lord Peter Wimsey thinks this is hilarious and doesn't see why he should help find the first will, cause he doesn't like socialists (the author whines about socialism in other books in the series too, sadly). Yet there's no mention of the uncle's sister doing anything "wrong", and in fact she's disabled and needs an expensive operation! She was in fact a witness to the easily findable will, where she was given a silver teapot. That's it. The uncle seems like a cruel man who punishes his sister for no reason at all but I guess a woman possibly dying cause her rich brother is arbitrarily cruel to her is all fun and games to Lord Wimsey? Christ. It's just obnoxious. It's not like any of the golden age detectives cared much about this stuff other times. ( )

With an informative introduction by Jill Paton Walsh, this volume of short stories originally published in 1928 allow us further time with Lord Peter Wimsey, Dorothy L Sayers’ excellent amateur detective.
Having read many of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels, these stories are like the icing on the cake, and are joyfully entertaining, allowing this reader the illusion of being able to step back nearly 100 years, into a time when a dowager duchess or manservant is an unexceptional character in the story (well, one can dream!).
Are the stories dated, yes dreadfully, but therein lies part of their undoubted charm.
Delightfully nostalgic fantasy, which can sometimes be just what’s wanted.

The levity with which these mysteries are couched is reflected in their titles, such as The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach, which is partially set in Kirkcudbrightshire, a county to which Sayers returned in Five Red Herrings.
The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face involves the murder of a man on the beach involving a rocky promontory which feels like a precursor of that featuring in Strong Poison.
The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba is a rather disappointing finale to what is otherwise a very high quality collection of short stories.

My edition was published in 2017 by the Folio Society and is copiously illustrated by Paul Cox with black and white drawings that perfectly capture the 1920’s setting of the stories. ( )

I was a bit nervous about this book at first. I'm usually not a fan of short stories and the first couple in this collection left me wanting more from them. I was drawn in by the third story however - one in which she creates a crossword puzzle for the story.

There was only one story that I did not like at all as I found it too gruesome. It very much reminded me of the first book in this series - Whose Body?. This collection made for great bedtime reading and I do plan to pick up more of these short story collections. ( )

paperback

Clever collection of short mysteries starring Wimsey. Some whiplash, jumping around in time, but a lot of very interesting brain pleasing stories. One particularly hilarious auction day, where Lord Peter behaves badly had me laughing loudly, although a typo in Hypnotermachia had me wincing. Wincing also at the racial slurs that rise up from nowhere in Sayers' work, and are a mirror of her time. ( )