A Presumption of Death

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A Presumption of Death
Early paperback edition cover
Early paperback edition cover
Author Jill Paton Walsh
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series Lord Peter Wimsey
Genre(s) Mystery novel
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Publication date November 2002
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN ISBN 0-340-82065-9
Preceded by Thrones, Dominations

A Presumption of Death is a mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L. Sayers. These consist of a number or letters written by various Wimseys and published during the war.

The novel is set in 1940 wartime England and features Sayer's famous sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey, and his wife, detective novelist Harriet Vane. Due to the origins of the novel, the first part of the book is written entirely in the form of letters between various characters, a device also used to introduce Busman's Honeymoon.

[edit] Plot summary

Harriet has evacuated her family to Talboys, moving there with her two children, with the three children of her sister-in-law, Mary and with Bunter's wife and son. Meanwhile, Peter and Bunter are on the continent carrying out undercover work. While Peter is away a murder occurs in the village and the village policeman recruits Harriet to help solve the murder, partly because the police are too busy organising all the changes necessitated by the war and partly because as the wife of a detective, and as a crime novelist she is the best qualified person to find the murderer. Over the course of the novel Peter and Bunter return from the continent, Peter is retired from active service and is able to solve the mystery.