Clouds of Witness

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Clouds of Witness
Author Dorothy L. Sayers
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series Lord Peter Wimsey
Genre(s) Mystery
Publisher Harcourt
Publication date June 1926
Media type Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
ISBN ISBN 0-06-080835-7
Preceded by Whose Body?
Followed by Unnatural Death

Clouds of Witness is a 1926 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, the second in her series featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.

It was adapted for television in 1972, as part of a series starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter. The film adaptation is more or less faithful to the book.

Contents

[edit] Plot introduction

The fiancé of Lord Peter's sister, Lady Mary Wimsey, is found dead outside the conservatory of the family's shooting lodge in Yorkshire. Peter and Mary's elder brother, the Duke of Denver, is charged with capital murder and put on trial in the House of Lords.

[edit] Explanation of the novel's title

The novel's title alludes to Hebrews 12:1: "we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses." In solving the mystery, Lord Peter's problem is the opposite of the usual case: rather than having too few clues to go on, there are too many, and Peter pursues several avenues that turn out to be false before hitting on what really happened.

[edit] Plot summary

After the events of Whose Body?, Lord Peter Wimsey goes on an extended holiday in Corsica. Returning to Paris, he receives the news: his sister Mary's fiancé, Capt. Denis Cathcart, has been found shot dead outside the Wimseys' shooting lodge in Yorkshire. His brother, Gerald, Duke of Denver, has been arrested for the murder. Cathcart was killed by a bullet from Gerald's revolver, and Gerald's only alibi is that he was out for a walk at the time Cathcart died. Gerald admits that he quarrelled with Cathcart earlier that night, having been told by a friend that Cathcart had gotten in trouble in Paris for cheating at cards. Later that night, Mary went outside and found Gerald kneeling over Cathcart's body.

Peter and his close friend, Inspector Charles Parker, investigate the grounds, and find several tantalising clues: footprints belonging to a strange man, motorcycle tracks outside the house, and a piece of jewellery: a lucky charm in the shape of a cat. They also agree that both Gerald and Mary are hiding something: Gerald stubbornly refuses to budge from his story that he was out for a walk, Mary is faking a severe illness to avoid talking to anyone.

In the course of the following weeks, Peter investigates several false avenues: the man with the footprints turns out to be Mary's secret fiancé, Goyles, who was meeting Mary to elope with her; she has been covering for him on the assumption that he killed Cathcart, but when Goyles is caught, he admits that he simply ran away in fear when he discovered the body. Furious and humiliated, Mary breaks off their engagement.

While investigating the surrounding countryside Peter meets a violent, homicidal farmer, Mr. Grimethorpe, with a stunningly beautiful wife. Grimethorpe seems a likely killer, but while investigating his alibi (and nearly being killed by stumbling into a bog pit), Peter confirms that Grimethorpe was elsewhere on the fatal night, but discovers that Gerald was visiting his wife. He has refused to admit it, even to his family or lawyers.

Eventually, the jewelled cat leads Wimsey to Cathcart's mistress of many years, who left him for an American millionaire. Wimsey flies to New York to find her, and makes a harrowing trans-Atlantic flight back to reach London before Gerald's trial in the House of Lords ends. From her, Wimsey brings a letter that Cathcart wrote on the night of his death, after receiving her farewell letter. In it, Cathcart announces his intention to commit suicide. He took Gerald's revolver from the study, went out into the garden, and shot himself.

This simple sequence of events has been cluttered up by a series of bizarre coincidences: his mistress's farewell arriving on the same night that news of his cheating reaches Gerald; his suicide happening on the same night that Gerald planned to meet Mrs. Grimethorpe; and Gerald arriving back to stumble over the body just as Mary comes out for her rendezvous with Goyles. Hence the "cloud of witnesses" – in his closing statement, Gerald's lawyer comments ironically that, had Cathcart's death been the only event of that night, the truth would have been immediately obvious and unquestioned.

Gerald is acquitted. As he is leaving the House of Lords, Mr. Grimethorpe appears and shoots at him, then panics and flees, and is killed by a speeding car.

In the final scene, Inspector Sugg, last seen in Whose Body?, is startled to find Wimsey, Parker, and Freddy Arbuthnot on the street after midnight, all drunk as lords. Apparently they have been celebrating the end of the case. Sugg assists them into cabs, then reflects, "Thank God there weren't no witnesses."

[edit] Continuity

This book marks the start of Charles and Mary's interest in each other, though it is several more years before they marry.

[edit] Literary references

There are several references to Manon Lescaut the tragic romance novel. Cathcart, an Englishman raised in France, is highly romantic in his attitudes. Like the hero of Manon, Cathcart was passionately in love with his mistress, and went to desperate lengths to continue paying for her extravagant lifestyle. His suicide note contains a quote from the book: "Je suis fou du douleur" ("I am mad with misery").

[edit] Literary significance and criticism

"... this is likely to be more highly esteemed on a second reading. His younger brother's brilliant exculpation of the duke gives rise to the famous remark, uttered in the House of Lords: "Gentlemen, the barometer is falling." Read it to find the context."[1]

[edit] Sources

[edit] References

  1. ^ Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. A Catalogue of Crime. New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. ISBN 0-06-015796-8