The Late Scholar

The Late Scholar

1st North American Edition front cover
Author Jill Paton Walsh
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series Lord Peter Wimsey
Genre crime novel
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date
05 December 2013 (UK) / 14 January 2014 (US/CAN)
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4447-5190-1
Preceded by The Attenbury Emeralds

The Late Scholar is the fourth Lord Peter Wimsey detective novel to be written by Jill Paton Walsh. It was published by Hodder & Stoughton on December 5, 2013 in the UK, and on January 14, 2014 in North America.[1]

The Late Scholar features Lord Peter Wimsey - now the Duke of Denver - and his wife Harriet Vane, set in a (fictional) Oxford college called St. Severin's in the 1950s.

Peter Wimsey is pleased to discover that along with a Dukedom he has inherited the duties of 'visitor' at an Oxford college. St Severin’s finds itself in the middle of an acrimonious dispute over whether or not to sell a valuable manuscript to finance the purchase of a piece of land which might or might not be worth a lot of money if planning permission can be obtained on it. Peter’s task is to make the decision and several of the fellows turn up on his doorstep to try and convince him of the wisdom of either course of action.

When the fellows appeal to him to resolve the dispute, he and Harriet set off happily to spend some time in Oxford. But the dispute turns out to be embittered. The voting is evenly balanced between two passionate parties - evenly balanced, that is, until several of the fellows unexpectedly die. The Warden has the tie-breaking vote, but the Warden has disappeared. And the causes of death of the deceased fellows bear an uncanny resemblance to the murder methods in Peter's past cases - methods that Harriet has used in her published novels.

Paton Walsh writes with the co-operation of Sayers’ estate and with their approval.

References

  1. The Late Scholar (Paperback) ISBN 1444751905, ISBN 978-1444751901

External links