Sayers bites off more than she can chew? (In the Teeth of the Evidence - Dorothy L. Sayers)

Member Name: sunmeilan

Product:	In the Teeth of the Evidence - Dorothy L. Sayers
Date:	01/04/09 (219 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Short stories, perfect for bedtime reading

Disadvantages: Stories aren't all that good

Short stories sadly don't seem to be all that popular these days, which is a great shame, because I like nothing better than to start and finish a short story just before going to bed. That way, there is no wondering what is going to happen next, everything is neatly resolved in a few pages. This is not the first collection of Dorothy L Sayers short stories I have read - Lord Peter Views the Body is another such collection. Unfortunately, I am not at all sure that short stories are Sayers' strong point. She does occasionally come up with a good one, but the majority are weak; in fact, in the case of this collection, I would go as far as to say that none of them are very good.

A contemporary of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers is responsible for Lord Peter Wimsey, a pompous, upper-class 'private detective' whose skills are frequently called upon by Scotland Yard. I've never been particularly keen on him as a fictional detective; for me, he doesn't hold any of the charm of, for example, Poirot, and at times, is downright annoying. That shouldn't put me off this particular book though, because only two of the stories, the first two in fact, feature Wimsey. And perhaps oddly, bearing in mind what I have just said, they are the strongest stories - there is, at least, a feeling of a beginning, middle and end, which is still necessary in a short story as far as I am concerned. Both stories involve Wimsey being marvellously clever at working out how the crimes were done, but as that is what he is supposed to do, I can't really criticise him too much.

The next five stories involve someone called Montague Egg, a character I haven't previously come up against as far as I can remember. I'm not really sure I would want to rediscover him in the future either. He is a purveyor of fine wines and other alcohol and doesn't even pretend to have anything to do with the criminal justice system. However, he does travel a great deal, and in the process manages to fall over murders right left and centre, solving them via a number of rules in his salesman's handbook (yeah, right). It is hard to feel much for him, however, he is dry and dull and doesn't really add much to any of the stories that he stars in. The stories themselves aren't bad; they just aren't particularly memorable - in fact, having finished the book a week ago, I struggled to remember any of them and had to spend a while flicking through the pages before I was able to write this review.

The remaining ten stories all feature one-off characters and vary from the quite good to the decidedly rubbish. 'The Milk Bottles', one of the better stories, starts off very intriguingly with a missing couple who haven't been bringing in their milk bottles (surprise surprise). It soon comes to the police's attention that the couple had been arguing and were in financial difficulties - and there is a smell emanating from the flat that could be the dead body of one of them. All this really caught my attention and I thought I was about to be in for a real treat. Then comes the ending, which was a bit of a let-down. I applaud Sayers' attempt to show that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I do think she could have handled the story a lot better.

The best story is probably 'The Blood Sacrifice' and I think that is because, at about 30 pages, it is the longest story in the book. This gives Sayers a chance to do what she does best - she builds the scene and develops the characters so that the reader actually gives a damn about what happens to them. Then towards the end, there is a twist in the tale that I certainly didn't see coming until the last minute. By the time I had read to the last page, I felt sated for the first time while reading this book.

The worst story in the book is also the last - perhaps Sayers herself was aware that it may not be popular with her fans. Called 'The Cyprian Cat' and being a cat-lover, I was expecting something that I would at least find enjoyable. However, as it is about someone who hates cats to the extent that he has a phobia of them, that wasn't to be the case. I had the strong impression from the way Sayers worded the story that the phobia was something she is all too familiar with - never something that endears me to the author. Then the story seems to take an almost supernatural turn. I am all for authors trying to write outside their comfort zone, but they have to do it well, and Sayers is clearly not all that good at the supernatural genre. I was left feeling disappointed and even a little annoyed that I had wasted my time reading the story at all.

From the point of view of the writing style, this collection of short stories is probably a lot easier to read than some of Sayers' longer novels. Sayers is very descriptive and often litters her prose with big words - here, however, the language she uses is much more succinct and is therefore more understandable. However, I felt that the language was almost sloppy at times, as if Sayers hadn't put a great deal of thought into what she was writing, but just wanted to get her thoughts down on paper. Agatha Christie wrote a lot of short stories, some better than others, often using them to try out plots for longer novels - in general though, the plots are taut and the writing is strong and I would much rather read a collection of her short stories than I would Sayers'.

I think it's fairly clear that I didn't think much of this book. If you really like the author and don't mind the odd short story, then it is probably worth giving it a go - as the longest story is around 30 pages, you won't necessarily be wasting much time. Otherwise, I would stay clear, particularly if you are a newcomer to Sayers' work - I really can't see this selection of stories encouraging you to read any more of her work. Not recommended.

The book is available from play.com for £5.99. Published by Hodder & Stoughton, it has 224 pages. ISBN: 9780450002489

Summary: A weak offering from one of the Queens of Crime