TWO MURDERS.....COUNT 'EM.....TWO

WHOSE BODY?
Dorothy L Sayers
Harper & Brothers
1923

THERESE RAQUIN
Emile Zola
Oxford University Press
1998

Two murders, and Murder from two different perspectives, literary-wise...one title a jolly spot of entertainment (with minimun grue) the other...well let's just say it's dark...

Whose Body?-

A Corpse-in-the-Bathtub mystery..to be sure...but also the introduction to the Whimsey of Lord Peter (without the "h"?), a person of Title with a penchant for Detecting. In attendance be his Mum the Stalwart yet dotty Duchess...a typically ineffective copper...a scholarly Police..a truly vicious yet pathetic psychopathic villain...and the intrepid manservant Bunter, who could run the entire show by himself...but it would not be his Place to do so.

Interspersed with the witticism and drollery is Dorothy Sayers' not inconsiderable knowledge of Detection and Forensics...but one must pay attention...clues be buried in the quips and a red herring shows up...or not....i forget.

Sayers & Lord Peter began a distinguished partnership with this title...it's not the best of the lot but serves as an introduction not to be sneezed at...Carry on they did”

Therese Raquin

“a deliciously morbid Anatomy of a Murder....and the Murderers themselves.....lust, its gratification and what came after.......suspicion, hatred, and ultimately the madness of guilt in it various guises.....19th century Paris..the "lower classes". atmospheric to the point that the reader can feel these walls closing in on herself as well..i can't say it was an easy read but i won't soon forget it.”

i don't think i'll attempt to review such disparate books in the near future...trying to come up with reviews that worked, and worked together..was a pain....