Lord Peter Views the Body, first published in 1928, is the first collection of short stories about Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L. Sayers. Some stories, starting with “The Problem of Uncle Meleager’s Will,” had been previously published. All twelve stories were included in later complete collections.
Synopsis The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers Members of London's "Egotists' Club" are telling stories of mysterious, unsolved happenings. One of the members' guests, a cinema actor named Varden, tells how he was invited to model for a wealthy sculptor, Eric Loder, and spent several months at Loder's New York mansion. After the war, Loder invited Varden to return to New York for another sitting. Varden noticed that Loder's mistress, Maria Morano, had disappeared, though a life-size silver-plated sculpture of her now occupied the living room. One night, Varden was wakened and told to flee for his life by a "funny-looking" monocled man. This man then smashed the arm of the statue with a fireplace poker, showing Varden a human arm bone inside. Varden fled the house immediately, but afterwards wondered if it was all a practical joke.
The "funny-looking man" – Wimsey, also a member of the club – appears and explains the mystery. Wimsey himself was a guest in Loder's mansion some weeks before Varden's arrival. A burst water bottle led him to abandon his bed for the living room sofa; there, he secretly witnessed Loder enter a hidden workshop behind a bookcase. After Loder left, Wimsey investigated and discovered an electroplating apparatus, as well as evidence that Loder had killed and electroplated Maria, and intended to do the same to Varden when he arrived. Loder had believed (incorrectly) that Varden and Maria were having an affair.
After frightening Varden away, Wimsey confronted Loder in the workshop. Loder tried to turn off the lights and attack Wimsey, but tripped and fell into the plating apparatus' cyanide tank, dying instantly. In trying to turn on the lights, Wimsey accidentally turned on the apparatus, causing Loder's hands to be electroplated in copper. Loder's death was ruled an accident, and Wimsey and Bunter gave the statue of Maria a Christian burial with the help of a sympathetic priest.
The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question Peter and Bunter are queueing at Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris, when Peter overhears a conversation from a young woman in the queue that makes him curious, particularly when he notes that the woman and her companion are travelling to Dover. After patient investigation, Peter meets with his mother's friend, the Dowager Duchess of Medway, and through conversation learns that a highly valuable diamond necklace will be taken out of the family vault for her granddaughter's forthcoming wedding. He asks for and is granted an invitation to the wedding.
Arriving at the wedding, Wimsey finds Detective Inspector Charles Parker among the police presence there to protect the diamonds. A brief uproar arises when the bride discovers that the necklace is stolen. The thieves have already been caught, however, due to Peter's information, and he shocks the assembled wedding party by exposing the Dowager Duchess's French lady's maid as Monsieur Jacques le Rouge, alias "Jacques Sans-culotte", a notorious safecracker, thief, and female impersonator. Jacques cheerfully confesses, asking Peter how he knew. Peter explains that, while queueing at Saint-Lazare, he overheard Jacques in feminine dress refer to himself by the masculine article instead of the feminine . Jacques congratulates Peter for such a mastery of the French language, unique among English people. The Dowager Duchess is initially outraged that Peter knowingly allowed her to be dressed, undressed, and assisted to bed by a man, but when he apologizes she laughs it off, saying that not many women of her age can boast of such a thing.
The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will This is the first published Lord Peter story; it was originally published in Pearson's Magazine vol. 60, July 1925, pp. 27–35.A Bibliography of the works of Dorothy L. Sayers, by Colleen B. Gilbert, item C33 p. 172 The version of the story published in Lord Peter Views the Body, however, was altered to set it after the most recent novel — when Mary mentions the Soviet Club, Peter refers to the events that happen there in Clouds of Witness.
When old Meleager Finch dies, he leaves two wills: the first grants his fortune to the conservative Primrose League, while the second leaves everything to his niece, Hannah, a young, serious socialist. He writes a letter to Hannah explaining that this second will has been hidden somewhere, and that her only chance of finding it is "by the exercise of a sustained frivolity."
Lord Peter, his sister Mary, and his valet Bunter travel with Hannah to help her find the missing will. They discover that Meleager was a crossword puzzle fiend, and find a trove of puzzles he had written, including one with no accompanying grid. When Peter falls into the impluvium, he discovers that the missing grid is the tiled floor of the fountain itself, and solving it reveals the location of the missing will.
The story is notable for containing an entire crossword puzzle in which all the clues are rhyming couplets (or quatrains): for example, One drop of vinegar to two of oil Dresses this curly head sprung from the soil. clues the word ENDIVE. The answers were included at the end of the book, allowing crossword fans to attempt to solve the puzzle themselves.
The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag Two motorcyclists enter into a high speed chase on the Great North Road, which carries on for many miles and passes many startled passers-by and motorists. They are blocked from tearing through a village by a brave policeman, who stands in their way. The second motorist (Mr Walters) explains that he was only chasing the first motorist (Mr Simpkins) because Simpkins dropped a bag further up the road. Simpkins vehemently denies owning the bag, much to Walters' astonishment as he actually saw the bag fall from Simpkin's bike. A passer-by discovers that the bag in question contains part of a corpse, and the two motorcyclists are detained just as Lord Peter arrives to claim the bag, which he claims was full of jewellery and was stolen from him.
Suspicious, the policeman takes all three in for questioning, and Wimsey insists that he be given no preferential treatment, as he too wants this matter looked into. Wimsey recognizes the face of the dead woman as that of a wealthy socialite who horribly mistreated her husband. The socialite, who recently disappeared, was said to have travelled to America, and her husband was supposed to sail to meet her in a few days' time. Further inquiries elicit that Simpkins, who runs a delivery service, was unwittingly hired by the jewel thief to pick up the bag of stolen jewels at a local baggage depot. He knew nothing of either crime, nor was he aware that he was given the wrong bag at the depot as both bags were identical. He also did not discover the gruesome contents until much later. Afraid he would be arrested, Simpkins then attempted to get rid of the bag, but Walters happened to see the moment the bag fell and kindly tried to return it, setting up the events of the story. Both motorcyclists make up their disagreement, deciding to someday have a more legal race.
Wimsey recovers his own bag of jewels from the depot, and lays a trap for the socialite's husband on the steamer bound for America. The murderer is quickly arrested, and his final fate is left unknown.
The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker Wimsey is surprised when Mrs. Ruyslander, the wife of a diamond merchant, knocks on his hotel room door in the middle of the night. She asks for his help in recovering some stolen jewels, and a photograph with an indiscreet inscription, from a blackmailer before her husband returns from a trip to South Africa. Wimsey finds Paul Melville, the blackmailer, at one of his clubs; through sleight of hand, Wimsey convinces the other members of the club that Melville has been hiding cards up his sleeve during poker games. Wimsey agrees to confront the now-vehemently-protesting Melville alone. After some arguing, Melville, much to his annoyance, is forced to return the diamonds and photograph to clear his name. After regaining Mrs. Ruyslander's property, Wimsey then returns to the other members of the club and exonerates Melville by demonstrating how the simple conjuring trick was done, assuring the onlookers that there are some crimes the law does not need to touch.
The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention Lord Peter is visiting a friend, Mr. Frobisher-Pym, in a small village in Essex. Mr. Burdock, a local member of the landed gentry, has recently died, leaving two sons: Martin, who married discreditably beneath his class and moved abroad, and Haviland, a businessman in London.
Peter is introduced to a villager who reports having seen a ghostly coach, drawn by four headless horses, galloping soundlessly in the middle of the night, which he takes as an omen of death. Peter goes to investigate, finding no clues, but meets the High Church vicar and learns of an unusual plan for various village inhabitants to keep an overnight vigil, two at a time, for the deceased Mr. Burdock.
Peter then borrows a horse and rides to a neighboring village to catch up with an old war comrade. On his way back, late at night and inebriated, he encounters the same ghostly coach, and notes where it goes. In the morning, he learns that the church has been vandalized and the two vigil-keepers locked in the cellar, apparently the work of Nonconformists. Regardless, Mr. Burdock's coffin is buried.
Investigating where the ghostly coach might have gone, Peter finds a barn containing a number of suspicious items that might have been used to make a carriage appear spectral. He visits the decaying manor house of the late Mr. Burdock, and discovers, behind a water-damaged copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle, the last will of the deceased gentleman. It contains a bizarre stipulation: as long as his body remains above ground, Martin inherits his wealth; but as soon as it is buried, it reverts to Haviland.
Since the body was apparently already buried, Haviland appears to have won, but it soon transpires that the coffin was empty, with the body having been removed by friends of Martin, who arranged the ghostly coach and vandalism of the church to distract from their theft of the corpse. But Haviland is not innocent either; the matching water stains on the Chronicle and the adjacent wall prove that the will had been only recently placed there. Martin, who was not aware of his friends' handiwork until after the fact, declares he will have his father entombed above the ground, and split the fortune with his brother. Lord Peter concludes that the whole affair "throws a sad light on human nature" and departs for London.
Sayers references the events of this story in the Wimsey novel Have His Carcase, as a nod to the fact that this later book contains a character named Haviland Martin.
The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps That Ran While assisting a doctor friend with his experiments in curing diseases in rats, Wimsey and Bunter hear the sound of footsteps and shouting from the flat above. A moment later, the tenant comes running downstairs to get the doctor, hysterically proclaiming his wife Maddalena has been killed by a Mafioso who broke in through their kitchen window.