Summary: The stark naked body was lying in the tub. Not unusual for a proper bath, but highly irregular for murder -- especially with a pair of gold pince-nez deliberately perched before the sightless eyes. What's more, the face appeared to have been shaved after death. The police assumed that the victim was a prominent financier, but Lord Peter Wimsey, who dabbled in mystery detection as a hobby, knew better. In this, his first murder case, Lord Peter untangles the ghastly mystery of the corpse in the bath.
Thoughts: I've been dying for some real good detective mysteries recently and found this little gem in my Lost Phone-Kindle Files.
The writing was great, classic. Full of sharp wit and deduction it easily draws the reader in.
The mystery was well thought out and absolutely boggling for awhile but it never dragged. And the end was truly climatic!
I was really impressed with characters. Very few mysteries ever bother to make their great and brilliant detective truly human but Lord Percy ran up against fear and moral concerns as much as he did thrills and excitement. And his relationship with the policeman, Parker, who was his companion in the case was great. Too often the police are portrayed as bumbling fools without a clue as to what's going on despite all their training while the amateur detective soars past them on the logical train of events. Here, Parker is very nearly Percy's wit and also has training and skills to rival his companion's. It was refreshing and interesting.
Content: A bit of language, mostly just D***. Violence and gore, it's a murder mystery after all and when the full tale comes out...I'll just say that it wasn't pleasant. Some inappropriate implications but little was said for sure and nothing actually happened within the story. All in all though, a fun mystery for all fans of detectives and mind-stretching mysteries!
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