Dorothy L Sayers – Early Twentieth-Century Fiction

Tampering with Evidence

“…he laid the body down, picked up the mysterious pince-nez, looked at it, put it on his nose and looked through it, made the same noise again, readjusted the pince-nez upon the nose of the corpse…” (Sayers 22)

Sayers, Dorothy L., Whose Body?

I found this passage interesting because of the carelessness of the investigator. He tampers with potential evidence, and literally tries on the glasses of the dead man. Plus, he is exposing himself to any potential germs from the corpse. It shows how differently the investigative process and evidence was handled before the modern era.

Dr. Thingumtight

“‘ The law, Dr. Thingumtight, respects the rights of the minority, alive or dead.’ Some ass laughs, and old Biggs sticks his chest out and gets impressive.’ Gentlemen, this is no laughing matter. My client an upright and honourable gentleman – is being tried for his life for his life, gentlemen -and it is the business of the prosecution to show his guilt-if they can—without a shadow of doubt. Now, Dr. Thingumtight, I ask you again, can you solemnly swear, without the least shadow of doubt,-probable, possible shadow of doubt— that this unhappy woman met her death neither sooner nor later than Thursday evening? A probable opinion ? Gentlemen ,we are not Jesuits, we are straightforward Englishmen. You can not ask a British-born jury to convict any man on the authority of a probable opinion.’Hum of applause.”

-Sayers, Whose Body, p.36

Lord Peters is mocking the role of doctor’s evidence when it comes to present it to a jury. We also see here the mention of “the rights of the minority” and “straightforward Englishmen” by Lord Peter in a mocking way as a critic to the judicial system.

A Corpse?

“Poor old Mother! Well, thanks awfully for tellin’ me. I think I’ll send Bunter to the sale and toddle round to Battersea now an’ try and console the poor little beast. So- long“ (pg. 3)

I feel like this is a very casual response to someone finding a body. Especially with the use of “toddle round.” I think the typical response would be to be more shocked and try to console his mother as much as possible.