''Busman's Honeymoon'' is a 1937 novel by
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages.
She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...
, her eleventh and last featuring
Lord Peter Wimsey
Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey (later 17th Duke of Denver) is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh). A dilettante who solves mysteries fo ...
, and her fourth and last to feature
Harriet Vane.
Plot introduction
Lord Peter Wimsey
Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey (later 17th Duke of Denver) is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh). A dilettante who solves mysteries fo ...
and
Harriet Vane marry and go to spend their honeymoon at Talboys, an old farmhouse in
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
which he has bought her as a present. The honeymoon is intended as a break from his usual routine of solving crimes, and hers of writing about them, but it turns into a murder investigation when the seller of the house is found dead at the bottom of the cellar steps with severe head injuries.
Plot
After an engagement of some months following the events at the end of ''
Gaudy Night
''Gaudy Night'' (1935) is a mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, the tenth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, and the third including Harriet Vane.
The dons of Harriet Vane's '' alma mater'', the all-female Shrewsbury College, Oxford (based on S ...
'', Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane marry. They plan to spend their honeymoon at Talboys, an old farmhouse in Harriet's native
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
which Wimsey has bought for her, and they abscond from the wedding reception, evading the assembled reporters.
Arriving late at night, they are surprised to find the house locked up and not prepared for them. They gain access and spend their wedding night there, but next morning the former owner, Noakes, is found dead in the cellar with head injuries. The quiet honeymoon is ruined as a murder investigation begins and the house fills with policemen, reporters, and brokers' men
distraining Noakes' hideous furniture.
Noakes was an unpopular man, a miser and (it turns out) a
blackmail
Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...
er. He was assumed to be well off, but it transpires that he was bankrupt, owed large amounts of money, and was planning to flee his creditors with the cash he had received for Talboys. The house had been locked and bolted when the newly-weds arrived, and medical evidence seems to rule out an accident, so it seems he was attacked in the house and died later, having somehow locked up after his attacker. The suspects include Noakes' niece Aggie; Mrs Ruddle, his neighbour and cleaning lady; Frank Crutchley, a local garage mechanic who also tended Noakes' garden; and the local police constable, who was his blackmail victim.
Peter's and Harriet's relationship is resolved during the process of catching the murderer and bringing him to justice. In a final scene, in which almost the entire cast of characters is gathered in the front room of Talboys, the killer turns out to be Crutchley. He had planned to marry Noakes' somewhat elderly niece and get his hands on the money he had left her in his will. He had set a booby trap with a weighted plant pot on a chain, which was triggered by the victim opening the radio cabinet after locking up for the night. Wimsey's reaction to the case – his arrangement for the defendant to be represented by top defence counsel; his guilt at condemning a man to be hanged; the return of his shell-shock – dominates the final chapters of the book. It is mentioned that Wimsey had previously also suffered similar pangs of conscience when other murderers had been sent to the gallows. His deep remorse and guilt at having caused Crutchley to be executed leave doubt as to whether he would undertake further murder investigations.
Later writings
Sayers completed no further Wimsey novels after ''Busman's Honeymoon'', though she did begin work on a story titled ''Thrones, Dominations'', which would be completed years after her death by
Jill Paton Walsh
Gillian Honorine Mary Herbert, Baroness Hemingford, (née Bliss; 29 April 1937 – 18 October 2020), known professionally as Jill Paton Walsh, was an English novelist and children's writer. She may be known best for her Booker Prize-nominated n ...
.
The 1942 short story ''Talboys'', the very last Wimsey fiction published by Sayers, is both a sequel to the present book, in having the same location and some of the same village characters, and an antithesis in being lighthearted and having no crime worse than the theft of some peaches from a neighbour's garden.
Principal characters
*
Lord Peter Wimsey
Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey (later 17th Duke of Denver) is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh). A dilettante who solves mysteries fo ...
– protagonist, an aristocratic amateur detective
*
Harriet Vane, Lady Peter Wimsey – protagonist, a mystery writer, wife of Lord Peter
*
Mervyn Bunter
Mervyn Bunter is a fictional character in Dorothy L. Sayers' novels and short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.
Literary Background
Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) wrote a number of novels and short stories concerning the adventures of ...
– Lord Peter's manservant
*Honoria Lucasta, Dowager Duchess of Denver – Lord Peter's mother
*William Noakes – previous owner of Talboys and the murder victim
*Miss Agnes Twitterton – spinster niece of the murdered man
*Frank Crutchley – motor mechanic and gardener
*Mrs Martha Ruddle – neighbour of Noakes and his cleaning lady
*Bert Ruddle – her son
*Chief Superintendent Kirk – Hertfordshire
CID
CID may refer to:
Film
* ''C.I.D.'' (1955 film), an Indian Malayalam film
* ''C.I.D.'' (1956 film), an Indian Hindi film
* ''C. I. D.'' (1965 film), an Indian Telugu film
* ''C.I.D.'' (1990 film), an Indian Hindi film
Television
* ''CID'' ( ...
*Joseph Sellon – local police constable
*The Reverend Simon Goodacre – Vicar of Paggleham
Title
A "
busman's holiday" is a holiday spent by a bus driver travelling on a bus: it is no break from the usual routine. By analogy, anyone who spends a holiday doing their normal job is taking a "busman's holiday".
Literary significance and criticism
In their review of Crime novels (revised edn 1989), the US writers Barzun and Taylor comment that the novel is "Not near the top of her form, but remarkable as a treatment of the newly wedded and bedded pair of eccentrics ... with Bunter in the offing and three local characters, chiefly comic. Peter's mother – Dowager Duchess of Denver – Peter's sister, John Donne, a case of vintage port, and the handling of "corroded sut" provide plenty of garnishing for an indifferent murder, even if we weren't also given an idea of Lord Peter's sexual tastes and powers under trying circumstances."
[Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. ''A Catalogue of Crime''. New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. ]
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...
, in his essay "
The Simple Art of Murder
''The Simple Art of Murder'' is the title of several quasi-connected publications by hard-boiled detective fiction author Raymond Chandler:
*The first, and arguably best-known, is a critical essay on detective fiction, originally published in ...
," satirized a number of classic dectective stories, and he chose this one among Sayers's novels to mock for the complicated murder method: "a murderer who needs that much help from Providence must be in the wrong business"
Adaptations
''Busman's Honeymoon'' first saw the light of day as a stage
play by Sayers and
Muriel St. Clare Byrne. Subtitled ''A Detective Comedy in Three Acts'', it opened at London's
Comedy Theatre
The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011, , in December 1936, with
Dennis Arundell
Dennis Drew Arundell OBE (22 July 1898 in Finchley, London – 10 December 1988 in Camden, London as Peter and
Veronica Turleigh
Veronica Turleigh (14 January 1903 – 3 September 1971) was an Irish actress.
Biography
Bridget Veronica Turleigh was born on 14 January 1903 at Castleforward Demesne, County Donegal, Ireland. She attended the Catholic University in Dublin. ...
as Harriet Vane.
The play was a success, and ran for 413 performances.
A
1940 film version, based as much on the play as on the novel, stars
Robert Montgomery as Peter and
Constance Cummings
Constance Cummings CBE (May 15, 1910 – November 23, 2005) was an American-British actress with a career spanning over 50 years.
Early life
Cummings was born in Seattle, Washington, the only daughter and younger child of Kate Logan (née Cu ...
as Harriet. The movie was released in the United States as ''Haunted Honeymoon''.
It was twice adapted for BBC television broadcast. The 1947 adaptation, 90 minutes in length, was directed by
John Glyn-Jones
John Glyn-Jones (28 August 1908 – 21 January 1997) was a British stage, radio, television and film actor.
His father, William Glyn-Jones, was a Member of Parliament and he was educated at Bishop's Stortford College and Oxford University. He ...
and starred
Harold Warrender
Harold John Warrender (15 November 1903 – 6 May 1953) was a British stage, film and television actor, and radio presenter.
His father was Sir George Warrender, 7th Baronet. His mother was Lady Ethel Maud Ashley Cooper, a singer and patro ...
as Lord Peter,
Ruth Lodge
Ruth (or its variants) may refer to:
Places
France
* Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France
Switzerland
* Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny
United States
* Ruth, Alabama
* Ruth, Ar ...
as Harriet, and
Ronald Adam
General Sir Ronald Forbes Adam, 2nd Baronet, (30 October 1885 – 26 December 1982) was a senior British Army officer. He had an important influence on the conduct of the British Army during the Second World War as a result of his long tenure ...
as Bunter;
Joan Hickson
Joan Bogle Hickson, OBE (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series ''Miss Marple''. She also narrated a number ...
, later to be better known for playing
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
's amateur sleuth
Miss Marple
Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Jane Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Chr ...
, played Miss Twitterton. The 1957 adaptation, again 90 minutes in length, was directed by
Brandon Acton-Bond, and starred
Peter Gray as Lord Peter,
Sarah Lawson as Harriet, and
Charles Lloyd-Pack
Charles Lloyd-Pack (10 October 1902 – 22 December 1983) was a British film, television and stage actor.
Life and career
Lloyd-Pack was born at Wapping, East London, to working-class parents. He was seen in several horror films produced by th ...
as Bunter.
There have been three BBC radio adaptations. The first, in 1949, was adapted for radio by
Peggy Wells, and starred
Hugh Latimer
Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the s ...
as Lord Peter,
Rita Vale as Harriet, and Stanley Groome as Bunter. The second, again adapted for radio by Wells, was broadcast in 1965, and featured
Angus MacKay as Lord Peter,
Dorothy Reynolds
Dorothy Reynolds (26 January 1913 – 7 April 1977) was a British writer and actress.
She is mainly known for writing a number of musicals in collaboration with Julian Slade. The best known were ''Salad Days
"Salad days" is a Shakespearean ...
as Harriet, and
David Monico as Bunter. The
third adaptation, broadcast in 1983 on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
, was in six parts. This starred
Ian Carmichael
Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English actor who worked prolifically on stage, screen and radio in a career spanning 70 years. He found prominence in the films of the Boulting brothers, including ' ...
as Lord Peter Wimsey, Sarah Badel as Harriet,
Peter Jones as Bunter, Rosemary Leach as Miss Twitterton, Pearl Hackney as Mrs Ruddle,
Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan (born Peter Ewart Ohm; 4 April 1923 – 6 December 2016) was an English character actor known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also acted extensively on the stage.
He is perhaps best know ...
as Superintendent Kirk and John Westbrook as the Narrator.
A stage production of ''Busman's Honeymoon'' took place at the Lyric theatre, Hammersmith from 12 July - 27 August 1988 and starred Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter Wimsey and Emily Richard as Harriet (Lady Peter) Wimsey. The two actors are married to each other in real life.
Lifeline Theatre
Lifeline Theatre was founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States in 1983 by five Northwestern University graduates: Meryl Friedman, Suzanne Plunkett, Kathee Sills, Sandy Snyder Pietz, and Steve Totland.
The company moved into its permanent locati ...
(Chicago, Illinois) presented an original adaptation of ''Busman's Honeymoon'' in the spring and summer of 2009. Frances Limoncelli adapted the script from Dorothy Sayers' novel. The show was directed by Paul Holmquist. ''Busman's Honeymoon'' was preceded by adaptations of ''
Whose Body?
''Whose Body?'' is a 1923 mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers. It was her debut novel, and the book in which she introduced the character of Lord Peter Wimsey.
Plot
Thipps, an architect, finds a dead body wearing nothing but a pair of pince-n ...
'', ''
Strong Poison
''Strong Poison'' is a 1930 mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her fifth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and the first in which Harriet Vane appears.
Plot
The novel opens with mystery author Harriet Vane on trial for the murder of her forme ...
'', and ''
Gaudy Night
''Gaudy Night'' (1935) is a mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, the tenth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, and the third including Harriet Vane.
The dons of Harriet Vane's '' alma mater'', the all-female Shrewsbury College, Oxford (based on S ...
'' (all adapted by Frances Limoncelli and produced at
Lifeline Theatre
Lifeline Theatre was founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States in 1983 by five Northwestern University graduates: Meryl Friedman, Suzanne Plunkett, Kathee Sills, Sandy Snyder Pietz, and Steve Totland.
The company moved into its permanent locati ...
).
References
External links
*
{{Lord Peter Wimsey
1937 British novels
Novels by Dorothy L. Sayers
Locked-room mysteries
Novels set in Hertfordshire
Victor Gollancz Ltd books
British novels adapted into films
British novels adapted into television shows
British mystery novels
Novels set in the 1930s