The Late Scholar, Jill Paton Walsh
The Late Scholar, Jill Paton Walsh
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

The Late Scholar
The New Lord Peter Wimsey / Harriet Vane Mystery

Author: Jill Paton Walsh

Narrator: Matthew Brenher

Unabridged: 9 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/05/2015

Synopsis

Lord Peter Wimsey and his detective novelist wife Harriet Vane return in Jill Paton Walsh’s brilliant new continuation of Dorothy L. Sayers’s classic mysteries.When a dispute among the fellows of St. Severin’s College, Oxford University, reaches a stalemate, Lord Peter Wimsey discovers that as the Duke of Denver he is “the Visitor”—charged with the task of resolving the issue. It is time for Lord Peter and his detective novelist wife Harriet to revisit their beloved Oxford, where their long and literate courtship finally culminated in their engagement and marriage.At first the dispute seems a simple difference of opinion about a valuable manuscript that some of the fellows regard as nothing but an insurance liability, which should be sold to finance a speculative purchase of land. The voting is evenly balanced. The warden would normally cast the deciding vote, but he has disappeared. And when several of the fellows unexpectedly die as well, Lord Peter and Harriet set off on an investigation to uncover what is really going on at St. Severin’s.With this return to the Oxford of Gaudy Night, which many readers regard as their favorite of Sayers’s original series, Jill Paton Walsh revives the wit and brilliant plotting of the golden age of detective fiction.

About Jill Paton Walsh

Jill Paton Walsh was born in London and educated at St. Michael’s Convent, North Finchley, and at St. Anne’s College, Oxford. In 1996 she received the CBE for services to literature and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. An award-winning author, she lives in Cambridge with her husband John Rowe Townsend.

About Matthew Brenher

Matthew Brenher, originally from London, now lives in Los Angeles. His theatrical background includes performances in no fewer than twenty Shakespearean productions, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo in Romeo & Juliet, and the title role in Henry V. In Los Angeles, he played Claudius in Hamlet, Cassio in Othello, Antony in Antony & Cleopatra, Antipholous of Syracuse in Comedy of Errors, and Orsino in Twelfth Night. Other theater includes: Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, Trigorin in The Seagull, Alistair in Shaw’s The Millionairess, Jerry in Pinter’s Betrayal, the title role in Dracula, and George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, for which he was awarded best performance by a lead actor/drama by Stage Scene LA 2009–2010. He’s performed in new plays, most recently in A Bitter Fruit for Palestine, Vulcan in Love’s Mistress at the famous Globe theater in London, and Petko in an acclaimed production of The Mapletree Game. On television, he played “Mad” Marcus for six months in the now defunct British soap Brookside. Other television includes: Rules of Engagement, Bodyguards, The Blind Date, Starhunter, The Grid, Eastenders, and Nostradamus. Films include Execution, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Stay Shy, and The Boy Who would Be King. He works in commercials and industrials and is an accomplished voice-over artist.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jane on October 30, 2014

Where I got the book: my local library. The fact that I didn’t buy it is indicative of my uneasy relationship with Jill Paton Walsh’s last Wimsey-Vane book, The Attenbury Emeralds. **SPOILER WARNING** somewhat spoilerish, where I needed to discuss a point and couldn’t do it without giving away what......more

Goodreads review by Deadly on February 17, 2014

Poor old Dorothy L Sayers. I bet she would have hated what Jill Paton Walsh has done to Lord Peter Wimsey: she's managed to turn him into a bourgeois pedant. Even worse - a boring bourgeois pedant. Sic transit gloria mundi.......more

Goodreads review by Jane on September 11, 2019

This was going so well, until we get to the end. The ending just didn't work for me at all, it seems a bit vague and wishy washy. Which is such a shame because I was loving it until then. Don't get me wrong. It's still worth a read. I was just disappointed.......more

Goodreads review by David on December 27, 2013

This is Jill Paton Walsh's fourth expedition into the world of Sayers' characters Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, in in some respects the first flying completely solo, as it were. In Thrones, Dominations she completed an unfinished book. A Presumption of Death incorporated ideas Sayers had alrea......more

Goodreads review by Ivonne on May 29, 2016

After her first solo Peter Wimsey-Harriet Vane novel, The Attenbury Emeralds, a most lackluster book, Jill Paton Walsh redeems herself with The Late Scholar. Is it the return to Oxford, evocative of Gaudy Night? Is it the happy couple working hand-in-glove as they did in Have His Carcase and Busman'......more

Quotes

"Walsh once more succeeds in emulating and extending her late inspiration’s unusual mixture of drama and foolishness, poetry and prattle, local color and grim undercurrents.” Wall Street Journal

“Walsh’s pitch-perfect re-creation of the charismatic leads is a delight. Sayers fans can only hope for more.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Delicious.” Booklist (starred review)

“An entertaining and convoluted puzzle for readers who enjoy Golden Age mysteries.” Library Journal

“Fans will eagerly welcome back their beloved sleuth and enjoy seeing Harriet hold her own in a thoughtfully constructed mystery.” Kirkus Reviews

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