The Lord Peter Wimsey Companion
by Stephan P. Clarke
The Mysterious Press, New York. 1985. Hardcover in dust jacket. 563 pages. (8¾ X 11¼). To the Reader by the author. A massive, very complex compilation of everything you would ever want to know about Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey. The author claims that this volume is not complete, but you are likely to argue with him. The author provides a rather complex system of codes and abbreviations to help the reader locate and identify certain items. Each item is numbered and goes from 1 to 7509. There are many cross-references and abbreviations that force you to jump all over the book. There are several illustrations and photos relating to the subject. There is a long bibliography of related material. The entire book is in the form of a typewritten manuscript in two columns per page. The index is highly complex in that it has large listings of item numbers. For instance, Murder Must Advertise is broken into chapters and each chapter heading has close to a hundred item numbers attached to it. I notice that I purchased my copy of this book for only $4.95. The original price was $49.95.
Scan and Commentary by Bob Gaines