Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Lord Peter Wimsey: The Complete Short Stories

  • By: Dorothy L. Sayers
  • Narrated by: Jane McDowell
  • Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (122 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Lord Peter Wimsey: The Complete Short Stories cover art

Lord Peter Wimsey: The Complete Short Stories

By: Dorothy L. Sayers
Narrated by: Jane McDowell
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Lord Peter Wimsey: BBC Radio Drama Collection Volume 1 cover art
Bodies from the Library cover art
Inspector Alan Grant: The Full Collection cover art
A Man Lay Dead cover art
The Theft of the Iron Dogs cover art
The Crime at Black Dudley cover art
The Adventures of Brother Cadfael cover art
These Names Make Clues cover art
Paul Temple: The Complete Radio Collection: Volume One cover art
Fell Murder cover art
The Toff cover art
A Third Class Murder cover art
The Ngaio Marsh BBC Radio Collection cover art
Murder by the Book cover art
The Wintringham Mystery cover art
The Mind of Mr J.G. Reeder cover art

Summary

Discover Dorothy L. Sayers' inimitable Golden Age detective in this complete collection of the complete Lord Peter Wimsey stories, together in one volume for the first time.

Presented in chronological order, these short stories see Lord Peter Wimsey bringing his trademark wit and unique detection skills to all manner of mysteries. From poisoned port to murder in fancy dress, Wimsey draws on his many skills - including his expertise in fine wine and appreciation of fine art - to solve cases far and wide, some even taking him to foreign countries and unexpected hiding places in pursuit of miscreants and murderers.

Containing 21 stories taken from Lord Peter Views the Body, Hangman's Holiday, In the Teeth of the Evidence and Striding Folly, now published together for the first time in one volume, this is the ultimate collection for fans of classic detective fiction and Dorothy L. Sayers.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1928 Dorothy L Sayers (P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

"She brought to the detective novel originality, intelligence, energy and wit." (P. D. James)

What listeners say about Lord Peter Wimsey: The Complete Short Stories

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    69
  • 4 Stars
    27
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    11
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    47
  • 4 Stars
    21
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    17
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    72
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Somebody must be joking!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Nothing. Brilliant stories murdered (pardon the pun!) by a totally inept narrator.

Would you be willing to try another one of Jane McDowell’s performances?

She might be fine reading something else but never this.

Any additional comments?

This is a Golden Age of Detectives set of stories. LPW is an upper class sleuth beautifully portrayed by other narrators, including Iain Carmichael. A not very talented young female narrator couldn’t even begin to do this justice. I am a female myself and have an open mind about who narrates things even if it’s very different to someone who has made the stories his own but honestly this is just the worst mismatch I have ever heard!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

63 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Robotic Wimsey

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Very strange delivery by McDowell. Made me think of the Turing test and whether she would pass. Good for insomnia. Very disappointing.

What did you like best about this story?

Reading it for myself.

Would you be willing to try another one of Jane McDowell’s performances?

Not in a fit!

Was Lord Peter Wimsey: The Complete Short Stories worth the listening time?

Nope.

Any additional comments?

Nope.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Su
  • 09-07-18

great stories - AWFUL NARRATOR

This is a collection of “all” the Lord Peter Wimsey short stories – these include the short stories from the books “Lord Peter Views the Body”, “Hangman's Holiday”, “In the Teeth of the Evidence” and “Striding Folly”.

1 - The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers
2 – The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question
3 – The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Maleager’s Will
4 – The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag
5 – The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker
6 – The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention
7 – The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps that Ran
8 – The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste
9 – The Learned Adventure of the Dragon’s Head
10 – The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach
11 – The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face
12 – The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba
13 – The Image in the Mirror
14 – The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey
15 – The Queen’s Square
16 – The Necklace of Pearls
17 – In the Teeth of the Evidence
18 – Absolutely Elsewhere
19 – Striding Folly
20 – The Haunted Policeman
21 – Tallboys

There is a bonus track giving a biography of Lord Peter Wimsey.

I have always maintained that the narrator of an audio book can make or break it, even if the story in question is excellent. In the case of these short stories the narrator of the unabridged version on Audible is Jane McDowell and, though she is not the worst narrator I have ever heard, she isn’t the best either … in my opinion she is short of average.

Ms McDowell does not seem to understand, appreciate or enjoy the stories that she is reading. She places emphasis in the strangest places and fails to stress the importance of other areas which are of significance to the plot.

There are also the times when her voice becomes shrill and it doesn’t pull you out of the story but punches you straight in the face knocking your attention away from the tale being told.

Sadly, Jane McDowell is the narrator for the rest of the audible series of Lord Peter Wimsey audiobooks which means that I doubt I would be purchasing anymore. There was an older series which had a male narrator which I used to have on audiotape (and which appears to have gone astray).

I hope that audible decide to give us customers the ability to choose narrators.

The Lord Peter Wimsey stories have been some of my favourites but I will be waiting for a different narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

"oh dear"

It is difficult to say how good the stories were, the delivery was utterly distracting. The vocabulary and manners were of their time but the narrator had no sympathy with the context at all. It was almost impossible to listen to and I frequently lost concentration. I have never given a wholly negative review before but this was a huge disappointment.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

The narrator doesn’t understand a lot of what she’s saying or the idiom of the time, as evidenced by her phrasing, but the last straw for me was her “Scottish” accent. Not necessarily her fault, but someone must take responsibility for the casting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Should have been edited.

I’m returning this because I don’t want to hear the n* word: the antisemitism is trying and the narrator’s mockery of Scots accents was fairly obnoxious, but enough’s enough.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good, even with the blips

I would have got three 5-stars if the narrator had not made so many mistakes in pronunciation.
(Not really that many but I'm a pedant).

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Almost perfect

I love the detective stories of Dorothy L. Sayers, but the gloss is taken off this collection by the narration. I find nothing wrong with giving Inspector Parker a regional accent, but I simply cannot believe that it could be so broad. He was an educated man and had lived and worked in London for many years - a cosmopolitan place, where he would have been exposed to a variety of accents. In that situation any accent would fade to some degree.
I found this over-emphasised "Eee bah gummery" very jarring, particularly when every other working class character spoke with a similar accent. They can't all have come from the same part of the country surely?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

why a woman narrator?

as most characters in this book are male a woman narrator seems a poor choice.
I have always been a fan of Lord Peter Wimsey but could not finish this,
The narrator was mono tone .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

monotonous narration, good story spoilt by reader

I got the dramatise books and really enjoyed them so thought I'd give this a go. Hard going listening to the monotonous narration. Wish they'd re-record the series and use someone else who is capable of using different tones and accents to differentiate characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful