2022 reread didn't change my opinion :)

The final 3 short stories about Lord Peter.

I much preferred the second 2 (The Haunted Policeman & Talboys) to the somewhat odd first story (Striding Folly). I particularly liked the way Lord Peter and his eldest son worked together at the end of Talboys! ( )

Only one of the three short stories in this collection is a murder mystery, and Lord Peter Wimsey appears only briefly in the one with the murder. The title story, “Striding Folly,” has an air of the supernatural about it, as the central figure escapes a murder charge only because of a dream he had the night before. Had he not acted in accordance with the dream, Wimsey would have had little to detect.

“The Haunted Policeman” takes place immediately following the birth of Lord Peter and Harriet’s first son. A shaken Lord Peter steps outside for a smoke and encounters a policeman new to the beat. The policeman is rattled about something he has just witnessed, and Lord Peter loosens his tongue with celebratory champagne. An easily solved puzzle is just what Lord Peter needs to relieve the stress that built up during his anxiety for Harriet’s well-being during her hours of labor and childbirth.

“Talboys” is my favorite of the three stories. Seven years after their honeymoon at Talboys, Lord Peter and Harriet are on holiday there with their three young sons. The eldest, Bredon, gets into mischief with a neighbor’s peaches. No harm is done and all is forgiven. However, the very next night all of the peaches on the tree disappear. Lord Peter and Harriet’s unwanted house guest, Miss Quirk, insists that she can prove that Bredon is guilty this time, too. Lord Peter must find out what really happened to the peaches in order to prove Bredon’s innocence. Father and son get into some shared mischief in the process. Lord Peter is at his best when he converses with children, and it’s satisfying to me that the Wimsey canon closes with this glimpse of Peter as a father. ( )

This short work contains the last three Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. "Striding Folly" barely mentions Lord Peter at all, and the plot disappointed. "The Haunted Policeman" concerns a young constable who encounters Wimsey the night Harriet gave birth to their first son. Lord Peter loosens the officer's tongue with champagne. The third, "Talboys,"features Lord Peter's son Bredon in trouble for stealing a couple of peaches. Then all the neighbors' peaches disappear overnight. Many modern readers probably agree with Miss Quirk's dislike of the means Lord Peter chose of punishing the boy. However, I don't like what the boy (and his father) did to the woman later. All three were mediocre reads although it was nice to see Lord Peter and Harriet settling in as a family. ( )

Three Wimsey short stories, one of which doesn't really feature him at all. The other two show him as a family man, first on the night of the birth of his first child, then as the father of three children. Beautifully one as family study (neither he nor Harriet have really changed, with hilarious results). Weird to see such a well-written and snarky defense of spanking (some) children at the detriment of a nosy and stupid woman with derided modern views. ( )

As a teen I loved the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, and read them all after seeing a couple of the BBC productions starring Ian Carmichael. So when I found a book by the same author, and about Lord Peter Wimsey, I expected a winner. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed. This volume includes an incredibly long introduction (31 pages!) and three short stories/novellas.

Problems? There wasn't much mystery or suspense. Or maybe Wimsey just doesn't work as well in a shorter format, at least not for me. Or maybe my tastes have changed four decades later. I have no plans for a reread of what I considered to be pablum. ( )