A Presumption of Death

Summary: In the early days of World War 2, Harriet is managing children while Peter and others are in the war effort. 

A normal for me, I keep getting caught up in information and forget about fiction. And then I return to it to remember again why fiction is a necessary part of a healthy reading diet. I have been reading a long joint biography of Dorothy Day, Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Merton, and Walker Percy. As much as the book has been worth reading, I remember why reading about fiction is not the same as reading fiction.

I read the Thrones, Dominations, the first book of the series where Jill Paton Walsh continues Dorothy Sayers' mystery series last year. I saw A Presumption of Death on Kindle Unlimited and needed a fiction series to work on. It has been several years since the events of the first book. Peter and Harriet have several children, and she and her staff are watching several more children because of concerns about the bombing of London and so that their parents can work in the war effort.

There are many discussions about the refugees from London or other countries in this book. Harriet and the children are living at Tallboys, their country home. The limitations of the war, from the lack of food to the danger, are constantly constantly present. Peter is gone and there is also the worry for his safety.

I understand the point, Harriet needs to not be overconfident as a character or that overconfidence would be off-putting, but I do think that the continues to be a problem with Harriet being too unsure of herself at this point in the series. That has been a problem for many books. Harriet is doing war work by caring for the extra children and supporting the community projects, but she doesn't think that her efforts are as helpful as her sister-in-law's or Peter's. But then a young woman is murdered and the head of the local police asks her to look into the murder because he is understaffed and has no leads.

I am not going to give away more of the plot. There are twists as any good mystery should have. I think Walsh did capture the characters well, and did a good job with the feelings of impending danger at this point in the war effort. My only complaint is one with Harriet's lack of confidence and that isn't Walsh's fault as much as it was the character that Sayers presented in Busmans' Holiday and the other books at the end of the series that Walsh needed to stay true to.

There is a subtle change in writing that you can tell it is Walsh not Sayers doing the writing. But I did enjoy the book and I quickly went to the next book in the series.

This was originally published on my blog at https://bookwi.se/a-presumption-of-death/

A Presumption of Death was entertaining and read more like WWII historical fiction than mystery. I enjoyed it, though I thought the mystery should have been more center stage. Lord Peter Wimsey didn't even make his appearance for the first 200 pages, which made it drag up until then. But the second 200 pages were more satisfying. I wish it had been more gripping, with a cleverer solution to the mystery. However, I don't regret reading it.