The Attenbury Emeralds
Jill Paton Walsh
Minotaur, Jan 4 2011, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312674540
In 1951, Harriet Vane and her husband Lord Peter Wimsey leisurely eat breakfast while reading the newspaper. Harriet peruses Lord Attenbury Arthur Abcock’s obituary, which mentions the Attenbury emeralds.
Peter knows first-hand about the infamous emeralds that was the motive of his first detective investigation. He and his manservant Mervyn Bunter tell Harriet what happened in 1921 when the Attenbury emeralds vanished and Lord Peter solving the case. As they complete their tale of exotic thievery, Lord Attenbury’s grandson Edward arrives. He asks Lord Peter to help solve a new problem involving the family emeralds. Peter accompanied by Harriet and of course Bunter, investigates as thefts and murder abound.
Jill Paton Walsh’s latest Wimsey-Vane (see A Presumption of Death) captures the essences of Dorothy L. Sayer’s great detective while bringing her own spin to the story line; in other words this is not Sayer’s light, but instead a homage to the great writer in Ms. Walsh’s style. The story line captures two historical post world war eras in Great Britain that enables the audience to compare how society adjusted to peace in their times. Fast-paced, readers will enjoy the doting father of teens on an investigation accompanied by his wife and his manservant.
Harriet Klausner
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