In the Teeth of the Evidence: And Other Mysteries

By Simon Winchester

An irresistible collection of “truly remarkable” stories from the master of classic mysteries, featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and Montague Egg (The New York Times).
 Most noblemen would prefer to avoid a charred corpse in a garage. But Lord Peter Wimsey has never seen such a body, and cannot resist the opportunity when it comes along. The corpse is burned beyond recognition, but the watch it wears remains pristine—stopped precisely at seven minutes past nine. These are the sorts of clues that great murder cases are built around, and few detectives are more adept at finding them than Wimsey, the famous creation of Dorothy L. Sayers. In this volume, two classic Wimsey stories appear alongside five starring Montague Egg, an eccentric wine salesman whose powers of deduction could give His Lordship a run for his money. A handful of other glittering puzzles round out the volume, serving as testament to Sayers’s enduring status as a star of crime fiction.

In the Teeth of the Evidence is the 14th book in the Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries, but you may enjoy the series by reading the books in any order.  This ebook features an illustrated biography of Dorothy L. Sayers including rare images from the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Jul 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781453258972

Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester is the acclaimed author of many books, including The Professor and the Madman, The Men Who United the States, The Map That Changed the World, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and Krakatoa, all of which were New York Times bestsellers and appeared on numerous best and notable lists. In 2006, Winchester was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen. He resides in western Massachusetts.

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Reviews for In the Teeth of the Evidence

[tadad_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A collection of short stories, some of which feature Lord Peter.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A collection of short stories, 2 featuring Peter Wimsey, then some Montague Egg stories and few that don't necessarily have a detective at all. There are enough engaging storied in here to keep interest. I also noticed that Sayers uses as a firm Brotherhoods, who appear as purveyors of soft drinks in Murder must advertise, and here has one of their salesmen visiting a professor, being rejected and giving the tip to Montague Egg. I like the way the back storied mesh together.It's also efficient, to use the same invented corporation twice. Short stories aren't my favourite story form, but these are engaging enough.

[ritaer_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Finally got around to reading the entire collection. I had read the two Lord Peter stories before but had not sampled the others. The stories are all well-written with the sort of surprise twist that one expects in a certain type of short story. "Blood Sacrifice" is an interesting psychological study. And at least one tale, I won't reveal which one, has a hint of the supernatural.

[lindoula-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I only read the Peter Wimsey stories. Maybe someday I'll go back and read the others.

[fred_mouse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the Teeth of the Evidence contains ~16 stories (there is no table of contents, so counting was done via a quick flick through). Only the first of these is flagged as a Wimsey story, the following five are identified as Montague Egg stories (more on that later), and the remainder were a fruit salad of protagonists and plots, none quite the same. I think my favourite of these, "The Inspiration of Mr Budd" started out as a loving character study on a perfectionist barber and his frustration with the half-assed but much better patronised premises across the street, and then when the plot actually arrives, the reader is presented with a finely sketched drama, in which Mr Budd is presented with the opportunity to turn in a wanted man, but finds himself afraid of the immediate consequences if he were to try and call for the authorities, and how he manages to leverage the situation anyway. Other than that, I did like the character of Montague Egg, travelling salesman, and the way that the solution to each of the mysteries is framed with a quote from his constant companion, The Salesman Handsbook. I think that several of the plots have been replicated in other situations, variations on a theme in television crime shows, and so forth. But even when the solution was obvious from previous reading, or from telegraphed details in the text, I still find the unwinding of the solution to be enjoyable - the story and its telling was sufficient, and the suspense of the mystery was not necessary.

[bookish59 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great collection of mysteries which kept me intrigued and guessing. Great intelligent fun reading.

[johnfair_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although this is sold as 'featuring Lord Peter Wimsey', the best known by a very long way of Sayers' characters, there are in fact only a couple of the noble sleuth's short stories contained in this book. Despite this, most of these tales are equally fascinating and most rely on the same sort of deductive ability though the final tale is as close to a horror story as I've ever seen from from a non-genre writer

[nandakishore_varma-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good mystery story is like a magic trick. We all try to find out what the secret is, but we are happy if we are defeated, and a trifle disappointed if we win. The only difference is that the mystery writer reveals her trick at the end, while the magician does not.

If a full length mystery novel is a grand illusion with all the props, the detective short is a parlour trick. The illusion is cumbersome to set up and execute, but when properly done, very effective and hard to see through: the parlour trick, on the other hand, depends entirely on the speed of the magician's hand, and there is a greater chance of failure and embarrassment as the cards come slipping out of the sleeve.

Which is why, I think, that there are very few "great" detective short stories compared to novels by the great authors. Dorothy Sayers is no exception.

The present collection, even though enjoyable, fails to present us with any "great stories" (except one - Suspicion - which is excellently spine-chilling). The first two stories, featuring the famous Lord Peter Wimsey, are only average: in fact, the mystery in the first can be solved by any discerning reader immediately. The next five, featuring the travelling salesman Montague Egg, are only interesting with regard to their unusual sleuth - the stories are rather pedestrian. The remaining tales are all stand-alone stories, with two or three humorous ones where a dire secret is promised only to end in a comic whimper. While this is enjoyable once or twice, it does become stale when repeated too often.

The last two stories do not belong to the conventional mystery canon. The penultimate one straddles reality and fantasy: the last one is an out-and-out horror story. They are interesting, but nothing to write home about.

Overall verdict: a nice book to curl up with at the end of a tiring day.

[jen6e6moore · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I did not expect to have to add the horror tag to this book, but the last few stories demanded it. I have a whole new perspective on Dorothy L. Sayers now.

[jeremypreacher · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Charming mystery stories from a variety of characters. I picked this up after reading a long discussion about Lord Peter Wimsey's love life - I can't say I'm that invested after reading three short stories about him, but I'd happily read more. Her other stories, both the traveling-salesman ones and the one-offs, were as good or better. Fun stuff all the way around.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

*Possible spoilers*I admit, I have never read a Lord Peter Wimsey novel. But since I have heard about them so much on LibraryThing lately, when I saw this collection of short stories on the library sale's "fill a bag for a dollar" day, I thought it would be worth a try.The first two stories involve Wimsey. Having, as I said, not read any of the rest, I couldn't tell you where they fit into the chronology of the novels. Even with this lack of knowledge, I didn't find them hard to follow. Mostly, I enjoyed the humor and am even more curious to see how her mysteries are fleshed out in a longer story. The rest of the short stories in this collection are mostly mysteries; one is a creepy, almost Gothic sort of story. In some ways they remind me of O. Henry stories, having a similar plot arc, but with different characters and circumstances, each with an unexpected revelation or twist. I enjoyed trying to guess where she was going with the stories and was nearly equally delighted when I'd figured it out as when I was surprised. Though it may have been an unconventional introduction to Sayers, In the Teeth of the Evidence made me impatient to try her Lord Peter Wimsey stories.

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was an entertaining audio book, narrated with touches of the dramatic by Ian Carmichael.I thought it gave a good idea of the range of Dorothy L. Sayers' crime fiction writing.I particularly liked the Lord Peter Wimsey stories and enjoyed meeting Montague Egg who was new to me. Many of the "other stories" had a Poe-ish quality to them.

[riverwillow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting selection of short stories, featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and Montagu Egg as well as other stories. My personal favourites come from the other stories, Nebuchanezzer in which a man's obssession over his wife's death overwhelms him to a surprising ending. Blood Sacrifice in which a young playwright has to come to terms with selling his art and The Inspiration of Mr Budd in which a small town barber seizes his chance. But every story is inspired. Wonderful.

[figgles_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice mix of stories, Lord Peter, Monty Egg and some humdingers witih neither detective. "The Leopard Lady" came to mind when reading HG Wells, "The Door in the Wall" and the theatre story "Blood Sacrifice" shows Ngaio Marsh how it should be done... Lovely mix, perfect for when there are noisy builders next door.

[bostonian71 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting and charming, though I prefer the longer stories, which actually give me a chance to solve the mystery. I also would've liked to see more of Wimsey; I didn't realize until I looked at the contents that he was only in two out of the seventeen stories.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A disappointing collection of short stories from Dorothy L. Sayers. While a couple of the mysteries involve Lord Peter, the majority feature Montague Egg, another detective, or no detective at all. Maybe I'm just burned out on short stories at the moment, but I really did not enjoy this collection. The ones featuring Wimsey and Egg seem more developed than the rest, perhaps because readers of previous Sayers works know these detectives.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This collection of Sayers short stories includes two stories featuring her famous detective Lord Peter Wimsey, five stories featuring traveling salesman Montague Egg, plus several other stories. Sayers is better at plotting than at character development, and this is especially true of her short fiction. I read the stories over the course of a month, and at the end of the month the most memorable stories for me were the Montague Egg story “Dirt Cheap” and “The Inspiration of Mr. Budd,” about an unassuming London barber who may have a wanted criminal for a customer.

[chazzifrazz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a collection of short mysteries by Dorothy Sayers. It consists of three sections; Peter Wimsey mysteries, Montague Egg mysteries and a selection of assorted short mysteries.Peter Wimsey is a familiar character to me, and it was a pleasure to read of his cases. It’s been a while since I have.Montague Egg is a new character to me. He is a travelling salesman for Plummet & Rose Wine & Spirits. He isn’t dashing or imposing, but rather a salesman who knows his clients well and does good business for the firm. He frequently quotes for “The Salesman’s Handbook” in references to happenings in his life. He also guides his life and business from it. Egg also considers himself a bit of an amateur detective. He is very observant, logical and, as I said, a good salesman.There are five stories in his section. The cases arise at various stops on his sales route.The third section is an assortment of characters. A number of them have some strange twists in them. “The Cyprian Cat” has a supernatural/fantasy feel. It isn’t your traditional mystery. “Suspicion” deals with paranoia and a serial poisoner who is at large in the neighbourhood. “The Milk-Bottles Dilemma” starts with a newsman noticing milk bottles being left at the front door of a flat for a number of days. Concern arises when neighbours realize they haven’t seen either of the tenants in a number of days. They had noticed arguing coming from the flat a few days before. When a strange odor starts coming from the flat, concern becomes serious.I’ve only read Wimsey mysteries from Sayers, so it was interesting to read of other characters!

[phoebesmum · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A collection featuring two decent Peter Wimsey short stories, five short, workmanlike pieces featuring Sayers’s other and understandably lesser-known detective, the travelling salesman Montague Egg, and a number of standalones, some of which are more fantastical and sinister than Sayers’s usual style: a mysterious firm that specialises in “removals”, a woman who may or may not be a werecat, a killer driven to confession by a sinister-seeming game of charades … There are some familiar names – fans will recognise Brotherhoods, the soft drinks manufacturers, the reporter Hector Puncheon, and the ill-fated name of Megatherium – but the stories themselves are less familiar, and well worth reading.How times have changed, by the way. The scenes enacted in the charades include Jezebel and Jehu, and Naaman and Elisha. How many people nowadays would even know those stories?