Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers

Book 6 in a series may be an odd place to start, but Strong Poison: A Lord Wimsey Mystery made its way into my backpack for our recent holiday simply because a reading copy had become available at work just before we left & I thought it looked like a nice, easy read.

It filled that bill for me perfectly.

Cuba was an extraordinary holiday destination.

So many strong impressions, confounding experiences and lots of waiting times. Waiting for a delayed flight, waiting to catch a bus or whiling away a lazy evening on a roof top garden, wi-fi free, with plenty of time to simply chat, contemplate the world and read.

Reading a book that could be picked up and put down at the drop of hat, mid-sentence, was just the right choice for this trip.

I knew nothing about Peter Wimsey but quickly learnt that he had a droll sense of humour and was rather keen on 'cheerio' and 'I say old chap'!

This is the book where Wimsey falls in love for the first time. Although I had only just met Wimsey, I was very surprised to discover that he was attracted to women. His character came across as being so camp that I'm now not sure if he was in denial or if it was Sayers!

As for the mystery, Sayers dropped plenty of clues along the way so that you could work out who did it pretty easily. You keep on reading to find out how exactly it all unfolds.

This edition was accompanied by an Introduction by Edward Petherbridge, the actor who played Wimsey in the 1987 BBC adaptations.

There was also a fun, short 'bio' of Peter Wimsey written by his uncle, included in the back.

Strong Poison is good old-fashioned light entertainment of the jolliest kind!