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The Late Scholar
by
Jill Paton Walsh, Dorothy Sayer
amateur sleuth, vintage mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Minotaur Books on December 5, 2013 and has 241 pages.
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Fourth (and so far, last) in the Lord Peter Wimsey / Harriet Vane vintage mystery series (seventeenth in the overall Lord Peter Wimsey series) and revolving around the ducal couple and amateur sleuths, the Duke and Duchess of Denver.
My Take
It’s another peek inside an Oxford college with its arguments and day-to-day issues. Walsh also gives us a look-in at managing a ducal estate, its purpose simply to keep going as opposed to a college’s purpose.
Using third person dual protagonist point-of-view from Peter’s and Harriet’s perspectives, which keeps it wide open to learn all sorts of things, Walsh uses the opportunities to insert bits of the familiarity that was forced onto Bunter during the war. That Lord Peter is more a worshipper of relics and not religion as such. Lord Peter is also much more practical with finances, as he looks over the college books.
Gervase gives an opinion on why St Severin’s is in such bad shape, and he does make a good point. Well, several points actually. It’s a story that has so many side issues that all revolve around the Boethius. The saddest is the truth that’s revealed about Outlander’s scholarship.
It’s always politics. The politics of selling an asset that is a financial burden but is of great historical import — an important consideration at a college! — and the need for the college to be on a more solid financial footing. Of course, there are also the politics of what the government might do about the land, whether they’d confiscate it at a lower price than what was paid.
Ooh, the snobbery of these Oxford dons! How incredibly tacky they are about Harriet’s writing. Hmm, Walsh also notes that “Peter’s own cases are not run-of-the-mill affairs” with Peter making an interesting point that “novels have to be plausible, life doesn’t. Life often isn’t”.
”’The duties of the Visitor do not include murder investigation.’
Peter looked at her like a little boy denied an expected treat.”
We do get a reminder that part of Peter’s first proposal was his ability to provide Harriet with plots. And a good many of the murders are a take-off on plots Harriet has written.
There’s action but it mostly accompanies Peter’s or Harriet’s musings on assorted issues. Not to worry though, there’re also murders and false imprisonment in dramatic fashion. I’m not impressed with Walsh’s “treatment” of the Warden’s housekeeper. She just pulls her “feelings” out of her hat when it’s convenient in the story, not bother to work it.
It was nice to get caught up with core characters in the series. Poor Bredon comes up a bit short in the smarts department and had decided ideas about where to go to college. We get a bit of back history on Peter’s mother’s past with a contrasting view of what life expected of women back then. Parker has finally advanced. And the lady professors at Shrewsbury get a nice round of applause for their solidarity back in Gaudy Night, 12.
The Story
It’s a conflict of interests at St Severin’s. The college is in dire financial straits and an opportunity to purchase a prime bit of land has arisen. A buy that can only be made if a precious codex is sold. Unfortunately the college is tied and only the Visitor can break it.
It’s a feuding bringing down St Severin’s reputation — some are already applying for jobs elsewhere.
It’s a question of which is of greater value: money or scholarship. In Bredon’s case, it’s a question of practicality.
The Characters
Lord Peter Wimsey, a Balliol history scholar and the Duke of Denver for the past three years, and his mystery-writing wife Harriet Vane, a.k.a. the Duchess of Denver, primarily live at Bredon Hall at Duke’s Denver. Bredon, their oldest at seventeen, is considering which college to apply to. Paul is their younger son. Mervyn Bunter is still Peter’s man-of-everything married to Hope who has a new photography studio in Putney. They have a very smart sixteen-year-old son, Peter, who plans to go to the London School of Economics. Honoria Lucasta is the elder Dowager Duchess and Peter’s mother who now lives with Peter and Harriet. Franklin is still the duchess’ maid. Helen is the younger Dowager Duchess who now lives in the Dower House and continues to be a pain; Gerald, the late duke, had been Helen’s husband and Peter’s brother. Young Jerry, Viscount St. George, died in the Battle of Britain. Cousin Matthew is a third cousin who cares for the ducal library and is writing a genealogy. Mrs Farley is the cook. Murbles is/was the family solicitor; he’s now retired to Oxford. The Delgardies are the maternal side of Peter’s family.
Assistant Chief Constable Charles Parker is Lord Peter’s brother-in-law, married to Lady Mary. Inspector Gimps is in charge of the Oundle investigation and will liaise with the Oxford police.
St Severin’s College is . . .
. . . part of Oxford University. The Boethius, a.k.a. the Consolation of Philosophy, is thought to have belonged to King Alfred, who had worked to make it a book people could understand. The purpose of the Visitor is to break any ties amongst the fellows.
Dr Thomas Ludgvan is the Warden in charge of the college. Stella/Ellen Manciple is the Warden’s housekeeper. Mr Thrupp is the Senior Common Room butler. Sidney and George work in the gardens. Winterhorn is the Bursar and maths tutor — the powers-that-be thought that made him competent with money. Well, damn, there goes my excuse . . . Tom Ranger is the fellow in medicine and Gervase is in engineering.
On the side of keeping the Boethius were Robert Smithy, who died of a heart attack; Trevair is the fellow in Economics; John Ambleside is the Vice-Warden; Xenophon “Ex” Vearing, a Fellow, had been like a father to Outlander — and I do wonder about his logic!; and, Enistead, who fell down some stairs and broke his neck.
On the side of selling the Boethius are the incredibly rude Michael Troutbeck, MA Oxon, D.Phil, Fellow of St Severin’s; Dr Dancy; Oundle; Martin; and, Terence Cloudie, who is a Senior Fellow and Shakespeare scholar who needs sleeping pills.
Timothy Smith is a junior research fellow. Students include Dawlish and Jackson who is counting on the Boethius for his doctorate of philosophy paper.
George Mason is an old friend of Peter’s who teaches at Balliol. Miss Havershaw is the nurse shared amongst the various colleges, which also include Wadham and Keble. Tolkien is the Merton Professor of English. John Sparrow is the Warden of All Souls. Elaine Griffiths is the Anglo-Saxon expert. Other professors include Wren, J.L. Austin, C.M. Bowra, and Wind. Makes me wish I could have gone to Oxford then.
Shrewsbury College is . . .
. . . also at Oxford. Mary Fowey is the resource for all things late Latin. Dr Baring is the Warden. Helen de Vine, Miss Hilliard, Miss Martin, and Miss Griffiths are encountered. Miss Lydgate pops up, although she is retired . . . and doing a prosody about Spenser with which she’s in a muddle. Padgett has retired.
The Times Literary Supplement published a truly vicious review of a book by David Outlander.
Emily Cutwater, a widow, has some prime land to sell. Andrew Cutwater had been her husband who was friends with Troutbeck and then David Outlander.
Cornelia is an old friend of Honoria’s. Freddie Arbuthnot, while not too bright, is a commodities broker whiz when it comes to investments. He’s married to Rachel Arbuthnot, and they have a place in Henley. Anthony Eden is the Deputy Prime Minister of England. Harold Macmillan, the Minister for Housing, had been a Balliol man. A.L. Rowse had been a famous historian. C.T. Onions is the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary — giving students more ammunition for their graffiti. C.S. Lewis likes to lunch at the Eagle and the Child, a.k.a. the Bird and the Babe. Miss Twitterton had played a part in Busman’s Honeymoon, 13. Robert Templeton is Harriet’s protagonist. Dick Fox is a bookseller in Heffers. Eiluned Price (just won a commission to write music for a film), Sylvia Marriot (still struggling as a writer), and Marjorie Phelps (sold out to Mammon in designing pottery figures) are friends of Harriet’s. John Taylor is a printer and had been Outlander’s sergeant during the war. Victor Gollanz writes detective fiction that is published in yellow jackets. An old friend has a house in Yarnton. Crichel Down is a practice in which government buys land cheap for one purpose and then uses it for something else. The practice is up before the courts by the Marten family. Quaritch. The gloss is annotations written in the margins of books.
The Cover and Title
The cover is rather dull with its pinky beige background. All the color comes from the text starting with the series info at the top in red. Immediately below that is a come-on in a scripted black followed by the title, also in black. Beneath that, in navy, is an info blurb with the author’s name in a greenish gold at the very bottom.
The title is about David Outlander, The Late Scholar, much maligned.
