(Winner of the British Crime Writers' Association's Rusty Dagger Award for the Best Crime Novel of the 1930s) When the disfigured corpse of a drifter is found in the grave of Lady Thorpe, it looks like a case for Lord Peter Wimsey, stranded in a remote Fenland town. In this ninth installment of Dorothy Sayers's beloved series, Wimsey connects the body to a stash of emeralds stolen from the Thorpe family's home some 20 years earlier, but after the alleged thief—a man of many identities—is found dead in the local church's bell chamber, the gentleman detective may have more than one mystery to unravel.
"Missing emeralds, unexpected corpses, a cryptogram, erudition, a touch of the macabre, an old church with ringing bells, and Peter Wimsy performing feats of deduction and exercising his freakish humor. A fine bit of writing, a good story, and at the same time a rattling good mystery. Dorothy Sayers at her best."—Kirkus Reviews