In 2005, an adaptation of the novel was released on CD by the BBC Radio Collection to finally complete the run of Wimsey adaptations begun with Whose Body?

in 1973 ; the role of Harriet was played by Joanna David, and Wimsey by Ian Carmichael.

Lord Peter's was born the second of the three children of Mortimer Wimsey, 15th Duke of Denver, and Honoria Lucasta Delagardie, who lives on throughout the novels as the Dowager Duchess of Denver.

As a boy, the young Peter Wimsey was, to the great distress of his father, strongly attached to an old, smelly poacher living at the edge of the family estate.

In 1918, Wimsey was severely wounded by artillery fire near Caudry in France.

There are several references to a relationship with a famous Viennese opera singer, and Bunter-who evidently was involved with this, as with other parts of his master's life-recalls Wimsey being very angry with a French mistress who mistreated her own servant.

However, according to the wartime publications of The Wimsey Papers, published in The Spectactor, the second son was called Paul.

The only occasion when Sayers returned to Wimsey was the 1942 short story " Talboys ".

Another theory is that Wimsey was based, at least in part, on Eric Whelpton, who was a close friend of Sayers at Oxford.

Ian Carmichael, who played the part of Wimsey in the BBC Television series adaptation and studied the character and the books thoroughly, said that the character was Sayers ' conception of the ' ideal man ', based in part on her earlier romantic misfortunes.

Lord Peter Wimsey was played by Ian Carmichael in a series of independent serials that ran from 1972 to 1975 and adapted five novels ( Clouds of Witness, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Five Red Herrings, Murder Must Advertise and The Nine Tailors ) and by Edward Petherbridge in 1987, in which three of the four major Wimsey / Vane novels ( Strong Poison, Have his Carcase and Gaudy Night ) were dramatised.

However, Sayers ' first reference to Le Fanu appears in an earlier Lord Peter Wimsey novel, The Nine Tailors ( 1934 ), where he is quoted directly ( from Wylder's Hand, in the opening to the seventh " part " of Chapter II and again in the opening to the second " part " of Chapter III ) and a mysterious letter is referred to ( first by Wimsey's valet, Mervyn Bunter ) as " written by a person of no inconsiderable literary ability, who had studied the works of Sheridan Lefanu and was, if I may be permitted the expression, bats in the belfry, my lord.

Murder Must Advertise was adapted for television in 1973 as a mini-series starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, Mark Eden as Chief Inspector Charles Parker, Bridget Armstrong as Dian de Momerie, Peter Bowles as Major Milligan, and Paul Darrow as Mr. Tallboy.

In 1975, the book was made into a film shot in the town, with Ian Carmichael playing the lead role of Lord Peter Wimsey.

Wimsey discovers that the patient's great-niece-popular locally-had nursed her through her illness and was the intended heiress.

In 1975, an adaptation starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey and with Peter Jones as Bunter, was made for BBC Radio 4.

Wimsey also turns up a few clues-there was a fresh tear in the General's trouser cuff and a scraping of paint on the side of his shoe.

Some editions include as a foreword a letter written by Sayers " To my friend Joe Dignam, the kindliest of landlords ," from which it becomes evident that she herself was in the habit of having holidays in Galloway-a habit attributed to Wimsey in the book-and that on one of them she promised her landlord to write a detective novel set in this area, of which the book was a fulfilment.

There is only a closed circle of suspects to deal with, and Wimsey has no emotional involvement, although, having alerted the Police to Campbell's murder, he subsequently reflects that Campbell was a man anyone might feel justified in killing, and that the six suspects are all generally decent people.

The death has been made to look like suicide, but Wimsey and Harriet discover that he was the victim of an ingenious and complex murder plot.

A bon vivant who solves mysteries for his own amusement, Wimsey is an archetype for the British gentleman detective.

It is not exactly known when Wimsey recruited Miss Climpson to run an undercover employment agency for women, a means to garner information from the otherwise inaccessible world of spinsters and widows, but it is prior to Unnatural Death ( 1927 ), in which Miss Climpson assists Wimsey's investigation of the suspicious death of an elderly cancer patient.

She has known Wimsey for years and is attracted to him, though it is not explicitly stated whether they were lovers.

Wimsey saves her from the gallows, but she believes that gratitude is not a good foundation for marriage, and politely but firmly declines his frequent proposals.

Thus, Peter Wimsey remained forever fixed on the background of inter-war England, and the books are nowadays often read for their evocation of that period as much as for the intrinsic detective mysteries.

" Whereupon Miss Murchison, the indefatigable investigator employed by Wimsey for much of this book, comments " Or, if one wasn't accustomed to be waited on, one might use the water from the bedroom jug.

* Conundrums for the Long Week-End: England, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Lord Peter Wimsey ( 2000 ) by Robert Kuhn McGregor, Ethan Lewis ISBN 0-87338-665-5

Wimsey accepts an offer from the highly respectable management of Pym's Publicity, Ltd. ( a light disguise for S. H. Bensons, where Sayers worked ) to investigate a mystery and avert a scandal.

By day he is Bredon, a distant, impoverished Wimsey cousin who works for a living.

Wimsey wins the match for Pym's, which is about to expose his cover when the police, led by Parker, arrest " Bredon " for the murder of Dian de Momerie.

Wimsey discovers that Freke murdered Sir Reuben and staged his ' disappearance ' from home, having borne a grudge for years over Lady Levy, who chose to marry Sir Reuben rather than him.

Eventually, the jewelled cat leads Wimsey to Cathcart's mistress of many years, who had left him for an American millionaire.

Wimsey is asked to help solve the puzzle by his friend Mr Murbles, the solicitor for the Fentiman family.

Robert agrees to watch for Oliver, and Wimsey arranges for detectives to assist him.

Lord Peter Wimsey, who is in the region on a fishing holiday, points out the inconsistency which makes it impossible for Campbell himself to have worked on the painting.

The Five Red Herrings is the Peter Wimsey story which is most obviously set as a puzzle for the reader.

Large parts of the book follow the various Scottish police officers, who are shown as highly intelligent and competent, and for time seem to overshadow Wimsey.

Asked for his opinion, Wimsey finally reveals to the reader exactly what alerted him to the murder, and points the finger at the true killer.

Born in 1890 and aging in real time, Wimsey is described as being at best average height, with straw-coloured hair, a beaked nose, and a vaguely foolish face.

Emerging victorious after more than a year masquerading as " the disgruntled sacked servant Rogers ", Wimsey remarked that " We shall have an awful time with the lawyers, proving that I am me.

In one of the Wimsey Papers, a series of fictionalised commentaries in the form of mock letters between members of the Wimsey family published in the Spectator, there is a reference to Harriet's difficulty in continuing to write murder mysteries at a time when European dictators were openly committing mass murders with impunity ; this seems to have reflected Sayers ' own wartime feeling.

He attempts to murder both Parker and Wimsey, and finally tries suicide when his actions are discovered, but is arrested in time.

Wimsey travels to New York to find her, and makes a trans-Atlantic flight-at the time, a very risky adventure which makes the headlines in all British papers-to return to London before Gerald's trial in the House of Lords ends.

Working against time before the new trial, Wimsey first explores the possibility that Boyes took his own life.

By the time of the short story " Talboys ", they have three sons: Bredon Delagardie Peter Wimsey ( born in October 1936 ), Roger Wimsey ( born 1938 ), and Paul Wimsey ( born 1940 ).