'A delight.' - Irish Times
'A pitch-perfect Golden Age mystery . . . a gem of a period puzzle' - Financial Times
Thirty years ago, Lord Peter Wimsey encountered the Attenbury emeralds. The recovery of Lord Attenbury's magnificent gem made headlines - and launched the shell-shocked young aristocrat on his career as a detective.
Now it is 1951: a happily married Lord Peter has just shared the secrets of that mystery with his wife, the detective novelist Harriet Vane. Then the new Lord Attenbury - the grandson of Lord Peter's first client - seeks his help again, this time to prove who owns the gigantic emerald that Wimsey last saw in 1921.
It will be the most intricate and challenging mystery he has ever faced . . .
Born in 1937, Jill Paton Walsh was an award-winning British novelist and children's writer. Her adult novels include Knowledge of Angels, which was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize, and the Imogen Quy Mysteries. She also completed Dorothy L. Sayers's unfinished Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane series.
In 1996, she received the CBE for services to literature. She died in 2020.
Title: The Attenbury Emeralds
Author: Jill Paton Walsh, Dorothy L Sayers
ISBN: 9780340995747
Binding:
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication Date: 2011-05-26
Number of Pages: 352
Weight: 0.2586 kg
A pitch-perfect Golden Age mystery; not a pastiche but a gem of a period puzzle that belongs on the shelf beside the Wimsey originals. * Financial Times *
A delight. The mystery is intriguing - and, more crucially, Paton Walsh perfectly captures Sayers's voice. * Irish Times *
Jill Paton Walsh, assuming the mantle of Dorothy L. Sayers, convinces on all counts . . . Sayers would not have recognised that it wasn't her own work. * London Times *
An absolute treat: civilised, intelligent and spellbinding * Daily Express *
A great deal of fun * Times Literary Supplement *
Sayers's fans won't be disappointed, and newcomers are in for a treat * Guardian *
Walsh's writing meets the standards of excellence set by Sayers, using the mystery novel as a means to demonstrate that traits of endurance, honestly, and loyalty are always appealing. Wit matched with intelligence marks the soul not only of a good sleuth, but also of the very best mysteries. Watched over by the ghost of Dorothy L. Sayers, The Attenbury Emeralds has soul. * Huffington Post *
Walsh does a seamless job of carrying on original author Dorothy L. Sayers' sparkling mix of prose and people (and this from a critic who usually hates this sort of thing). * Cleveland Plain Dealer *
Walsh successfully recreates the tone and personalities of the originals and plausibly depicts the main characters later in life. Fans of literate period mysteries will clamour for more. * Publishers Weekly *
We must admit - heretical as it may be - that we quite prefer the continuations to the originals. * Denver Post *
Channelling the authority Sayers employed right up to her final book, Walsh shows that she has the full measure of the imperishable Lord Peter and the hyper-intelligent Harriet Vane * Express *
A crime puzzle with deeper layers which makes for an entertaining and satisfying read * Historical Novels Review *
