Jill Paton Walsh – författare

When a dispute among the Fellows of St. Severin''s College, Oxford University, reaches a stalemate, Lord Peter Wimsey discovers that as the Duke of Denver he is "the Visitor"—charged with the task of resolving the issue. It is time for Lord Peter and his detective novelist wife, Harriet, to revisit their beloved Oxford, where their long and literate courtship finally culminated in their engagement and marriage.At first, the dispute seems a simple difference of opinion about a valuable manuscript that some of the Fellows regard as nothing but an insurance liability, which should be sold to finance a speculative purchase of land. The voting is evenly balanced. The Warden would normally cast the deciding vote, but he has disappeared. And when several of the Fellows unexpectedly die as well, Lord Peter and Harriet set off on an investigation to uncover what is really going on at St. Severin''s.With this return in The Late Scholar to the Oxford of Gaudy Night, which many readers regard as their favorite of Sayers''s original series, Jill Paton Walsh at once revives the wit and brilliant plotting of the Golden Age of detective fiction.

Deemed "one of the greatest mystery writers of this century" by the Los Angeles Times, Dorothy L. Sayers first captivated readers nearly seventy years ago with her beloved sleuths Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane in the novel Stong Poison. In Busmans''s Honeymoon, her last completed Wimsey/Vane novel, Lord Peter and Harriet culminated their partnership with marriage. Now Thrones, Dominations, Sayers'' uncompleted last novel, satisfies the vast readership hungry to know what happened after the honeymoon. Here award-winning author Jill Paton Walsh picks up where Sayers left off, bringing Wimsey and Vane brilliantly to life in Sayers'' unmistakable voice. Readers and reviewers are rejoicing at the return of this delightful sleuthing couple--as adept at solving a baffling murder mystery as they are a balancing the delicate demands of their loving union.

In 1936, Dorothy L. Sayers abandoned the last Lord Peter Wimsey detective story. Sixty years later, a brown paper parcel containing a copy of the manuscript was discovered in her agent''s safe in London, and award-winning novelist Jill Paton Walsh was commissioned to complete it. The result of the pairing of Dorothy L. Sayers with Walsh was the international bestseller Thrones, Dominations. Now, following A Presumption of Death, set during World War II, comes a new Sayers-inspired mystery featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, revisiting his very first case. . . . It was 1921 when Lord Peter Wimsey first encountered the Attenbury Emeralds. The recovery of the gems in Lord Attenbury''s dazzling heirloom collection made headlines—and launched a shell-shocked young aristocrat on his career as a detective. Thirty years later, a happily married Lord Peter has just shared the secrets of that mystery with his wife, the detective novelist Harriet Vane. Suddenly, the new Lord Attenbury—grandson of Lord Peter''s first client—seeks his help to prove who owns the emeralds. As Harriet and Peter contemplate the changes that the war has wrought on English society—and Peter, who always cherished the liberties of a younger son, faces the unwanted prospect of ending up the Duke of Denver after all—Jill Paton Walsh brings us a masterful new chapter in the annals of one of the greatest detectives of all time.

Sixty years after Dorothy L. Sayers began her unfinished Lord Peter Wimsey novel, Thrones Dominations, Booker Prize finalist Jill Paton Walsh took on the challenge of completing the manuscript---with extraordinary success. "The transition is seamless," said the San Francisco Chronicle; "you cannot tell where Sayers leaves off and Walsh begins.""Will Paton Walsh do it again?" wondered Ruth Rendell in London''s Sunday Times. "We must hope so."Jill Paton Walsh fulfills those hopes in A Presumption of Death. Although Sayers never began another Wimsey novel, she did leave clues. Drawing on "The Wimsey Papers," in which Sayers showed various members of the family coping with wartime conditions, Walsh has devised an irresistible story set in 1940, at the start of the Blitz in London.Lord Peter is abroad on secret business for the Foreign Office, while Harriet Vane, now Lady Peter Wimsey, has taken their children to safety in the country. But war has followed them there---glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalize the villagers, and the blackout makes the nighttime lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London. Daily life reminds them of the war so constantly that, when the village''s first air-raid practice ends with a real body on the ground, it''s almost a shock to hear the doctor declare that it was not enemy action, but plain, old-fashioned murder. Or was it?At the request of the overstretched local police, Harriet reluctantly agrees to investigate. The mystery that unfolds is every bit as literate, ingenious, and compelling as the best of original Lord Peter Wimsey novels.

Jill Paton Walsh''s classic science fiction novel The Green Book is now available from Square Fish with a brand–new cover! Pattie and her family are among the last refugees to flee a dying Earth in an old spaceship. And when the group finally lands on the distant planet which is to be their new home, it seems that the four-year journey has been a success. But as they begin to settle this shiny new world, they discover that the colony is in serious jeopardy. Nothing on this planet is edible, and they may not be able to grow food. With supplies dwindling, Pattie and her sister decide to take the one chance that might make life possible on Shine.

Two delightful detective dramas adapted from Jill Paton Walsh''s bestselling books

Award-winning author Jill Paton Walsh was well known for her four Lord Peter Wimsey novels that continued and completed Dorothy L. Sayers''s much-loved series. These two cosy crime dramas introduce her own sparkling creation, Imogen Quy, a college nurse and amateur sleuth who investigates foul play in academia.

The Wyndham Case - The tranquil atmosphere of St Agatha''s College, Cambridge is shattered when a young undergraduate is found dead on the floor of a specialist library. The repository of a rare collection of 17th-century scientific volumes, the ''Wyndham Case'' is always kept locked: so how did Philip Skellow get in? And was his death accidental - or murder? Imogen is determined to find out... Starring Carolyn Pickles as Imogen Quy.

A Piece of Justice - When Imogen''s lodger Fran Bullion is asked to write the biography of eminent mathematician Gideon Summerfield, she is delighted - but Imogen fears she may be in danger. Three previous would-be biographers have either died or disappeared, and their research stopped at the same point in their subject''s life: August 1978. What secret surrounds that fateful summer, and who is willing to kill to protect it? Barbara Flynn stars as Imogen, with Tracy Wiles as Fran.

Text copyright © Jill Paton Walsh 1993 (The Wyndham Case), 1995 (A Piece of Justice)

All rights reserved

Production credits

Written by Jill Paton Walsh

The Wyndham Case

Imogen Quy - Carolyn Pickles

Mike Parsons - Richard Derrington

Sir William Buckmote - Jeffery Dench

Lady Buckmote - Marlene Sidaway

Fran Bullion - Tracy Wiles

Mountnessing - Charles Collingwood

Mrs Skellow - Gillian Goodman

Lord Goldhooper - Ian Brooker

Nick - Tom George

Emily/Tracy - Claire Corbett

Catherine/Felicity - Jasmine Hyde

Jack - Thomas Arnold

Phillip Skellow - Alex Trinder

Roger - Martyn Read

Dramatised by Neville Teller

Directed by Peter Lesley Wild

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 3 February 2001

A Piece of Justice

Imogen Quy - Barbara Flynn

Janet Somerfield - Rosemary Leach

Fran Bullion - Tracy Wiles

Josh - Robert Harper

Dr Mistral - James Greene

Lady Buckmote - Marlene Sidaway

Sir William Buckmote - Geoffrey Whitehead

Professor Maverack - Colin Starkey

Meredith Bagadeuce - Peter Howell

Pamela Zephyr - Di Botcher

David Swann - Iwan Thomas

Dramatised by Neville Teller

Directed by Janet Whitaker

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 7 November 1998

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