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Lord Peter Wimsey, John Freeman, Kate Mosse

Books news. Jill Paton Walsh and Sarah Crown talk to Mariella Frostrup about the enduring appeal of Lord Peter Wimsey, plus author Kate Mosse on the book she would never lend.

The scholarly, monocle wearing second son of a Duke, who solves bizarre murders ably assisted by his manservant Bunter might seem an anomaly among the Wallenders and Rebus's of today's detective fiction but against unlikely odds Lord Peter Wimsey, created by Dorothy L Sayers, continues to delight readers. Despite her death in 1957 her character lives on not least thanks to Jill Paton Walsh who has taken on the task of continuing Wimsey's adventures, beginning with Sayer's unfinished manuscript Thrones, Dominations. She's just published her fourth Peter Wimsey book The Late Scholar and joins Mariella Frostrup and lifelong Sayers' fan, Sarah Crown, to discuss his, and the books', enduring appeal.

We continue our series on the book you would never lend for fear of never getting it back. Today is the turn of the best-selling author and co-founder of the Women's Prize for Fiction Kate Mosse.

For the last fifteen years, John Freeman has had his finger firmly on the literary pulse. Until recently, he was the Editor-in-Chief of Granta, and part of the panel that put together their most recent, much discussed, once a decade list, Best of Young British Novelists. He's reviewed thousands of books and profiled some of the world's most influential writers from Doris Lessing to John Updike. These encounters have now been collected in his latest book How To Read A Novelist.

Producer: Andrea Kidd.

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Thu 19 Dec 2013 15:30

Read the Opening Chapter of Jill Paton Walsh's The Late Scholar

Chapter 1:听听Jill Paton Walsh's The Late Scholar

BOOKLIST

Books by Dorothy L Sayers include:

Whose Body

Gaudy Night

Busman鈥檚 Honeymoon

The Nine Tailors

The Late Scholar by Jill Paton-Walsh

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton

The Mistletoe Bride and other Haunting Tales by Kate Mosse

Publisher: Orion

Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain

Publisher: Reader鈥檚 Digest

How to Read A Novelist by John Freeman

Publisher: Corsair

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Mariella Frostrup
Interviewed Guest Jill Paton Walsh
Interviewed Guest Sarah Crown
Interviewed Guest Kate Mosse
Producer Andrea Kidd

Broadcasts

  • Sun 15 Dec 2013 16:00
  • Thu 19 Dec 2013 15:30

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