Busman's Honeymoon
Encyclopedia
Busman's Honeymoon is a 1937 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers
, her eleventh (and last) featuring Lord Peter Wimsey
. It is the fourth and last novel to feature Harriet Vane
.
and Harriet Vane
marry and go to spend their honeymoon at Talboys, an old farmhouse in Hertfordshire
which he has bought her as a present. The honeymoon is intended as a break from their usual routine of solving crimes (him) and writing about them (her), but it turns into a murder investigation when the seller of the house is found dead at the bottom of the cellar steps with severe head injuries.
, Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane marry. They plan to spend their honeymoon at Talboys, an old farmhouse in Harriet's native Hertfordshire
which Wimsey has bought for her, and they abscond from the wedding reception, evading the assembled reporters.
Arriving late at night, they are surprised to find the house locked up and not prepared for them. They gain access and spend their wedding night there, but next morning they discover the former owner, Noakes, dead in the cellar with head injuries. The quiet honeymoon is ruined as a murder investigation begins and the house fills with policemen, reporters, and brokers' men distraining Noakes's hideous furniture.
Noakes was an unpopular man, a miser and (it turns out) a blackmailer. He was assumed to be well off, though it transpires that he was bankrupt, owed large amounts of money, and was planning to flee his creditors with the cash paid for Talboys. The house had been locked and bolted when the newly-weds arrived, and medical evidence seems to rule out an accident, so it seems he was attacked in the house and died later, having somehow locked up after his attacker. The suspects include Noakes's niece, Mrs. Ruddle (his neighbour and cleaning lady), Frank Crutchley, a local garage mechanic who also tended Noakes's garden and the local police constable, who was his blackmail victim.
Peter's and Harriet's relationship, always complex and painfully negotiated, is resolved during the process of catching the murderer and bringing him to justice. In a final scene, in which almost the entire cast of characters is gathered in the front room of Talboys, reflecting the novel's origin as a work for the stage, the killer turns out to be Crutchley. He planned to marry Noakes' somewhat elderly niece and get his hands on the money he had left her in his will. He set a booby trap with a weighted plant pot on a chain, which was triggered by the victim opening the radio cabinet after locking up for the night. Wimsey's reaction to the case - his arrangement for the defendant to be represented by top defence counsel; his guilt at condemning a man to be hanged; the return of his shell-shock – dominate the final chapters of the book. Initially he withdraws from Harriet in an attempt to cope on his own. However, in a touching and emotional last scene, he comes to her and accepts her love and support in getting through the hour of Crutchley’s execution. His last word in the book, "Damn!", echoes the "Damn!" which is his first utterance in the first Wimsey novel, Whose Body?
It is mentioned that Wimsey had previously also suffered similar pangs of conscience when other murderers had been sent to the gallows. His deep remorse and guilt at having caused Crutchley to be executed leave doubt as to whether he would undertake further murder investigations - and in fact Sayers wrote no further Wimsey novels after this one.
The 1942 short story "Talboys", the very last Wimsey fiction produced by Sayers, is both a sequel to the present book, in having the same location and some of the same village characters, and an antithesis in being lighthearted and having no crime worse the theft of some peaches from a neighbour's garden.
, which opened in December 1936.
A 1940
film version, based as much on the play as on the novel, starred Robert Montgomery
as Peter and Constance Cummings
as Harriet. The movie was released in the United States as Haunted Honeymoon.
Lifeline Theatre
(Chicago, Illinois) presented an original adaptation of Busman's Honeymoon in the spring and summer of 2009. Frances Limoncelli adapted the script from Dorothy Sayers' novel. The show was directed by Paul Holmquist. Busman's Honeymoon was preceded by adaptations of Whose Body?, Strong Poison, and Gaudy Night (all adapted by Frances Limoncelli and produced at Lifeline Theatre
).
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages...
, her eleventh (and last) featuring Lord Peter Wimsey
Lord Peter Wimsey
Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is a bon vivant amateur sleuth in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, in which he solves mysteries; usually, but not always, murders...
. It is the fourth and last novel to feature Harriet Vane
Harriet Vane
Harriet Deborah Vane, later Lady Peter Wimsey, is a fictional character in the works of British writer Dorothy L. Sayers ....
.
Plot introduction
Lord Peter WimseyLord Peter Wimsey
Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is a bon vivant amateur sleuth in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, in which he solves mysteries; usually, but not always, murders...
and Harriet Vane
Harriet Vane
Harriet Deborah Vane, later Lady Peter Wimsey, is a fictional character in the works of British writer Dorothy L. Sayers ....
marry and go to spend their honeymoon at Talboys, an old farmhouse in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
which he has bought her as a present. The honeymoon is intended as a break from their usual routine of solving crimes (him) and writing about them (her), but it turns into a murder investigation when the seller of the house is found dead at the bottom of the cellar steps with severe head injuries.
Explanation of the novel's title
A "busman's holiday" is a holiday spent by a bus driver travelling on a bus: it is no break from his usual routine. By analogy, anyone who spends his holiday doing his normal job is taking a "busman's holiday".Plot summary
After an engagement of some months following the events at the end of Gaudy NightGaudy Night
Gaudy Night is a mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, the tenth in her popular series about aristocratic sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, and the third featuring crime writer Harriet Vane....
, Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane marry. They plan to spend their honeymoon at Talboys, an old farmhouse in Harriet's native Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
which Wimsey has bought for her, and they abscond from the wedding reception, evading the assembled reporters.
Arriving late at night, they are surprised to find the house locked up and not prepared for them. They gain access and spend their wedding night there, but next morning they discover the former owner, Noakes, dead in the cellar with head injuries. The quiet honeymoon is ruined as a murder investigation begins and the house fills with policemen, reporters, and brokers' men distraining Noakes's hideous furniture.
Noakes was an unpopular man, a miser and (it turns out) a blackmailer. He was assumed to be well off, though it transpires that he was bankrupt, owed large amounts of money, and was planning to flee his creditors with the cash paid for Talboys. The house had been locked and bolted when the newly-weds arrived, and medical evidence seems to rule out an accident, so it seems he was attacked in the house and died later, having somehow locked up after his attacker. The suspects include Noakes's niece, Mrs. Ruddle (his neighbour and cleaning lady), Frank Crutchley, a local garage mechanic who also tended Noakes's garden and the local police constable, who was his blackmail victim.
Peter's and Harriet's relationship, always complex and painfully negotiated, is resolved during the process of catching the murderer and bringing him to justice. In a final scene, in which almost the entire cast of characters is gathered in the front room of Talboys, reflecting the novel's origin as a work for the stage, the killer turns out to be Crutchley. He planned to marry Noakes' somewhat elderly niece and get his hands on the money he had left her in his will. He set a booby trap with a weighted plant pot on a chain, which was triggered by the victim opening the radio cabinet after locking up for the night. Wimsey's reaction to the case - his arrangement for the defendant to be represented by top defence counsel; his guilt at condemning a man to be hanged; the return of his shell-shock – dominate the final chapters of the book. Initially he withdraws from Harriet in an attempt to cope on his own. However, in a touching and emotional last scene, he comes to her and accepts her love and support in getting through the hour of Crutchley’s execution. His last word in the book, "Damn!", echoes the "Damn!" which is his first utterance in the first Wimsey novel, Whose Body?
Whose Body?
Whose Body? is a 1923 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, which introduced the character of Lord Peter Wimsey.-Plot introduction:Lord Peter is intrigued by the sudden appearance of a naked body in the bath of an architect, and investigates...
It is mentioned that Wimsey had previously also suffered similar pangs of conscience when other murderers had been sent to the gallows. His deep remorse and guilt at having caused Crutchley to be executed leave doubt as to whether he would undertake further murder investigations - and in fact Sayers wrote no further Wimsey novels after this one.
The 1942 short story "Talboys", the very last Wimsey fiction produced by Sayers, is both a sequel to the present book, in having the same location and some of the same village characters, and an antithesis in being lighthearted and having no crime worse the theft of some peaches from a neighbour's garden.
Characters in "Busman's Honeymoon"
- Lord Peter WimseyLord Peter WimseyLord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is a bon vivant amateur sleuth in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, in which he solves mysteries; usually, but not always, murders...
– protagonist, an aristocratic amateur detective - Harriet VaneHarriet VaneHarriet Deborah Vane, later Lady Peter Wimsey, is a fictional character in the works of British writer Dorothy L. Sayers ....
, now Lady Peter Wimsey – protagonist, a mystery writer, wife of Lord Peter - Mervyn BunterMervyn BunterMervyn Bunter is a fictional character in Dorothy L. Sayers' novels and short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.- Literary Background :Dorothy L...
– Lord Peter's manservant - Honoria Lucasta, Dowager Duchess of Denver – Lord Peter's mother
- William Noakes – previous owner of Talboys and murder victim
- Miss Agnes Twitterton – a spinster niece of the murdered man
- Frank Crutchley – a motor mechanic and gardener
- Mrs Martha Ruddle – neighbour of Noakes and his cleaning lady
- Bert Ruddle – her son
- Chief Superintendant Kirk – Hertfordshire CIDCriminal Investigation DepartmentThe Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...
- Joseph Sellon – the local police constable
- The Reverend Simon Goodacre, a clergyman, Vicar of Paggleham
Literary significance and criticism
"Not near the top of her form, but remarkable as a treatment of the newly wedded and bedded pair of eccentrics ... with Bunter in the offing and three local characters, chiefly comic. Peter's mother -- Dowager Duchess of Denver -- Peter's sister, John Donne, a case of vintage port, and the handling of "corroded sut" provide plenty of garnishing for an indifferent murder, even if we weren't also given an idea of Lord Peter's sexual tastes and powers under trying circumstances."Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Busman's Honeymoon first saw the light of day as a stage play by Sayers and Muriel St. Clare ByrneMuriel St. Clare Byrne
Muriel St. Clare Byrne, born in 1895 , was a prominent historical researcher, specializing in the reign of Henry VIII of England. She gathered together and edited primary sources and published these, including the Lisle Letters, and the Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, as well as...
, which opened in December 1936.
A 1940
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
film version, based as much on the play as on the novel, starred Robert Montgomery
Robert Montgomery (actor)
Robert Montgomery was an American actor and director.- Early life :Montgomery was born Henry Montgomery, Jr. in Beacon, New York, then known as "Fishkill Landing", the son of Mary Weed and Henry Montgomery, Sr. His early childhood was one of privilege, since his father was president of the New...
as Peter and Constance Cummings
Constance Cummings
Constance Cummings, CBE was an American-born British actress, known for her work on both screen and stage.Born Constance Halverstadt in Seattle, Washington, the daughter of Dallas Vernon Halverstadt, a lawyer, and his wife, Kate Logan Cummings, a concert soprano. she began as a stage actress,...
as Harriet. The movie was released in the United States as Haunted Honeymoon.
Lifeline Theatre
Lifeline Theatre
- Mission :Lifeline Theatre specializes in original literary adaptations. Its ensemble of artists uses imaginative, unconventional staging to portray sprawling stories in an intimate space. Lifeline is committed to promoting the arts in its Rogers Park neighborhood and is an anchor of the Glenwood...
(Chicago, Illinois) presented an original adaptation of Busman's Honeymoon in the spring and summer of 2009. Frances Limoncelli adapted the script from Dorothy Sayers' novel. The show was directed by Paul Holmquist. Busman's Honeymoon was preceded by adaptations of Whose Body?, Strong Poison, and Gaudy Night (all adapted by Frances Limoncelli and produced at Lifeline Theatre
Lifeline Theatre
- Mission :Lifeline Theatre specializes in original literary adaptations. Its ensemble of artists uses imaginative, unconventional staging to portray sprawling stories in an intimate space. Lifeline is committed to promoting the arts in its Rogers Park neighborhood and is an anchor of the Glenwood...
).