Five Red Herrings
First edition
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| Author | Dorothy L. Sayers |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Lord Peter Wimsey |
| Genre | Mystery novel |
| Publisher |
Victor Gollancz (UK) Harper & Row (US) |
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Publication date
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1931 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 284 pp (1972 ed.) |
| Preceded by | Strong Poison |
| Followed by | Have His Carcase |
The Five Red Herrings (also 5 Red Herrings) is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers. It was retitled Suspicious Characters for its first publication in the United States, but reverted to its original title in subsequent printings.
Sayers points out in the preface that all the places in the story are real places, and it is a fact that almost all the locations can be recognised and visited to this day.
Some editions include as a foreword a letter written by Sayers "To my friend Joe Dignam, kindliest of landlords," which suggests that she was in the habit of taking 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: a promise that this book fulfilled.
The story is set in Galloway, a part of Scotland popular with artists because of its landscapes. Sandy Campbell is a talented painter, but also a notoriously quarrelsome drunkard. When he is found dead in a stream, with a half-finished painting on the bank above, it is assumed at first that he fell in accidentally, fracturing his skull. Lord Peter Wimsey, who is in the region on a fishing holiday, points out an inconsistency that makes it impossible for Campbell to have worked on the painting. (Sayers leaves the reader to work out what exactly the clue is.) Campbell's death is now a murder case.
Whoever killed Campbell also executed the painting in Campbell's distinctive style, to contrive the appearance of an accident. Six other nearby artists are talented enough to achieve this and also had recent public brawls with Campbell. Now Wimsey must figure out "who done it" and who the five red herrings are. This is difficult, because almost all the suspects behave suspiciously: some leave the district unexpectedly and without explanation, others give obviously inaccurate statements or conceal facts. The policemen investigating other aspects of the case come up against inexplicable dead ends.
The Five Red Herrings is the Peter Wimsey story most obviously set as a puzzle for the reader. There is only a closed circle of suspects to deal with, and Wimsey has no emotional involvement—though, having alerted the police to Campbell's murder, he reflects that Campbell was a man anyone might feel justified in killing, and that the six suspects are all generally decent people. He nevertheless resolves to uncover the truth, so that the five innocent artists should not live under lifelong suspicion.
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Wikipedia