What Would Wimsey Do?

What starts as a standard contemporary police procedural becomes a loving tribute to Dorothy Sayers’s aristocratic sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey, in this witty and clever whodunit from British author Fraser-Sampson (the Hampstead Murders series). The Hampstead police are stymied by the Condom Killer (so called because he always “took the trouble to stop and put a condom on” before raping his unconscious victims), who has just claimed his fifth victim, Katherine Barker. Like the previous four, Barker was found in an open space, having been chloroformed and raped before being bludgeoned to death. The lack of progress leads to a change at the top of the inquiry, with Det. Supt. Simon Collison taking charge 18 months after the case’s inception. Collison plows ahead, aided by psychologist Peter Collins, the boyfriend of one of Collison’s officers, Det. Constable Karen Willis. After Collison’s efforts hit a dead end, leaving him demoralized, Willis suggests that Collison join her in pretending that Collins is Wimsey, and that he play Wimsey’s friend on the force and she Wimsey’s love-interest. That unorthodox approach proves both therapeutic for Collison and a successful way to crack the case. Golden age fans will hope for more from this gifted author. (Oct.)