Five Red Herrings

infobox Book |
name = Five Red Herrings
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = 1972 New English Library paperback ed.
author = Dorothy L. Sayers
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series = Lord Peter Wimsey
genre = Mystery novel
publisher = Harper & Row
release_date = 1931
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 284 pp (1972 ed.)
isbn = NA
preceded_by = Strong Poison
followed_by = Have His Carcase

"Five Red Herrings" is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers.

The first time it was published in the United States, its title was "Suspicious Characters".

Plot summary

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 points out the inconsistency which makes it impossible for Campbell himself to have worked on the painting. (Sayers deliberately leaves the reader to work out what exactly the clue is.) Campbell's death is now a murder case.

Whoever killed Campbell also did the painting in his style, to contrive the appearance of an accident. Six other artists in the region are talented enough to have achieved this, and had also had public brawls with Campbell in the recent past. Now Wimsey has to figure out who done it and who the five red herrings are. The task is made difficult because almost all the suspects are behaving in a suspicious manner; some have left the district unexpectedly and without explanation, others have given statements which are obviously inaccurate, or are clearly concealing facts.

The "Five Red Herrings" is the Peter Wimsey story which is most obviously set as a puzzle for the reader. There are only six suspects to deal with, and Wimsey has no emotional involvement. (Although, having alerted the Police to Campbell's murder, he subsequently 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.)

The plot is told through the viewpoint of Wimsey, and of the various police investigating the case (including Wimsey's brother-in-law Charles Parker, involved because a suspect is in hiding in London). The six suspects are all eventually traced and give statements in which they deny killing Campbell. Some have convincing alibis, but others have none which can be verified.

Finally, Wimsey and the Police meet to review the evidence. Working from the knowledge the reader has been given, the Police put forward several theories, implicating all of the suspects either as the killer or as accessories. Wimsey finally reveals to the reader exactly what alerted him to the murder, and points the finger at the true killer. Although the Police are sceptical, Wimsey offers to reconstruct the crime and over the course of twenty-four hours strenuous activity, he demonstrates how the killer contrived the scene above the stream and established an alibi.

The killer finally realises that the case against him is unbreakable and confesses, but pleads that the crime is manslaughter (which carries a lighter sentence) rather than premeditated murder.

Literary significance and criticism

"A work that grows on rereading and remains in the mind as one of the richest, most colorful of her group studies. The Scottish setting, the artists in the colony, the train-ticket puzzle, and the final chase place this triumph among the four or five "chefs d'oeuvre" from her hand."Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. "A Catalogue of Crime". New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. ISBN 0-06-015796-8]

List of Characters

* Lord Peter Wimsey
* Mervyn Bunter: Wimsey's valet, who also assists in his investigations
* Hugh Farren: artist and suspect
* Gilda Farren: Hugh Farren's wife
* Henry Strachan: golf club secretary, artist and suspect
* Matthew Gowan: wealthy artist and suspect
* Alcock, Mrs. Alcock, Hammond, Betty: Gowan's domestic staff
* Jock Graham: rogue, artist and suspect
* Michael Waters: English artist and suspect
* Ferguson: Campbell's next-door neighbour, artist and suspect
* Miss Selby, Miss Cochran: artists who substantiate or break several alibis
* Sir Maxwell Jamieson: Chief Constable of Dumfriesshire
* Inspector Macpherson: Kirkcudbright Police CID
* Sergeant Dalziel: Newton Stewart Police
* PC Ross, PC Duncan:

TV Adaptation

The Five Red Herrings was adapted for television in 1975 as part of a series starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter and Glyn Houston as Bunter.

References