HANGMAN'S HOLIDAY
UK publication: 1933 (Victor Gollancz)
US publication: 1933 (Harcourt, Brace)
Detective: Lord Peter Wimsey, Montague Egg, others
Plot summary and comments: A collection of 12 short stories, four of them starring Peter Wimsey, six starring Montague Egg, and two others with no series character. By title: The Image in the Mirror; The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey; The Queen's Square; The Necklace of Pearls; The Poisoned Dow '08; Sleuths on the Scent; Murder in the Morning; One Too Many; Murder at Pentecost; Maher-shalal-hashbaz; The Man Who Knew How; The Fountain Plays.
IN THE TEETH OF THE EVIDENCE
UK publication: 1939 (Victor Gollancz)
US publication: 1940 (Harcourt, Brace)
Detective: Lord Peter Wimsey, Montague Egg, others
Plot summary and comments: A collection of 17 short stories: two of Wimsey, five of Montague Egg, and the rest other characters. The short stories tend to be more intellectual problems or "locked-room" mysteries, rather than the well-developed characterizations of her novels---as well as a couple of 'joke' stories, in which circumstances appear sinister but turn out to be quite harmless. Stories, by title: In the Teeth of the Evidence (Wimsey, through his dentist, becomes involved in a suicide investigation, in which the identification of a badly burned body through dental records becomes essential when the suicide seems fishy). Absolutely Elsewhere (an "impossible problem" case, in which an old man is murdered at his dinner table , with the chief suspects being his sons, both of whose alibis appear to be tight---a good story). A Shot at Goal; Dirt Cheap; Bitter Almonds; False Weight; The Professor's Manuscript; The Milk-Bottles (a journalist, Hector Puncheon, is reluctantly looking into the affair of a vanished couple in a seedy neighborhood, the milkman having contacted his paper) ; Dilemma; An Arrow o'er the House; Scrawns; Nebuchadnezzar; The Inspiration of Mr. Budd; Blood Sacrifice; Suspicion; The Leopard Lady; The Cyprian Cat.
LORD PETER
US publication: 1972 (Harper and Row)
Detective: Lord Peter Wimsey
Plot summary and comments: A collection of all the Peter Wimsey stories from previously published volumes, including the three not published in Sayers' lifetime. There are a total of 21 stories. The titles are listed here for convenience, but plot summaries are included in the collection of first publication.
LORD PETER VIEWS THE BODY
UK publication: 1928 (Victor Gollancz)
US publication: 1929 (Brewer and Warren)
Detective: Lord Peter Wimsey
Plot summary and comments: 12 short stories about Lord Peter Wimsey.
STRIDING FOLLY
UK publication: 1972 (New English Library)
Detective: Lord Peter Wimsey
Plot summary and comments: A publication after Sayers' death of the three Peter Wimsey stories uncollected during her lifetime.