Unnatural Death is a 1927 mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers. It's the third book in the Lord Peter Wimsey series.
An elderly lady dies of cancer without making a will. Lord Peter suspects there may be more to the story, especially when one of the lady's maids is found dead too. He begins to investigate and finds himself drawn into a tangled mess involving a distant relative, a blackmail, and a change to the inheritance laws.
The book was adapted for radio in 1975.
Not to be confused with the Patricia Cornwell novel of the same name.
Contains examples of:
- Ambiguously Gay: Agatha Dawson and Clara Whittaker lived together for decades, and their niece Mary has another girl utterly devoted to her as a "friend."
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Miss Climpson relays a vicious racist rant by another character, including that the mere sight of a Black character turned the ranter's stomach. She then apologises, not for the racism, but for mentioning stomachs in polite company.
- Double In-Law Marriage: Two near examples in the backstory:
- One Dawson ancestor had fallen in love with a Frenchwoman and married her. His brother, however, fell in love with her sister, who had become a nun. He followed her and became a monk.
- Clara Whittaker's brother married Agatha Dawson's sister. Agatha and Clara themselves couldn't marry, but are strongly implied to have had an equally close relationship.
- Downer Ending: Fewer people would have died if Lord Peter hadn't gotten involved. And the man who originally asked him to investigate isn't even grateful.
- Driven to Suicide: The murderer commits suicide in a jail cell while awaiting trial.
- Empathic Environment: The denouement sees Wimsey and Parker examining the body of the murderess, Mary Whittaker, who has hanged herself in her cell. When they emerge, they find an eclipse in progress, as if all the light in the world had been snuffed out, echoing Wimsey's state of mind. (The closing chapters are explicitly set in late June 1927, and there was a real total eclipse over parts of the UK on 29th June 1927.)
- Gossipy Hens: The ladies of the church working party.
- Inheritance Murder: This is considered the most plausible reason why somebody might have wanted to murder old Miss Dawson — the difficulty being that she was already dying, and apparently had no intentions of changing her will, so her death would have made no difference to who inherited. The light dawns when Peter recalls that a new law recently went into effect, changing the rules of inheritance... and her early death ensured that the inheritance was disposed of under the old rules.
- I Remember Because...: One witness notes that she remembers Miss Dawson's maid's surname because it was such a silly name: "Gotobed".
- It's for a Book: Peter claims to be writing a history of local families when he investigates the Dawson family tree.
- Little Old Lady Investigates: Miss Climpson investigates solo for part of the book.
- Mad Lib Thriller Title: The Dawson Pedigree, an alternate title used by some US editions.
- Malicious Slander: A doctor recounts to Lord Peter how his suspicions about an old woman's death had been translated into wild accusations by the rumour mill, forcing him to leave town.
- The Perfect Crime: While contemplating a murder that initially passed as a death by natural causes, Lord Peter asserts that the only perfect crime is one that goes undetected; as soon as anybody suspects that there's been a crime, it's a failure.
- Psycho Lesbian: Mary Whitaker fits a lot of the lesbian stereotypes of the era - she's described as "sexless", domineering, having no use for men, and as preying on a younger woman. Ultimately, her sexuality, if any, is never confirmed, and money becomes her only goal.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: Contemporary critics thought the method of murder was laughable. Not only is it plausible, it was used as a method of execution by the Nazi medical system, and was the M.O. of at least one real-world serial killer.
- Ripped from the Headlines: There's a scene where the police, searching for Mary Whittaker, come across an abandoned car and clues suggesting she's been kidnapped. The previous year (1926), Agatha Christie's disappearance in similar circumstances had led to a nationwide manhunt.
- Taking the Veil: A gender-inverted example occurs in the Back Story; Miss Dawson's Uncle Paul became a monk after suffering a disappointment in love.
- Tempting Fate: Lord Peter decides to place an advertisement asking a possible witness to contact him. Parker remarks that he doesn't expect anything to come of it, but it can't do any harm. This gives Peter such a strong feeling of tempting fate that he nearly decides not to run the ad. He goes ahead, though, and it results in the witness being murdered to keep her from talking.
- To Be Lawful or Good: After the murderer starts hunting down witnesses to impede his investigation, Lord Peter consults a clergyman and asks whether it would have been better to let them get away with one murder if it meant preventing the others. He's assured that pursuing them was the right thing to do, as well as his lawful duty, because someone who has killed for personal gain once would be likely to do it again even if left alone.
- Tricked into Signing: Averted. Mary Whittaker tries to trick her great-aunt Agatha Dawson into signing a will by burying it in a bunch of other papers that need a signature — and by having two of the housemaids ready to witness the signing of the will without Agatha realizing it. However, Agatha notices the will and refuses to sign.
- Unable to Support a Wife: One Dawson family member lost his fiancée when his family lost its money.
- The Vicar: The Reverend Tredgold is High Church and conscientious, and offers Peter sensible moral counsel.
- Widow's Weeds: A lawyer definitely realizes that a woman who asked him a question — for a friend — had actually asked for herself, when he sees her again, and she tells him that the woman she had asked about, the purported friend's great-aunt, had died, and she herself is wearing mourning.
