#helen duchess of denver

[wellpresseddaisy]

Every time I see a gif of Mary from Downton Abbey, all I can think of is Helen, Duchess of Denver from the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. Mary also looks like the kind of person who knows precisely how many vertebrae it's acceptable to show in a low-backed evening gown and who will judge you for one too many.

I bet she's bad at making up rude rhymes too.

The actress seems like a charming person, though.

[talkingpiffle]

“It was, indeed, not Mr. Thorpe’s fault that the Red House was available; he had done his best to let it, but the number of persons desirous of tenanting a large house in ill-repair, situated in a howling desert and encumbered with a dilapidated and heavily mortgaged property, was not very large. Hilary had her way, and Wimsey, while heartily wishing that the whole business could have been settled in London, liked the girl for her determination to stick to the family estate. Here again, Wimsey was a power in the land. He could put the property in order if he liked and pay off the mortgages, and that would no doubt be a satisfaction to Mr. Thorpe, who had no power to sell under the terms of his trust. A final deciding factor was that if Wimsey did not spend Christmas at Fenchurch, he would have no decent excuse for not spending it with his brother’s family at Denver, and of all things in the world, a Christmas at Denver was most disagreeable to him.

“Accordingly, he looked in at Denver for a day or two, irritated his sister-in-law and her guests as much as, and no more than, usual and thence, on Christmas Eve, made his way across the country to Fenchurch St. Paul.”

--Dorothy L. Sayers, The Nine Tailors, 1934.

#dorothy l. sayers #lord peter wimsey #the nine tailors #hilary thorpe #edward thorpe #denver #christmas #helen duchess of denver #sorry i have not had a very merry christmas this year hence the lateness of these postings

[oldshrewsburyian]

For the fanfic prompt: Lord Peter Wimsey had a headache.

Thank you! Have a drabble in which Lord Peter receives a request for help from an unexpected source; please enjoy imagining the expression on the Duchess of Denver's face.

*

Lord Peter Wimsey had a headache. That he was conscious of his current peevishness in the face of adversity did not improve matters. He made whisky-and-sodas for himself and his guest with great deliberation.

“Really, Peter,” said his sister-in-law acerbically, “tea would have been quite adequate as a restorative.”

“Not for me,” rejoined his lordship, “in light of the mystery to which you have just alluded. Really, Helen, the affair of the countess, the convertible, and the cockatoo promises to rival that of the politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant.”

“The what?”

Lord Peter sighed.

#have a drabble! #wimseyverse #lord peter wimsey

[unsaltedsinner]

Georgina Cookson as Helen, Duchess of Denver, in “Clouds of Witness” (1972).

#gif #dorothy l. sayers #lord peter wimsey #clouds of witness #georgina cookson #charles hodgson #john wyse #ian carmichael

[kivrin]

random headcanon: the Dowager Duchess. Also, Helen.

When she was coming out, young Honoria quickly became famous among her fellow debs as someone who was a wizard at making urgent clothing repairs in the ladies’ retiring room at dances and parties.  (There was usually a maid on hand, of course, but she’d want to do things slowly and correctly, while Honoria could usually see a shortcut.) This made the then-Duchess uneasy about her alliance with the then-Viscount St. George, as she (the then-Duchess, not Honoria) had observed the frequent retreats but not been privy to the reason for them, and assumed some sort of bodily weakness.

Helen would have been vastly happier, and less bad-tempered, if she’d had an office or a schoolroom to manage.

#lord peter wimsey #honoria lucasta dowager duchess of denver #helen duchess of denver

[talkingpiffle]

Wimsey found some consolation in this. At any rate, he so far pulled himself together as to be the life and soul of the rather restrained revels at Duke’s Denver. The Duchess Helen, indeed, observed rather acidly to the Duke that Peter was surely getting too old to play the buffoon, and that it would be better if he took things seriously and settled down.

“Oh, I dunno,” said the Duke, “Peter’s a weird fish—you never know what he’s thinkin’ about. He pulled me out of the soup once and I’m not going to interfere with him. You leave him alone, Helen.”

Lady Mary Wimsey, who had arrived late on Christmas Eve, took another view of the matter. She marched into her younger brother’s bedroom at 2 o’clock on the morning of Boxing Day. There had been dinner and dancing and charades of the most exhausting kind. Wimsey was sitting thoughtfully over the fire in his dressing-gown.

“I say, old Peter,” said Lady Mary, “you’re being a bit fevered, aren’t you? Anything up?”

“Too much plum-pudding,” said Wimsey, “and too much county. I’m a martyr, that’s what I am—burning in brandy to make a family holiday.”

--Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison (1930), Chapter XII.

“Burning in brandy to make a family holiday” is a play on a line from Canto IV of “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” (1812-1818) by Lord Byron, in which he imagines an unnamed gladiator “butchered to make a Roman holiday!” (x) Plum puddings were traditionally soaked in brandy and ceremonially set on fire at serving-time. (x)

The title of Busman’s Honeymoon merges the same line with the idiom “busman’s holiday,” meaning to spend a holiday engaged in behavior similar to one’s usual occupation, whether driving a bus or solving murders. (x)

Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, traditionally saw gifts to tradespeople by their clients and employers to their servants. (x)

#dorothy l. sayers #strong poison #lord peter wimsey #gerald duke of denver #helen duchess of denver #lady mary wimsey #christmas #boxing day #lord byron #childe harold's pilgrimage #busman's holiday #busman's honeymoon #clouds of witness #plum pudding

[wellpresseddaisy]

Most emotionally satisfying detective novel - Busman's Honeymoon

Secondmost emotionally satisfying detective novel - Gaudy Night

Both by Dorothy Sayers and both more about Harriet falling in love and both of them being in love than detecting, but so wonderful.

(If you're interested, start with Strong Poison and then Have His Carcase...just remember that they were written in the 20s and 30s and reflect the time)

Also, Helen, Duchess of Denver is so horrible but I can't help but love her because of her awfulness. She's such a wretched snob. (I may or may not pattern Petunia in Letters from Petunia on Helen)

#dorothy sayers #gaudy night #Busman's Honeymoon

[oldshrewsburyian]

No one quite remembers how the Dowager Duchess of Denver got into Siamese cats, but once they've met Ahasuerus's talons they never forget.

Hee! thank you. *Persian cats (massive and white and fluffy rather than dun-colored and sinuous, and also thus named after ancient Persian emperors. NERD JOKES. Anyway.)

*

"No one quite remembers how the Dowager Duchess of Denver got into Persian cats, but once they've met Ahasuerus's talons they never forget."

Helen's inflection is drawling, ironical: it invites Harriet into the joke of their mother-in-law's title and her cats at the same time. Both, her tone suggests, are slightly silly affectations. That the real power of the title lies with the Duchess of Denver herself goes unspoken, but likewise implied.

"Mm," says Harriet, who has always been less intimidated by title, cat, and Helen alike. Ahasuerus, regally complacent on her lap, purrs.

#five sentence fics #wimseyverse #i find helen thoroughly unsympathetic sorry/not sorry

[oldshrewsburyian]

If you are looking for prompts, I would welcome Peter and Harriet's first Christmas together, or Bertie trying to buy Jeeves a present.

Have a Denver Ducis drabble!

*

Harriet sits hunched in the old-fashioned armchair, and stretches her hands to the fire. All in all, she reflects, it has not been a bad ordeal. The Dowager Duchess is, of course, a darling. Helen… well, Helen seems to be in a rather chilly isolation among the Wimseys, whose Christmas spirit manifests in unusually eccentric frivolity. Mary, Gerald, and Peter had outdone each other in hilarious anecdote, while the lines around Helen’s mouth became increasingly pinched. Harriet almost feels sorry for her.

Harriet rises, and opens the connecting door. “Peter,” she says in a stage whisper, “come to bed.”

#wimseyverse #have a drabble! #peter and harriet #desperately? my dear i will not insult you or myself