Clouds of Witness: A Positronic Book: 2

A family gathering becomes a murder investigation when Lord Peter Wimsey's brother is discovered beside a dead man-and nearly every witness appears to be concealing something.Lord Peter Wimsey is summoned to the family estate after his brother, the Duke of Denver, is accused of murdering their sister's fiancé. The evidence appears damning: the duke was found kneeling over the body, his revolver was nearby, and his account of the night's events is evasive and incomplete. Yet the victim had secrets of his own, and the inhabitants of the house seem determined to protect one another with contradictory statements, convenient silences, and carefully constructed lies.Assisted by the resourceful Bunter and the patient Inspector Parker, Lord Peter follows a trail that leads through country lanes, private clubs, clandestine meetings, and the peculiar machinery of an aristocratic trial. Every discovery complicates the case, exposing romantic entanglements, family loyalties, and scandals that respectable society would prefer to keep hidden. Combining an intricate mystery with wit, social observation, and memorable characters, Clouds of Witness is the second Lord Peter Wimsey mystery and an essential work of Golden Age detective fiction.