For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

• John 3:16

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

• John 11:25-26

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Romans 6:23

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

• Hebrews 9:27

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

• Revelation 21:4

SPOILER ALERT WARNING

If you intend to read this book, the following may give away the mystery

I removed the murderer’s name.

But maybe setting the scene is necessary.  Harriet Vane married Lord Peter Wimsey.  They moved to a country home, far from the hustle and bustle of London, far from the crime that was there.

Bunter has changed roles.  He is now their butler instead of Lord Peter’s personal valet.

They arrive at their new home to find a dead body in the basement.

Their honeymoon of their marriage has turned into a “busman’s holiday” – a phrase meaning that the holiday or vacation is characterized by you doing what you always do.  Thus, the title of busman’s honeymoon.

With Harriet and Lord Peter working together as a team, the crime is solved.  The murderer is scheduled for the gallows.  And the time of the execution is obvious by the end of the quote.  But Lord Peter slips into a major bout of shell shock (PTSD).  He leaves his bride and Bunter at the house as he roams the countryside, going far too fast in his automobile – something that he does far too often when thinking clearly.  At this point, Lord Peter is not thinking clearly at all. His efforts have sent a man to the gallows, and Lord Peter remembers all the men that he commanded in World War I who never made it home because Lord Peter had to choose which men would get the dangerous assignments, as if any assignments had no danger, but some had little chance of success – they just had to be done by someone.  Lord Peter was feeling the weight of all those letters back home to young men’s parents and wives.

“It was four by the church clock when [Harriet] heard the sound she had been waiting for: the door at the bottom of the stair creaked. For a few moments nothing followed, and she thought he had changed his mind. She held her breath till she heard his footsteps mount slowly and reluctantly and enter the next room. She feared they might stop there, but this time he came straight on and pushed open the door which she had left ajar.
“’Harriet’
“’Come in, dear.’
“He came over and stood close beside her, mute and shivering. She put her hand out to him and he took it eagerly, laying his other hand in a fumbling gesture on her shoulder.
“’You’re cold, Peter. Come nearer the fire.’
“’It’s not cold,’ he said, half-angrily, ‘it’s my rotten nerves. I can’t help it. I suppose I’ve never been really right since the War. I hate behaving like this. I tried to stick it out by myself.’
“’But why should you?’
“’It’s this damned waiting about till they’ve finished. …”
“’I know. I couldn’t sleep either.’
“He stood holding out his hands mechanically to the fire till he could control the chattering of his teeth.
“’It’s damnable for you too. I’m sorry. I’d forgotten. That sounds idiotic. But I’ve always been alone.’
“’Yes, of course. I’m like that, too. I like to crawl away and hide in a corner.’
“’Well,’ he said, with a transitory gleam of himself, ‘you’re my corner and I’ve come to hide.’
“’Yes, my dearest.
(And the trumpets sounded for her on the other side.)
“’It’s not as bad as it might be. The worst times are when they haven’t admitted it, and one goes over the evidence and wonders if one wasn’t wrong, after all…. And sometimes they’re so damned decent.’
“’What was XXXXXXX like?’
“’He doesn’t seem to care for anybody or regret anything except that he didn’t pull it off. He hates old Noakes just as much as the day he killed him. He wasn’t interested in Polly – only said she was a fool and a bitch, and I was a bigger fool to waste time and money on her. And Aggie Twitterton could go and rot with the whole pack of us, and the sooner the better.’
“’Peter, how horrible!’
“’If there is a God or a judgment – what next? What have we done?’
“’I don’t know. But I don’t suppose anything we could do would prejudice the defence.’
“’I suppose not. I wish we knew more about it. …
”’They hate executions, you know. It upsets the other prisoners. They bang on the doors and make nuisances of themselves. Everybody’s nervous…. Caged like beasts, separately.  That’s the hell of it … we’re all in separate cells.  I can’t get out, said the starling.  If one could only get out for one moment, or go to sleep, or stop thinking. … Oh, damn that cursed clock! … Harriet, for God’s sake, hold on to me … get me out of this … break down the door.’
“’Hush, dearest. I’m here. We’ll see it out together.’
“Through the eastern side of the casement, the sky grew pale with the forerunners of the dawn.
“’Don’t let me go.’
“The light grew stronger as they waited.
“Quite suddenly, he said, ‘Oh, damn!’ and began to cry – in an awkward, unpractised way at first, and then more easily. So she held him, crouched at her knees, against her breast, huddling his head in her arms that he might not hear eight o’clock strike.”

• Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman’s Honeymoon

Boilerplate

In this mini-series, I will fulfill a promise.  Some time ago, published 14 January 2025, I wrote a brief synopsis of the book, Subversive by Crystal Downing.  The post is called A Subversive Christian.  In that book, I talked about the three books in the photo above.  And I especially wanted to do a mini-series on the book on the right, The Gospel in Dorothey L. Sayers.

Note that the title uses the preposition “in.”  Dorothy L. Sayers did not write a fifth gospel.  She did not write as if inspired directly by God.  The canon of Scripture is complete.

But in stating what this is not, then what is it?  All Christians have the Holy Spirit within them, guiding them.  When being a Christian is something you have inside you and through you, then your life will reflect that.  This book is how you can see various aspects of the Christian life in the works of Dorothy L. Sayers, mystery novels, plays, letters, and essays.

After the Introduction, it starts with Whose Body?  The editor’s attribute of a Christian that she focuses on is “Conscience.” Whose Body? is her first detective fiction novel featuring her main character, Lord Peter Wimsey.  Then in Death Must Advertise, we find Lord Peter has a couple of middle names.  His full name is Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey.

But we will stay in the Introduction for more than a week.  There are at least a half dozen quotes just in the introduction that look interesting.  I am not in a hurry to speed through this book.  I was not in a hurry to start it with me being over a year since I promised to make it into a mini-series.

But I would hope people could read my short stories and see the gospel being acted out in the characters in my fictional stories.  Deviled Yeggs grew up in a family of safe crackers, robbing from others.  He set out as a policeman, and then homicide detective, to redeem the family name but learning each person must have Christ redeem them individually.  Deviled’s wife, Trinity Naomi Tesla (TNT) Yeggs, was nicknamed “Nitroglycerin” (Glyce for short) by her parents because she was explosive when shaken.  But she found calm and peace in her husband’s arms, and eventually she found the same comfort and peace in the arms of Jesus as she faced “shaky” experiences.

Even when not writing about Jesus directly, the Good News (Gospel) appears in many ways in what a Christian writes.  Let’s enjoy this journey with possibly my favorite author (outside the Bible with C.S. Lewis in a tie with her), Dorothy L. Sayers.

Discussion

This was the last chapter in the author’s book.  It was the last Lord Peter Wimsey story, save one short story, Talboys.  Talboys is set in 1942, at their country home, Talboys.  Their eldest son is accused by a neighbor of stealing peaches, and Lord Peter returns to his detective role to clear his young son’s name.

And as mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, Ms. Sayers wrote some letters among fictional characters to help entertain the readers while educating them about blackout rules, rationing, and other things that change in wartime.  But mostly, she devoted the rest of her life to the translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy.  But in some personal moments, she wrote down notes, and even a few chapters.  Those notes were converted into four novels by Jill Paton Walsh.  These are mostly set in wartime England as Lord Peter and Harriet start a family, as does Mervyn Bunter, marrying a professional photographer, as Bunter had used his own photography skills to assist Lord Peter in his investigations.

I will have one more Sayers story, a poem from Just Vengeance that was included in the Introduction of the book.

But in this story, we see Lord Peter first go to Bunter as he always did.  He then blindly drove extremely fast down the highway at night, mostly.  Trying to clear his head of all the people that he could not bring back to their families from the First World War.  The story becomes a conversation between Harriet and Bunter.

I wrote some time ago about a paper exercise during my senior year in ROTC.  I had to attack a hill with my men.  I had to write out a plan of how it would be done.  There had to be a feint to attract the attention of the enemy.  And for a moment, I froze.  The Major knew what the thousand mile stare meant.  We talked about it.  I dreamed up fictional names, and the Major played along.  The experienced man who had a family back home had a better chance than the orphan with no girlfriend that no one would miss (except me).  The Major said that I got a gold star for the day by taking the paper exercise to heart, but if I did not turn in the assignment, it would hurt my grade in the class.  The rest of the class were busy writing down their details, without thinking of the souls that would be lost.  I was the only one in class who realized that some men were about to die if that was a true exercise, and I was the one who had to place that person in harm’s way.  And that was long before I read the first Peter Wimsey novel, much less the last.

I am reminded of the Thursday night Bible studies that were led by a Presbyterian pastor.  He said that if we knew who was among God’s elect, an army made of nothing but God’s elect who had not yet accepted Jesus would be invincible.  They could not die because God had elected them and they had yet to accept Jesus as Savior.  Pure fantasy, and if you do not hold to that form of predestination, it might not make sense.

But the tragedy of anyone meeting their death at a young age when they did not know Jesus, is indeed a great tragedy.

And what about criminals who are sentenced to death?  It is not the cruelty of taking their lives.  It is the finality that does not give their soul another chance at salvation.  Yet, many have postulated that the unsaved going before the Great White Throne will curse God rather than beg for mercy.  Their souls will be too calloused to see they deserve the ending they receive.

And this growing concept that there is an end of the suffering for those cast into the Lake of Fire, the Bible is quite clear that the punishment is eternal.  The growing heresy about a short-lived punishment is another trick of Satan to draw people away from God.

This story has been looking at the wrong side of eternity.

We have a chance now to accept Jesus into our hearts.  We can believe and trust Him.  And then we will forever be with Him here on earth and in glory with Him forever in Paradise.  And there will be no sorrow, no pain, no sin, no death, and thinking of such things as sinful people we once knew, God will have a way for us to not dwell on such things.  Those thoughts would be painful, and God promises us no more pain.

Closing Prayer

Father, guide me.  When I read the last of the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, I wanted more.  When I copied this quote, I relived those desires, copying more than I did in other quotes.  You have plans for us, Lord.  When we are with You forever, there will be no more pain, no crying, and You will wipe away every tear.  I love the idea of no more sin nature, and no more sin.  Yes, I sin, Lord, and I realize that the sin never produces anything that lasts.  The shame and regret only end when I realize You have forgiven me, yet again.  As Lord Peter turned to Harriet, his wife… Lord, hold me.  Don’t let me go.
In Thy Name I pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.