igenlode | "Five Red Herrings" (Audio), Dorothy L. Sayers (Reply)

This is one of the few cases where a condensed adaptation works better than the original novel -- "Five Red Herrings" has always been one of Sayers' most tedious detective stories, and I found this dramatization a lot more successful than my last read of the novel. (I note that they do exactly as I suggested in my original review and simply don't attempt to hide the clue about the white paint; this really doesn't give away anything about the case (Wimsey contrives to watch all the suspects painting, but doesn't mention why until his exposition at the end), while making the plot device a lot less annoying!) Even the infamous string of rival theories at the end becomes magically non-boring once you've got actual people delivering them and enthusing over them.

I did miss the scene where Gowan is revealed to be completely ridiculous in appearance without his grandiose beard (Wimsey alludes to his potentially 'looking like a skinned rabbit' after being shaved, but the dramatisation doesn't mention that this isn't a mere allusion to the lack of hair, but to his unfortunate facial features). I wasn't aware of any other missing elements, and the audio background of cars, trains, wind etc. does a good job of setting the scene. I also enjoyed the selection of period tunes on the soundtrack, many of which I recognised!