Write me a murder mystery in the style of Dorothy Sayers

From chat.openai.com:

Query: Write me a murder mystery in the style of Dorothy Sayers

Response:

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Visitor

The rain was relentless, beating a rhythmic tattoo on the windows of Wimsey Manor. Lord Peter Wimsey reclined in his leather armchair, a tumbler of fine Scotch in hand. The fireplace crackled merrily, casting dancing shadows across the bookshelves filled with rare tomes and obscure curiosities. The peace of the evening was shattered by an urgent knock on the door.

Wimsey’s butler, Bunter, ushered in a drenched young woman with a look of distress etched upon her face. Her name was Evelyn Middleton, a distant relative of Wimsey’s and a recent acquaintance. She had a reputation for being a woman of mystery, and it seemed she had brought a new enigma to his doorstep.

“Lord Wimsey,” she began, her voice quivering with anxiety, “I desperately need your help. I believe I am in grave danger.”

Wimsey, ever the gentleman, poured her a glass of sherry and encouraged her to compose herself. As she sipped the amber liquid, she recounted her tale.

Chapter 2: A Lethal Gift

Evelyn explained that earlier that day, she had received an anonymous package containing a string of exquisite pearls. They were of such beauty that even a cursory glance revealed their extraordinary value. Attached to the pearls was a note that read, “For the fairest lady in England.”

Despite their allure, Evelyn had an uneasy feeling about the gift. She had sensed danger lurking beneath their lustrous surface. To confirm her suspicions, she had taken one of the pearls to be examined by a jeweler. The result was chilling—a deadly poison concealed within the pearl’s core.

“I fear that I am the target of an insidious plot,” Evelyn confessed. “But I know not why or by whom.”

Chapter 3: The Web of Suspects

Lord Wimsey listened attentively, his mind racing. He knew that this was no ordinary case. The presence of a poison-laden pearl hinted at a cunning adversary with a twisted sense of vengeance. It was a puzzle that demanded his immediate attention.

Wimsey proposed they invite a select group of guests to Wimsey Manor for the weekend, under the guise of a social gathering. Among them would be Evelyn’s acquaintances, as well as those who might have a motive to harm her. He would use the occasion to observe, question, and deduce.

As the weekend unfolded, Lord Wimsey found himself surrounded by an eclectic group of characters—a retired general, a reclusive artist, a disgruntled business partner, and even a charming foreign diplomat. Each had their own secrets, and each could be a potential suspect.

Chapter 4: Unmasking the Deceiver

Over the course of the weekend, Wimsey meticulously collected evidence and observed the interactions of the guests. Tensions ran high, and suspicions festered. Evelyn, although clearly anxious, remained resolute.

On the final evening, as the guests gathered in the drawing room, Lord Wimsey revealed the true purpose of the weekend gathering—to unmask the person behind the poison-laden pearls. With an eloquence that would have made Dorothy Sayers herself proud, he dissected each guest’s potential motive and alibi, slowly eliminating them one by one.

Then, in a dramatic revelation, he produced a hidden compartment from a curious sculpture in the room—an identical strand of pearls with a hidden poison pearl. It was a masterstroke of misdirection.

The room erupted in shock and confusion. Amidst the chaos, Evelyn’s eyes darted around, and she caught a glimpse of panic in one guest’s face—the foreign diplomat. It was a subtle but telling clue.

Chapter 5: The Culprit Unmasked

With the culprit exposed, Lord Wimsey calmly presented his evidence. The diplomat, it turned out, had a vendetta against Evelyn. He had sent the original poisoned pearls and had been so confident in his cunning that he had brought a backup strand, believing he could frame someone else.

The police were called, and the diplomat was led away in handcuffs, his reputation tarnished forever. The threat to Evelyn was extinguished, and the mystery of the poisoned pearls was solved.

As the rain outside continued to fall, Lord Wimsey watched the diplomat’s departure from the safety of his manor. Another case had been cracked, another villain brought to justice, and another evening of intrigue had come to an end. With a satisfied smile, he raised his glass to the memory of Dorothy Sayers and the enduring legacy of British detective fiction.

Link to more at chat.openai.com

PG notes that the free version of chat.openai.com is constrained in how long its response will be.

PG doesn’t remember Whimsey Manor in any of Dorothy Sayers’ books.

That said, he asked the AI to write a murder mystery in the style of Dorothy Sayers, so the AI was not strictly restricted by what Sayers actually wrote.

PG will contend that the AI made a mistake by referring to the detective as “Lord Whimsey” instead of “Lord Peter,” which PG understands would have been the customary way of referring or speaking to the second son of a Duke.

For some time, PG thought “The Duke of Denver,” Peter’s father (and later his older brother) was a strange title. However, during his recent reading on the subject, PG discovered that the city in Colorado was preceded by a village called Denver in Norfolk. He understands that the village of Denver currently has a population of less than a thousand people.

(The Denver in Colorado and its suburbs currently have a population of nearly three million people.)

(The later in the evening PG blogs, the more he tends to go down strange rabbit holes.)

(Which causes him to remind one and all that Colorado has a great many jackrabbits {which are actually hares and not rabbits, hares generally being larger and longer-legged than the cotton-tail rabbits and the many other true rabbits one finds in England, Colorado and elsewhere.})