Lord Peter Wimsey: Ian Carmichael's Interpretation

I recently tried listening to a reading of Murder Must Advertise, one of the cleverest of Sayers' novels. However, it was not read by Ian Carmichael (as many of her books are) and I eventually gave up. 

When I'm reading to myself, I can endow the characters with any characteristics or tone I deem accurate. With audio books, there is a performance quality. In this case, the reader, to my mind, completely misinterpreted Wimsey. In his plush, upperclass accent, he portrayed Wimsey as kind of a prat--and not in the cute redeemable way so often used in British sitcoms (or by Stephen Fry). 

While Ian Carmichael may not look like my idea of Wimsey, he interprets him vocally absolutely perfectly. 

My idea of Wimsey

I determined that overall, the reader of the audiobook I disliked made Wimsey too serious. Lines of dialog were downright ponderous. His Wimsey either meant exactly what he was saying or he was being purposefully superior. 

But Wimsey, I would argue, uses quick patter in much the same way as Castle in Castle. It's part defense-mechanism/part-amusement at the world's oddities. He throws out his literary references, not in some ponderous way but (to quote Nero Wolfe) "merely talking along--on the tip of his tongue."

Ian Carmichael captures this blend of self-effacement, dry wit, and clever distraction.  

Amazing how voice--all by itself--can present a character in a certain way!