Dorothy L. Sayers’s first novel featuring Lord Peter Wimsey is Whose Body? The novel was published in 1923 and introduced Sayers’s aristocratic amateur detective.
The story begins when a corpse wearing only a pair of pince-nez is discovered in a London bathtub. Lord Peter investigates the mystery with help from his manservant, Bunter, while the official police inquiry is led by Inspector Charles Parker, who becomes a recurring character.
Sayers developed Wimsey as a cultivated, witty figure whose apparent frivolity conceals serious intelligence. Across the series, she gradually gives him greater emotional and moral depth, moving beyond the lighter conventions of some early Golden Age mysteries.
The title is often confused with later Wimsey novels. Strong Poison introduces Harriet Vane, while Gaudy Night and Busman’s Honeymoon develop the relationship between Wimsey and Vane. Whose Body? remains the essential starting point for the character’s literary career.