An architect named Thipps enters his bathroom and finds an unknown man in the tub, wearing nothing but pince-nez. Dorothy L. Sayers opens Whose Body? Illustrated with an image at once absurd and precise, then introduces Lord Peter Wimsey as the amateur investigator delighted by its contradictions.
The police initially wonder whether the corpse belongs to financier Sir Reuben Levy, who disappeared from his own bedroom the previous night. It soon becomes clear that the dead man is someone else. Wimsey's friend Inspector Charles Parker takes charge of Levy's disappearance, and the two inquiries begin to overlap despite their apparently separate victims. A nearby teaching hospital, access across roofs, medical testimony, and the body's carefully arranged appearance all demand attention.
Wimsey solves problems through observation and social ease, but Sayers also shows the cost of treating detection as entertainment. His wit and aristocratic freedom contrast with Parker's professional restraint and Inspector Sugg's eagerness for a simple answer. The puzzle asks not only who the dead man is, but why anyone would exchange one identity for another.
As the first Lord Peter Wimsey novel, Whose Body? Illustrated establishes a Golden Age mystery built on physical clues, conflicting timelines, and the danger concealed inside respectable expertise.
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