It is often the case in detective fiction that the detective, a mere observer, is more interesting and more well-rounded than any of the characters vitally concerned in the plot. Here Lord Peter Wimsey actually has a double claim on readers' attention because he is not only the detective but also the brother of one of the two chief suspects. On the one hand readers sympathize with his concern, and on the other they enjoy his enthusiastic antics in the amateur pursuit of clues. The fact that his adventures are dangerous (he is shot at by Goyles, and he falls into the bog on the way to unraveling the mystery of where his brother has been on the night Cathcart died) only adds to their interest.

Like the other Wimsey novels, Clouds of Witness is fairly long for a mystery.

Although the plot is complicated and involves events...