A Presumption of Death A Presumption of Death A Presumption of Death is a Lord Peter Wimsey-Harriet Vane mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on "The Wimsey Papers" by Dorothy L. Sayers. The novel is Walsh's first original Lord Peter Wimsey novel, following "Thrones, Dominations", which Sayers left as an unfinished manuscript, and was completed by Walsh. "A Presumption of Death" is written by Walsh, except for excerpts from "The Wimsey Papers". Harriet, Lady Peter Wimsey, has evacuated her family to the Wimseys' country house, Talboys in Hertfordshire, taking her two children, along with the three children of her sister-in-law, Lady Mary,
Harriet Vane Hertfordshire which Harriet had admired as a child and which Peter had given her as a wedding present. The body of the former owner is discovered in the cellar, leading them to investigate. "Thrones, Dominations", a novel abandoned by Sayers and finished by Jill Paton Walsh, is set in and around London, shortly after they return from their honeymoon. The first of their children is born in the story "The Haunted Policeman". By the time of the short story "Talboys", they have three sons: Bredon Delagardie Peter Wimsey (born in October 1936), Roger Wimsey (born 1938), and Paul Wimsey (born