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,
Home and Colonial Stores of three stores immortalised in a verse in John Betjeman's poem "Myfanwy": "Smooth down the Avenue glitters the bicycle,"<br> "Black-stockinged legs under navy blue serge,"<br> "Home and Colonial, Star, International",<br> "Balancing bicycle leant on the verge."<br> In Dorothy L. Sayers' novel "Busman's Honeymoon" (1935), the "Home and Colonial" network is mentioned as maintaining a branch also at the small Herefordshire village where the book's plot is set—indicating its wide reach at the time of writing. A local woman tells Lord Peter Wimsey and his servant Bunter that groceries sold at the "Home and Colonial" are "better and half a penny