Lord Peter Wimsey years and is attracted to him, though it is not explicitly stated whether they were lovers. Wimsey likes her, respects her, and enjoys her company—but that is not enough. In "Strong Poison", she is the first person other than Wimsey himself to realise that he has fallen in love with Harriet. In "Strong Poison" Lord Peter encounters Harriet Vane, a cerebral, Oxford-educated mystery writer, while she is on trial for the murder of her former lover. He falls in love with her at first sight. Wimsey saves her from the gallows, but she believes that gratitude is not a good
The Virgin in the Ice alongside Sherlock Holmes and Lord Peter Wimsey." She commended the author's deep knowledge of the area, where Ellis Peters lived when she wrote this novel, and of the times, saying "Her knowledge of the land and people and history permeates her work and gives her the incredible gift of transporting her reader into the past. You really do feel as though you are in that long-lost world lit only by fire, where it's quiet and green and life moves at a pace most people can be happy in." These two reviews accompany the "Second Cadfael Omnibus" (paperback 10 October 1991),