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,
Lord Peter Wimsey to Sayers's writing, and she refused to even see the film. A more faithful BBC television version of the play, with Harold Warrender as Lord Peter, was transmitted live on 2 October 1947. A second live BBC version was broadcast on 3 October 1957, with Peter Gray as Wimsey. Edward Petherbridge also played Wimsey in the UK production of the "Busman's Honeymoon" play staged at the Lyric Hammersmith and on tour in 1988, with the role of Harriet being taken by his real-life spouse, Emily Richard. Both sets of adaptations were critically successful, with both Carmichael and Petherbridge's respective performances