Too Many Suspects

I’m becoming more and more convinced that academic settings are used for mysteries because there are so many characters that could be possible suspects. Right now, despite all of my suspicion of the other characters I already mentioned, more characters are falling into the possibility of being a suspect.

Miss Hillyard seems to be a prime suspect. One night while Miss Vane was out at a function, somebody claiming to be the Warden’s maid called her to alert her that another disturbance at the college had occurred. Naturally, Miss Vane excused herself immediately in hopes of quelling the disturbance. Fortunately, while on her way, she remembered Wimsey’s words: “The heroines of thrillers deserve all they get. When a mysterious voice rings them up and says it is Scotland Yard, they never think of ringing back to verify the call.” As a result, Miss Vane called the Warden’s room back and of course, nobody had called from there and there had been no disturbance at the school. Therefore, Miss Vane had Padget, a butler at the college, watch and see if anybody was lurking around her room, waiting for her return (just in case this person wanted to attack her). When she finally returned, Padget informed her that he had seen Miss Hillyard walking about, hinting she most likely made the call, despite the fact that she walks around at night.

At the same time, by the author deliberately stating someone as the culprit in a mystery, it seems that this person is too obvious to choose. However, Miss Hillyard also had an argument with Miss Chilperic for no reason at all. Something is wrong with her. Is she mad she wasn’t able to execute her plan of luring Miss Vane back on campus the night before? Still, at the same time, suspicion is cast off of her at the end of the scene because Miss Edwards comments “ ‘If somebody doesn’t get to the bottom of these disturbances within the next few days, there’ll be murder done.’ ” Why would anybody say this, knowing everybody is on edge looking for the culprit? Again, to me, the reader, this is a foreboding sign that murder is yet to come.

This is all still so confusing. Everybody seems to be a suspect. Other suspects on my mind are Miss de Vine, since all of these disturbances coincide with the time when she began working at the college, and Peter Wimsey. I don’t see how it could possibly be him though since he is the detective and was supposedly away for the majority of the crimes, but recently his full name was revealed: Peter Death Bredon Wimsey! His name seems to suggest he breeds death. Or perhaps could his name be suggesting that he will be the one to die? I just don’t know what to make of all of this.