The Documents in the Case

The Documents in the Case is a mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace, first published in 1930. Unlike most of Sayers's detective novels, it does not feature Lord Peter Wimsey and is told largely through letters, statements, and other documents.

The story centers on a group of people whose lives become entangled after a young artist begins an affair with the wife of his landlord. Some time later, the landlord, an enthusiastic expert on wild mushrooms, is found dead in a remote cottage after apparently eating a deadly species of fungus.

Although the death initially appears to be an accident, the victim's son becomes convinced that his father may have been murdered. As he gathers letters and testimony from those involved, suspicions begin to focus on the relationships and secrets surrounding the dead man.

The investigation ultimately turns on scientific evidence capable of distinguishing an accidental poisoning from a deliberate one. Combining an epistolary structure with forensic science, the novel explores jealousy, deception, and the ways in which seemingly objective evidence can reveal the truth behind a carefully concealed crime.

"Thank you very much for your letter and kind inquiries after my health. I like my new doctor very much indeed. I think he understands me a great deal better than Dr. Coombs, and he has put me on quite a different treatment. He says I am just going through a “difficult phase” at present, and that if only I can hold on and not let things get on top of me for the next year or two I shall come out of it quite all right."