Editing Clouds of Witness (section)

==Literary significance and criticism==

In his 2017 overview of the classic crime genre, [[Martin Edwards (author)|Martin Edwards]] suggests that ''Clouds of Witness'' is the work of a novelist learning her craft, but that it displays the storytelling qualities that soon made Sayers famous. While this early portrayal of Wimsey verges on a caricature, Sayers sought to characterise him in greater depth in later novels. Edwards notes that in this novel Wimsey is portrayed not only as a great detective but also as a man of action, and he quotes part of the [[Defense (legal)|defence counsel's]] speech to the [[House of Lords]], explaining Wimsey's transatlantic dash to attend the trial:<ref name="Edwards">{{Cite book |title=The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books |last=Edwards |first=Martin |publisher=The British Library |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-7123-5696-1 |location=London |pages=52–54}}</ref>

{{blockquote|"My lords, at this moment this all-important witness is cleaving the air high above the wide Atlantic. In this wintry weather he is braving a peril which would appal any heart but his own and that of the world-famous aviator whose help he has enlisted, so that no moment may be lost in freeing his noble brother from this terrible charge. My lords, the barometer is falling."<ref name="Sayers">{{Cite book |url=https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/sayers-clouds/sayers-clouds-00-h-dir/sayers-clouds-00-h.html |title=Clouds of Witness |last=Sayers |first=Dorothy L |publisher=Gollancz |year=1935 |edition= Revised and corrected |location=London |page=171}}</ref>}}

Written in 1926, this imagined flight of a solo aviator, albeit with a passenger in this instance, preceded the actual accomplishment of [[Charles Lindbergh]] who achieved the solo feat a year later.<ref name="Mann">{{Cite book |last=Mann |first=Jessica |title=Deadlier Than The Male: An Investigation into Feminine Crime Writing |year=1981 |isbn=0-7153-7877-5 |chapter=6: Dorothy L Sayers |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/deadlierthanmale0000mann_l4e2}}</ref> [[Transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown|Alcock and Brown]], however, flying in tandem, had crossed the Atlantic non-stop in 1919.

A copy of ''Clouds of Witness'' was one of the volumes modified by [[Joe Orton]] and [[Kenneth Halliwell]] in their adulterations of library books from the Islington and Hampstead libraries in the early 1960s.<ref name="COFC">Lahr, John. ''Prick Up Your Ears: the Biography of Joe Orton''.  Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.  1980  {{ISBN|0-06-015796-8}}</ref>