About the author: See this Wikipedia article.
Locale: London and environs
Synopsis: Lord Peter Wimsey takes notice of Robert Duckworthy at his club, who is 1) reading Lord Peter's book, and 2) using both hands to turn the pages. Unusual. Lord Peter strikes up a conversation with him, and Duckworthy reveals that his internals are all reversed, with organs all on the opposite side than usual. What's more, Lord Peter is astounded when Duckworthy says this condition was not from birth, it happened all at once, when a bomb shelter he was in took a direct hit; not only reversing his innards, but causing him to stumble about in a daze for several days.
Duckworthy relates many strange things happened during the dazed period: a woman unknown to him claims to have been with him in the bomb shelter. His fiancée breaks their engagement after seeing him out with another woman. When approaching a mirror his reflection suddenly turned about and walked away from him. Lefts and rights are all mixed up. Then his photograph appears in the newspaper, found in the purse of murdered Jessie Haynes, another woman unknown to him. The police come to question Duckworthy, and Lord Peter convinces them to hold off on an arrest.
Lord Peter sets out to check all the aspects of Duckworthy's story - and they all check 100%. His appendix had once been removed, and indeed, from the "wrong" side. The mirror is found and examined and operating as expected. People who knew him since childhood are questioned. Lord Peter gradually forms an explanation which frees Duckworthy from suspicion.
Review: This is a nice bite-size Lord Peter story, perfect for consuming in one sitting. Mirrors are strange things anyways*, and the one in the story a bit stranger than usual. Lord Peter reveals a scientific reason for the backwards-innards, which I won't reveal here as it is a bit of a spoiler.
*We all know mirrors reverse left to right, but not top to bottom. Why? My pet theory is because our eyes are set side-by-side, and if they were set one over the other, then mirrors would act the opposite way. So there.
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