I don't know of many books in which straight razors play a major part, but one I can recommend is 'Have His Carcase' by Dorothy L Sayers. If you like Agatha Christie's Poirot books, you should give Sayers a try. Written in the 1920s, her detective Lord Peter Whimsey is one of the stars of the golden age of British mystery novels.
The story centers on the apparent suicide of a young man with little money, who it seems did the act with a straight razor.
The suspicious aspect is why would a man with a full beard and no money, kill himself with an ivory-handled razor from an exclusive Jermyn St. Barbershop he could not have afforded?
In the course of the story Whimsey traces the history of the razor and you get a marvelous insight into the world of shaving in the 1920s, from Jermyn St. To small town barbershops and itinerant barbers. Sayers clearly did her research, there are little touches and comments only straight shavers would really get.
well worth reading.
The story centers on the apparent suicide of a young man with little money, who it seems did the act with a straight razor.
The suspicious aspect is why would a man with a full beard and no money, kill himself with an ivory-handled razor from an exclusive Jermyn St. Barbershop he could not have afforded?
In the course of the story Whimsey traces the history of the razor and you get a marvelous insight into the world of shaving in the 1920s, from Jermyn St. To small town barbershops and itinerant barbers. Sayers clearly did her research, there are little touches and comments only straight shavers would really get.
well worth reading.
