Wimsey finds the lost letter that was sent to Denver wedged in the window of the Grimethorpes' bedroom, proving that Denver had been visiting Mrs Grimethorpe on the night of Cathcart's death. Wimsey's investigations lead him to a violent local farmer, Grimethorpe, with a stunningly beautiful wife. Mary assumed that he was the killer and has been covering for him, but when she learns that he had fled in terror after discovering the body, she breaks off their engagement in disgust at his cowardice. He had crept into the grounds for a pre-arranged rendezvous at 3 am, when the couple had intended to elope. The footprints turn out to be those of Mary's secret fiancé, Goyles, a socialist agitator considered 'an unsuitable match' by her family.

It is clear that both Denver and Mary are hiding something: Denver refuses to budge from his story that he was simply out for a walk, while Mary is feigning illness to avoid talking to anyone.

They find a series of unidentified footprints and a discarded jewel in the form of a cat. Wimsey arrives to investigate, along with his friend Inspector Charles Parker, who will find himself becoming increasingly attracted to Lady Mary throughout the novel. He maintains that he stumbled across the body after returning from a walk on the moors, but will say no more. Suspicion falls on Denver, as the lethal bullet had come from his revolver and he admits having quarrelled with Cathcart earlier, after receiving a letter (which he says has been lost) informing him that Cathcart had been caught cheating at cards. Mary, trying to leave the house at 3 am for a reason she declines to explain, finds Denver kneeling over Cathcart's body. At 3 o'clock one morning, Captain Denis Cathcart, the fiancé of Wimsey's sister Lady Mary, is found shot dead just outside the conservatory.

Lord Peter Wimsey's brother, the Duke of Denver, has taken a shooting lodge at Riddlesdale in Yorkshire. It was adapted for television in 1972, as part of a series starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter. In the United States the novel was first published in 1927 under the title Clouds of Witnesses. Sayers, the second in her series featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. Clouds of Witness is a 1926 mystery novel by Dorothy L.

Dorothy l sayers clouds of witness