A Presumption of Death is a 2002 Lord Peter Wimsey–Harriet Vane mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Patient investigation leads Harriet to eliminate several potential suspects, including two young men in the village with whom Wendy flirted and the RAF pilot who was last with her on the night she died.

While writing one of these letters, Harriet realises that there is one person she has overlooked: an RAF pilot named Alan Brinklow, billeted in the village while recovering from a broken ankle.

A short time later, Kirk returns to Talboys to report that Brinklow's dead body has been found buried behind a farmer's shed.

Bungo is summoned to Talboys, and is present as Peter explains that Alan Brinklow was shot down over the North Sea some weeks ago; his body was recovered by a British patrol boat, whose captain decided to plant some false papers on the body and send it drifting into enemy territory, hoping to mislead the enemy.

In Brinklow's records, Peter and Harriet trace the name of a young woman, Joan Quarley, living in Northumberland.

Bungo tells Mrs Quarley that Jeff will not be charged with any crime, and the real Alan Brinklow acted honourably and died bravely.

Mrs Quarley, who suspected Jeff's role in pseudo-Brinklow's murder, is vastly relieved, while Joan is triumphant, vindicated in her faith in the man she loved.

Over dinner with Peter's mother, the Dowager Duchess, the news service announces Neville Chamberlain's resignation as Prime Minister and his replacement by Winston Churchill, who promises only "blood, toil, tears and sweat".

As to his motive, Peter says they may never know for sure, but he can make an educated guess: Wendy, who traveled extensively in Europe before the war and was drawn to handsome men of any nationality, must have met pseudo-Brinklow in Germany, and recognised him instantly when they encountered each other, by chance, in the village during the drill.

This mystery is solved by, of all people, Peter's ten-year-old nephew, Charlie Parker, and his friend from the village, Sam Bateson.

Harriet shrewdly points out that this is not true: she recalls Bunter's account of his separation from Peter during the mission, when one of them had to go home by the safer of two routes, and they decided to flip a coin for it.

Embracing her, he shows her a copy of Shelley's Prometheus Unbound and they read the last passage together, that true love between two persons is not war, but it is the surest form of victory.