Book Log 25/2011 - Dorthy L. Sayers: Gaudy Night

[jacey]

Dorthy L. Sayers: Gaudy Night
A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery

I'd never read any Sayers and various friends kept telling me that this was the best, though possibly untypical. To be honest, since I'm not really a mystery reader I'm not quite sure what to say about this. It's a product of its time (first published 1935) and its prose is of a bygone era while the descriptive passages and departures into reflective musing serve as speedbumps to the story, though not always unwelcome ones.

We're in the head of Harriet Vane for much of this book as she works out whether she wants to marry Peter Wimsey (as he's been asking her to do for the last five years) or walk away from him completely. The actual mystery - who's been sending poison pen letters to faculty and students of Harriet's old Oxford college - is subordinate to this, but it gives us an authentic background of dreaming spires and common-room petty-jealousies.

The tension is expertly drawn out until the final resolution and it remains a fascinating in-depth study of Harriet while distancing us from Wimsey for much of the novel.

Comments

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

It's too bad you read this one first, since it's the culmination of the ongoing romance plot of several books.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have started there. Either STRONG POISON or MURDER MUST ADVERTISE would be my choice.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Personally, I won't have the late Sayers - including this one - in the house. I really hate it.

(There's a wonderful Dave Langford line which explains why - something about Peter being so perfect one expects his ascension to heaven with a heavenly choir...)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I've always regarded Sayers as mysteries for people who don't read mysteries. Certainly, they're the only ones I've every really got into. Though I do tend to prefer the ones with Harriet Vane in.

If you've read all the Vorkosigan novels, you'll recognise which one owes a debt to Dorothy Sayers.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Indeed, Muder Must Advertise is a really good one - grew out of Sayer's own experience of working in advertising.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I think I read this one from a list offered following the question: If you are only going to read one, which one should it be? I have so many books on my to-read list that I figured I'd be unlikely to get round to more than one Sayers, so this one was it. I felt I should at least read one, just for the experience. I don't think I'll be reading any more - at least not in the near future. My strategic book reserve is growing so fast I can't keep up, especially with my reading hiatus during the revision on the magic pirate book.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

It's actually one of my favourite books, although it is very much of its time.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I have to agree. I felt that Sayers had fallen too deeply in love with her character by this point in the series -- and it shows. I much prefer the earlier ones like Murder Must Advertise and Nine Tailors.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the blatant self-insert that is Harriet.

I very much like the early books, particularly Clouds of Witness and The Nine Tailors but I find she compares very unfavourably with Allingham.