Sayers, Dorothy L. Books

Gaudy Night (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)

Dorothy L. Sayers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Mystery Writer's "Serious" Novel 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Dorothy Sayers wrote ad copy, mystery novels, plays, essays on theology and translated Dante. Her fictional detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, was the toast of Europe, a more cultured precursor to James Bond. But Wimsey's success was a bit of a trial to his author. She wanted to write a serious novel about the things that really mattered. However, the bills were coming in and Sayers had to write the Wimsey mystery she had been putting off--the one in which Peter Wimsey finally succeeded in convincing Harriet Vane to marry him.

Peter had pursued Harriet in STRONG POISON and courted her in HAVE HIS CARCASS. Other books had interspersed; Sayers had to wind up the romance to please her readership, but she also had something she had called her "Oxford project" in the back of her mind.

So she combined them, taking Harriet Vane to Oxford for a alumni reunion, and springing a mystery into the middle of her "serious novel". The result was a classic, a sweetly evocative novel whose theme tolls through the years like the bells of Oxford: is it possible for a woman to have both a love life and an intellectual career? As Harriet hesitates between returning to academic life and marrying Peter, a poison pen poltergeist wrecks havoc in Shrewsbury College. The tension ratchets higher and higher--it is clear that the stakes are as high as murder. But what old crime triggered this harassment?

Is this book more a mystery, that readers will race through to find the answer to the puzzle, or is it a fine novel that they will return to time after time, savoring the characters and finding new nuances every time? Read it and see.

Editorial Review:

When Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion, known as the "Gaudy," the prim academic setting is haunted by a rash of bizarre pranks: scrawled obsentities, burnt effigies and poison-pen letters -- including one that says, "Ask your boyfriend with the title if he likes arsenic in his soup."Some of the notes threaten murder; all are perfectly ghastly; yet in spite of their scurrilous nature, all are perfectly worded. And Harriet finds herself ensnared in a nightmare of romance and terror, with only the tiniest shreds of clues to challenge her powers of detection, and those of her paramour, Lord Peter Wimsey.

The Nine Tailors

Dorothy L. Sayers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

"I really don't need rest. I would far rather ring bells" 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) earned a lasting respect for her translations, poetry and Christian writing, but it was her detective novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey that won her the lasting affection of so many readers. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie and Margery Allingham are known as the "Queens of Crime" for their domination of crime writing in the 1920s and '30s.

The Nine Tailors was published in 1934 and opens on New Year's Eve. Lord Peter Wimsey runs his car into a ditch in the village of Fenchurch St. Paul, in England's low-lying East Anglia fen country. Rescued and given shelter for the night by the rector, Wimsey is astonished to find that the church is a magnificent old edifice on Norman foundations with a "full ring" of eight bells in the tower. To the detriment of his sleeping prospects, the ringers are planning a nine-hour ring starting at midnight. Readers who know Wimsey will not be surprised that when one of the ringers falls to the influenza, our sleuth is able to step in and take the rope.

Critics of this book cite the extremely detailed descriptions of change-ringing, or campanology, the very English, very mathematical progressive ringing of large cast bells. You may love it or you may hate it, but the bell ringing is integral to this picture-perfect novel of English country life; it would be a mistake to disregard the role of the bells. The eight bells in the tower at Fenchurch St. Paul have names and voices, personalities even. The tenor bell known as Tailor Paul is typically rung nine times to announce a death in the village; the traditional Nine Tailors of the title.

Some months later there is a death in the village and when the grave is opened for the burial, it's already occupied. Lord Peter is back on the scene to investigate. The mysteries of the body in the grave and a stolen emerald necklace have their origins in the past and therefore lack some urgency, but the book progresses to a startling and appropriate ending.

The moody countryside and expertly drawn characters lift this book above its genre. The Nine Tailors is a literate period novel that captures English rural life between the wars. Of the eleven Wimsey novels it's the most readable as a stand-alone, and it showcases the characterization and style that are the best part of this series. This is a good book to start with if you want to acquaint yourself with the Wimsey stories; as long as you don't hate the change-ringing.

Linda Bulger, 2008

Editorial Review:

Nine tellerstrokes from the belfry of an ancient country church toll the death of an unknown man and call the famous Lord Peter Wimsey to one of his most brilliant cases, set in the atmosphere of a quiet parish in the strange, flat, fen-country of East Anglia.

Thrones, Dominations (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)

Dorothy L. Sayers, Jill Paton Walsh

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 73 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Asked by her new husband, the gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey, why she is having trouble writing her latest mystery novel, Harriet Vane explains, "When I needed the money, it justified itself. It was a job of work, and I did it as well as I could, and that was that. But now, you see, it has no necessity except itself. And, of course, it's hard; it's always been hard, and it's getting harder. So when I'm stuck I think, this isn't my livelihood, and it isn't great art, it's only detective stories. You read them and write them for fun." Is this a clue to the mystery of why Dorothy L. Sayers put aside her 13th full-length Lord Peter novel in 1938 and never finished it? She had made lots of money, and was much more interested in translating Dante and writing about religion. Or is it another excellent novelist, Jill Paton Walsh, speculating--in a perfect imitation of Sayers's voice--on what might have happened? Walsh was invited by the estate of Sayers's illegitimate son, Anthony Fleming, to finish Thrones, Dominations. She has done a splendid job, certain to please Sayers loyalists on the "dorothyl" listserv as well as those new to the Wimsey canon. Lord Peter has been made much more human and interesting by marriage; Harriet is a wise and acerbic companion; and the story, about the murders of two beautiful young women involved with a theatrical producer, is full of twists and connivance. There's also a fascinating subplot involving the soon-to-abdicate King Edward VII and a country on the brink of World War II. Earlier Wimseys in paperback include The Five Red Herrings, Gaudy Night, Murder Must Advertise, and Unnatural Death. Books in print by Walsh include a mystery called A Piece of Justice and a novel, The Serpentine Cave.

Strong Poison

Dorothy L. Sayers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Lord Peter in love 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

It's nice to see Sayers's unflappable and delightfully conceited Wimsey suffer from the disabling effects of self-doubt in this one. As opposed to his traditional dilettante approach to crime solving, there is something on the line here. Wimsey's in love and his new found love is in line for the gallows. Sayers aristocrat superman has fallen for murder suspect, Harriet Vane, and he is in a race against time to find the actual killer and while the solving of the case is far too dependent on Wimsey's use of intermediaries, there is a satisfying conclusion and a more human Lord Peter for the reader's enjoyment.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Dorothy L. Sayers created perhaps one of the most iconic of all detectives when she fashioned Lord Peter Wimsey. At first impression, Wimsey seems to be a lot of piffle, dressed to the nines, and overly confident in his intelligence. Yet there is something intriguing about his character and his buffonery that makes readers laugh at his expressions and marvel at his exploits. Such is the case with "Strong Poison", the book that introduced Lord Peter Wimsey to Harriet Vane.

The reader is immediately drawn into the story through a recounting of the evidence against Harriet Vane; she is on trail for murdering her lover with arsenic. The case against her seems airtight, and it isn't helpful that she was writing a mystery concerning arsenic poisoning, but Wimsey is convinced of her innocence, and is just as convinced of making her his wife. When the jury can come to no verdict, the defense has one month before Vane will be retried. Wimsey takes it upon himself, with a colorful cast of helpers, to make sure he clears Harriet's name and finds out who the real murderer is.

"Strong Poison" is a quick-paced read with ingenious plotting to the central mystery that is baffling to the readers. Although one can only handle so much of Lord Peter Wimsey at one time, the story clips along even with a wide array of characters and a plot that includes sleuthing, religious fanaticism, lessons in lock picking and spiritualistic shennanigans. All of these strange occurrences brew together to create a truly unique mystery. While Dorothy L. Sayers' writing can seem dated, since this novel was originally published in 1930 and the expressions that are used are not in modern usage, her stories have stood the test of time, and will continue to do so.

Editorial Review:

Mystery novelist Harriet Vane knew all about poisons, and when her fiancÉ died in the manner prescribed in one of her books, a jury of her peers had a hangman's noose in mind. But Lord Peter Wimsey was determined to find her innocent--as determined as he was to make her his wife.

Lord Peter : The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories

Dorothy L. Sayers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Wimsey Lite is Wimsey Good. 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

The creation of Dorothy Sayers in the first half of the 20th century, Lord Peter Wimsey rightly occupies a place of honor alongside Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes as one of the finest detectives in the murder mystery genre, in the traditional British mould. But whereas Holmes was principally renowned for his short stories, Wimsey is best known from Sayers' superb novels like "Clouds of Witness", "Murder Must Advertise", and "The Nine Tailors", and it is with these full-length stories that those unfamiliar with Wimsey should probably begin. But Wimsey fans will not want to miss an opportunity to meet the characters from his world that they've grown to love and appreciate make an appearance in the form of short stories. Sayers wrote several short story collections, and although they arguably lack the drama of the novel-length narratives, her sharp wit, terse style, articulate vocabulary, and wonderful characters are all evident. Her skill with wordplay is already evident in the deliciously verbose titles like "The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question", "The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention", and "The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach," all of which give clever details of the contents of each story.

This volume is comprehensive in reproducing all 21 Wimsey short stories, including the previously unpublished Talboys. Certainly there are some delightful stories among them. My favorite half-a-dozen or so stories include:
"The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker" - Wimsey uses some sleight of hand to manipulate a game at cards, in order to blackmail a thief into returning stolen jewelry and a scandalous photograph.
"The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste" - On behalf of the government, Wimsey is commissioned to purchase a secret formula, but when two Lord Peters show up at the estate of the scientist concerned, Wimsey's skill in wine-tasting is necessary to uncover the imposter.
"The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba" - Wimsey infiltrates a criminal organization of thieves in order to bring to justice the mastermind behind the secret society.
"The Image in the Mirror" - Wimsey is consulted by a man who suspects he is mad, since either he or someone identical to him is committing atrocious crimes. A mysterious tale with a doppelganger motif!
"The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey" - Wimsey again plays magician, this time in a remote and primitive community, to rescue a woman from being mistreated by her vengeful husband.
"In the Teeth of Evidence" - A short and immensely satisfying tale where Wimsey unravels the peculiar events leading to the death of a dentist who apparently died after his car caught fire in his garage.
"Striding Folly" - Can Wimsey solve the mystery surrounding the death of Mellilow's neighbour and chess-partner, Creech, when Mellilow's alibi is an unconvincing story about a complete stranger who played chess with him that evening instead of with Creech?

If the taste of these stories leaves you begging for more, you might next want to read "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers", "The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag", and "The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach." The remaining stories are not as good, but might still prove rewarding and satisfying to the dedicated Wimsey fan. It has to be conceded that for those unfamiliar with Wimsey, it could take considerable effort to appreciate Wimsey-Lite, and given their brevity, many of these stories lack the complexity and satisfying twists of a typical Sayers murder mystery. But for Lord Peter Wimsey enthusiasts, the short stories of Wimsey-Lite are still thoroughly enjoyable! - GODLY GADFLY

Editorial Review:

One of the founding mothers of mystery, Dorothy Sayers first introduced the popular character Lord Peter Wimsey in 1923 with the publication of Whose Body? Over the next twenty years, more novels and short stories about the aristocratic amateur sleuth appeared, each one as cunningly written as the next.Now in single volume, here are all the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, a treasure for any mystery lover.From "The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag" to "The Image in the Mirror" and "Talboys," this collection is Lord Peter at his best -- and a true testament to the art of detective fiction.

Busman's Honeymoon

Dorothy L. Sayers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Worth your time. 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This entry in the Lord Peter Whimsey/Harriet Vane series is a little unusual because it has more humor than usual. You get to see a more light hearted Lord Peter, at least until the murder. Agatha Christi concentrates a little more on the relations between Lord Peter and Harriet, starting just after thier engagement and continuing through the honeymoon. You will have to sit through a lot of letter and journal reading in the beginning, but it is worth wading through for the background. A delightful story.

Editorial Review:

Murder is hardly the best way for Lord Peter and his bride, the famous mystery writer Harriet Vane, to start their honeymoon.It all begins when the former owner of their newly acquired estate is found quite nastily dead in the cellar. And what Lord Peter had hoped would be a very private and romantic stay in the country soon turns into a most baffling case, what with the misspelled "notise" to the milkman and the intriguing condition of the dead man -- not a spot of blood on his smashed skull and not a pence less than six hundred pounds in his pocket.

A Presumption of Death: A New Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane Mystery (Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane Mysteries)

Jill Paton Walsh, Dorothy L. Sayers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Lord Peter lives on 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

As a devotee of Lord Peter Wimsey novels I was somewhat dubious as to how anyone could hope to encapsulate the essence of the character. I need not have feared- for here is Lord Peter brought to life again. Jill Paton Walsh captures the style of Dorothy L Sayers and of the 1930's to perfection. Please, please read it for you are in for a treat.

Glorified fanfic. 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Had this been posted on some fan's blog or webpage, I would have given it a very high rating. However, as a product of a professional writer, it is horrid.

To satisfy your curiosity, check it out of the public library. Don't spend your money on it, though.

Editorial Review:

While Lord Peter is abroad on a secret mission, Harriet Vane, now Lady Peter Wimsey, takes their children to safety in the country. But there's no escape from war: rumors of spies abound, glamorous RAF pilots and flirtatious land-girls scandalize the villagers, and the blackout makes rural lanes as sinister as London's alleys. And when a practice air-raid ends with a young woman's death, it's almost a shock to hear that the cause is not enemy action, but murder. Or is it? With Peter away, Harriet sets out to find out whodunit...and the chilling reason why.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

Dorothy L. Sayers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Engaging and suspenseful mystery set in simpler more gracious times. 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Lord Peter is at his best in this mystery novel which gives us 21st century dwellers a view of English post WWI culture, specifically the Men's club. In the process of untangling this convoluted mystery, Lord Peter touches on some of his own issues regarding his military service and some resulting psychological scars.

Despite all this, Lord Peter chases the criminal with class, wit and ridiculous humor. He never takes himself too seriously, and is always charming--even when the stessed out subjects of investigation lash out at him.

Lord Peter has two perennial sidekicks--Bunter, his perfect butler, and Parker, the police detective. Both of these men are excellent at their trade and balance Peter's ridiculously good humor with sedate and serious good sense. Peter is a brilliant intuitive which contrasts with his piercing deductive mind. Bunter has good insight into human character and Parker has dogged determination and the abilty to integrate diverse evidence.

Despite the sometimes dated language, Sayers has the knack of writing an engaging and suspenseful mystery as well as taking us back in time to simpler more gracious times.

Editorial Review:

90-year-old General Fendman was definitely dead, but no one knew exactly when he had died -- and the time of death was the determining factor in a half-million-pound inheritance.Lord Peter Wimsey would need every bit of his amazing skills to unravel the mysteries of why the General's lapel was without a red poppy on Armistice Day, how the club's telephone was fixed without a repairman, and, most puzzling of all, why the great man's knee swung freely when the rest of him was stiff with rigor mortis.

Whose Body? (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)

Dorothy L. Sayers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

"His clothes were kind of a rebuke to the world at large." 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Whose Body? Sayers first Lord Peter Whimsey novel hints at the promise of later volumes in the series. Lord Peter is the aristocrat who took up amateur sleuthing as a distraction from shell shock he suffers from serving in WWI. He has an enormous intelligence, a knack for charming difficult people and a fussy rambling manner that some mistake for weakness. His other talents are piano playing, knowledge of ancient books and manuscripts, and an athletic physique disguised by his sartorial excellence.

In this volume there is a seemingly insolvable mystery, with a not too competent police inspector who doesn't seem to like Lord Peter very much. Shades of Sherlock Holmes Inspector Lestrade? Sayers is still putting together her writing style and comes out with florid phrases like "His long amiable face looked as if it had generated spontaneously from his top hat, as white maggots breed from Gorgonzola." However, Sayers undoubtedly has a mastery of the English language and Whose Body is a highly readable novel as well as a good mystery which sets the stage for Lord Peter to develop as a character.

Editorial Review:

The stark naked body was lying in the tub.Not unusual for a proper bath, but highly irregular for murder -- especially witha pair of gold pince-nez deliberately perched before the sightless eyes. What's more, the face appeared to have been shaved after death. The police assumed that the victim was a prominent financier, but Lord Peter Wimsey, who dabbled in mystery detection as a hobby, knew better. In this, his first murder case, Lord Peter untangles the ghastly mystery of the corpse in the bath.

Clouds of Witness

Dorothy L. Sayers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Somewhere in the lower-middle of Sayer's works 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Here we have another Lord Peter Wimsey mystery, (before his marriage to Harriet), where his brother, The Duke of Denver, is brought to trial for murder. And it is an unusual trial indeed since members of the British nobility who were charged with murder, during the era of Lord Peter Wimsey, had to be tried, not at the Old Bailey, but rather by the full House of Lords!

The Duke of Denver, ("Jerry" to his friends), has purchased a small hunting lodge on the edge of the moors and his guests are in for some bird shooting. But on a cold, rainy night, the Duke's prospective brother-in-law, Lady Mary's dubious gold-digging fiance, ultimately becomes the victim of an apparent murder.

At the inquest, one lie after another is proffered by the Wimsey family and the jury brings in a murder indictment against the Duke for his clear skullduggery in the matter. Lord Peter is away on an extended vacation to the European continent but rushes to his brother's aide when he hears of the fiasco. Lord Peter then teams up with his Scotland Yard pal, Inspector Parker, to find the real killer and thus free his brother -- but Lord Peter gets shot for his trouble!

WARNING TO READERS -- SEMI-SPOILER AHEAD!!!


Now, the most compelling caveat of this Sayers entry is the fact that, in this one, the stogy Duke of Denver (Jerry) is having an affair with the wife of a very nasty character, a farmer who also happens to be the Duke's neighbor! If that were not enough, Lord Peter and his lawyer make every effort to get the Duke off the hook without disclosing to his wife that she's been cheated on, and they SUCCEED in that devious endeavor!!! I mention this as Sayers treats this indiscretion in a notably cavalier manner and many women readers might not exactly savour this particular caveat of the book. These days, we are not surprised by similar writings but, in the 20s, Sayers was clearly breaking new ground, sort of in an anti-feminist way.

I enjoyed the book, all around, but it's far from being Sayers' best work. If you are new to this renowned author of British mysteries, you might want to read either "Whose Body?" or, "The Unpleasantness at the Belonna Club" first. They are her two best, in my opinion.

Editorial Review:

Rustic old Riddlesdale Lodge was a Wimsey family retreat filled with country pleasures and the thrill of the hunt -- until the game turned up human and quite dead. He lay among the chrysanthemums, wore slippers and a dinner jacket and was Lord Peter's brother-in-law-to-be.His accused murderer was Wimsey's own brother, and if murder set all in the family wasn't enough to boggle the unflappable Lord Wimsey, perhaps a few twists of fate would be -- a mysterious vanishing midnight letter from Egypt...a grieving fiancee with suitcase in hand...and a bullet destined for one very special Wimsey.