::READERS REVIEWS::

Sayer's Masterpiece - In Gaudy Night, Dorothy Sayers clearly decided to "up her game" as a writer. Since this is a woman and writer whose "game" is considerable, you are in for a real treat. This novel is both a mystery and a masterpiece. That said, I can't recommend the book if you haven't read a good number of the other Whimsey mysteries already. Many of us, myself included, want to read "the best of the best" as our first book for an author but that won't work here. Sayers wrote each of her mysteries for a loyal following and each book assumed that you had read the previous ones. I discovered this by accidentally beginning with a later mystery and being puzzled by characters that appeared with little introduction. They were, in fact, reoccurring characters who had been introduced in previous stories.
In Gaudy Night we get to know the character of Harriet Vane in a much deeper way than we did in Sayer's previous two mysteries that included her. But you need to know Lord Peter Whimsey very well for this book to really work. In Gaudy Night and in Nine Tailors, Lord Peter has aged and is more subdued. However, there is little subdued about the Lord Peter in the earlier novels and his buoyancy, brilliance, energy, and self-confidence both attract and irritate Harriet. That's why you need to know Lord Peter's character, both as Harriet perceives it at the beginning of Gaudy Night, and as Sayers develops it over her excellent series of books.
Unfortunately, the Sayers' mystery titles listed by Harper Collins in their paperbacks are only in alphabetical order. But Wikipedia has a good biography of Sayers where you can get all the novels' titles as they were written. Otherwise, I'd recommend that you at least read Clouds of Witness before you read the first of the Harriet Vane/Whimsey mysteries, Strong Poison, and then read The Unpleasantness at the Belonna Club before going on to Have His Carcase (optional) and Gaudy Night. Each one of Sayers' mysteries has much that delights with interesting characters, puzzling plots, and laugh out loud humor - so if you need to go back and start with the very first before progressing through to Gaudy Night, I have to say that I envy you!

Such a pleasure! - I actually listened to the audiobook. I agree with the reviewer that said the book was anti-climactic and that it's not one of those mysteries the reader can solve from gathering information along the way. That said, it was so thoroughly enjoyable! Maybe this was due to the delightful actors in the audiobook but it was such a pleasure for me to spend time with these dear characters.

pathetic - Well i was lured to read this highly "appreciated" mystery novel because it figures at number 4 in the list of top 100 crime novels on Wikipedia and well in the end i realized the greatest crime associated with this novel is the one involving in the endeavor to peruse it. In fact not only was i appalled at the completion of this novel, i also regretted wasting precious hours of my life reading it. Here is a mystery novel in which you do not get a murder; there is mockery of the basic values and virtues of human existence;there is the glorification of British snob culture and to top it all there is the awful,nauseating protagonist Ms vane who will make this tedious read even more odious. If the author intended to flex her literary muscles in showing her command of the English language her product may be branded a success but to be labeled as a work of detection and mystery it surely falls below the lowest conceivable standard. Even the love story does not invoke your empathy or interest it simply irritates you. Hope you may preserve some valuable moments of your life by staying away from this shoddy "mystery" novel; for those of you who still want to measure the hideous depths of literary misadventure : go ahead and get drowned.

DELIGHTFUL full-cast BBC dramatisation Audio 2cds -
I listened to this on audio a full-cast dramatisation by BBC audio.
Fast pace story and many twists and turns.

The story centers around Harriet Vane, the infamous detective writer who was accused of killing her lover. Lord Peter cleared her name but for the next five years he has been pursuing Harriet for her hand in marriage.Harriet hesitates between returning to academic life and marrying Lord Peter. Academic life for her seems to be winning.

Harriet is invited to her Oxford reunion, and returns uncertain of what to expect. But once she is reunited with her old college a disturbing mystery begins to unfold within the college. Harriet moves in, under the pretense of doing research, to investigate the person responsible for poison-pen letters and embarassing pranks.

The destruction to part of the new library with library books strew everywhere and red painted wording appears on the walls only 1 hour before its offical opening. Solving the crimes proves too much for her, she asks for Peter's assistance, certain that he will uncover the culprit before anything fatal happens.

I highly recomment this story I feel a 4 & 1/2 star would be accurate for this delightful tale.



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Stunning, literally - Every time I read this book, and I have read it many, many times, I find myself discovering some new nugget of truth or insight to mull over. I cannot rest until I finish it ("When I am gone from it, I am dead till I be with it") and when I have I feel like I've been hit over the head with a saucepan. There is simply so much matter in this book, psychological, romantic, intellectual, human, and more, that one would expect it to be quite horrifically overwhelming. However, the fact that it is engrossing and, intriguing, and above all, thoroughly enjoyable is the mark of a truly brilliant writer.

I have found that the main objections to this book are that it is falsely advertised as a mystery and that Lord Peter sails in at the last to reveal all, thus contradicting much of the message of the previous chapters. In my opinion, though, these are two of the features that make the book so utterly fascinating. It is, admittedly, not your average mystery. In fact, simply because it is part of a series of murder mysteries, readers assume that it will be like the others. I, on the other hand, find the contrast unbelievably refreshing. One must accept that this was to be the last Lord Peter novel, and was written to resolve the stories of Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, the two main protagonists. In accepting this, one opens the mind to the thrilling personal quandaries raised by this book. Moreover, the fact that Lord Peter comes in at the end and somehow miraculously fixes everything is not contradictory, it simply shows how Harriet's feelings toward Peter and her psychological tangle at that time prevent her from properly dealing with the mystery. This is also shown in her work, when she has trouble "humanizing" one of her main characters, simply because she is too close to that kind of problem in real life. It is easily seen that, if one is willing to read deeply enough, this book addresses eternal conflicts and questions, which makes all accusations of its being dated null and void.

So, my biggest piece of advice is to know what you are getting into. Almost all people who are dissatisfied with this book are unhappy because it did not follow the pattern they expected it to follow. One must approach it as one approaches any new book, dispassionately (as Lord Peter says) and with and open mind. Do not pick up this book if you are looking for a thrilling murder mystery. For that, I would suggest "Unnatural Death" or "Murder Must Advertise," both by Dorothy L. Sayers. What you have in "Gaudy Night" is a psychological thriller, which is in some ways even more fascinating than a murder would have been. The plain fact that "Gaudy Night" is the only one of Sayers' mysteries that does not abide by the rules of fair play detection shows it to be a totally separate entity from the rest of the series. This is a novel about love, internal conflict, and principles. Read and read often.

Maybe the best of all time? - This book is a marvel. It is indeed fatally flawed in many ways. Harriet is supposed to be exercising independence but the mystery plot makes her totally dependent on Peter. Peter deduces pretty early who the culprit is, but tells no one for the flimsiest of reasons and puts several people into predictable and predicted danger [well, this isn't the only mystery with that flaw.] The style is overblown and the cultural assumptions do grate or nauseate. Sayers proclaims the mutual supportiveness of a faculty that evidently is harpying itself to shreds.

And yet. Sayers takes Peter Wimsey, who in her first few books was more laughable and less realistic than Sherlock Holmes, and sculpts him over time [in earlier novels, too] into an almost [well, with a big stretch] human multidimensional character. The sculpting gets remarkably fully completed in Busman's Honeymoon. Harriet was somewhat more rounded from the start, but she reflects more and more in later novels, building a relationship with Peter despite her harrowing [if not completely credible] doubts. Yes, there's no murder, but the dread that comes to afflict Harriet's college is just as threatening as a homicidal maniac, and is undermining the community of scholars in ways that a maniac probably would not.

I am a professor, and am maybe too inclined to believe Sayers' epigram that 'the University is a Paradise.' Sayers comes unusually close to depicting intellectual/university life from the inside, showing its beauty and strength despite the flawed humans who pursue it, showing how a threat to intellectual culture can be as appalling as a threat to life and limb. And how intellectual values can be life-sustaining and overwhelmingly attractive.

The mystery has definite twists and is baffling as it goes on--at least to me. It provoked me to reflection in ways that almost no other mysteries, no matter how well wrought, do. At least for its time and from its author, it's a marvel.

Maybe the best mystery of all time? - This book is a marvel. It is indeed fatally flawed in many ways. Harriet is supposed to be exercising independence but the mystery plot makes her totally dependent on Peter. Peter deduces pretty early who the culprit is, but tells no one for the flimsiest of reasons and puts several people into predictable and predicted danger [well, this isn't the only mystery with that flaw.] The style is overblown and the cultural assumptions do grate or nauseate. Sayers proclaims the mutual supportiveness of a faculty that evidently is harpying itself to shreds.

And yet. Sayers takes Peter Wimsey, who in her first few books was more laughable and less realistic than Sherlock Holmes, and sculpts him over time [in earlier novels, too] into an almost [well, with a big stretch] human multidimensional character. The sculpting gets remarkably fully completed in Busman's Honeymoon. Harriet was somewhat more rounded from the start, but she reflects more and more in later novels, building a relationship with Peter despite her harrowing [if not completely credible] doubts. Yes, there's no murder, but the dread that comes to afflict Harriet's college is just as threatening as a homicidal maniac, and is undermining the community of scholars in ways that a maniac probably would not.

I am a professor, and am maybe too inclined to believe Sayers' epigram that 'the University is a Paradise.' Sayers comes unusually close to depicting intellectual/university life from the inside, showing its beauty and strength despite the flawed humans who pursue it, showing how a threat to intellectual culture can be as appalling as a threat to life and limb. And how intellectual values can be life-sustaining and overwhelmingly attractive.

The mystery has definite twists and is baffling as it goes on--at least to me. It provoked me to reflection in ways that almost no other mysteries, no matter how well wrought, do. At least for its time and from its author, it's a marvel.

Meet the nephew - Ian Carmichael is one of the first Lord Peter Wimsey's. There are a series of films with him as Wimsey such as "Five Red Herrings". He is a natural to be reading this recorded edition.

My first encounter with Dorothy L. Sayers was the Mobile Mystery Theater series showing on PBS. Unfortunately, I did not realize that my video player was also a recorder until the "Gaudy Night" was on Mystery Theater. In that sense, I was lucky to copy the complete three hour "Gaudy Night." I now own the DVD that came out in 2002.

Naturally, the TV media cannot fill in all the details that you would pick up from reading the book, so I read the book. This added more depth and characters to the story. Dorothy not only fleshes her characters out but her side trips into philosophy and psychology make the story that much more interesting. Just when you ask what is the relevance to this conversation it is wrapped up in the final solution.

It is too bad they do not make the unabridged tape of this book anymore, as the reader is Ian Carmichael the first TV Lord Peter Wimsey.
This is the third of a fourth book series. Enough background information is given however to make this a stand-alone story.

The notorious Harriet Vane is invited to a class reunion. She is looking forward to a quiet time with a better part of her history. Once there, she starts getting notes that carry negative connotations. The notes are pasted together from cut out newspaper words. Soon others are receiving the notes. The School authorities request Harriet to help get quietly to the bottom of this. Circumstances eventually force her once more to go to Lord Peter Wimsey for help. I am over simplifying the plot but it is better to discover it for your self. This is a five star book.

Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries (The Lord Peter Wimsey-Harriet Vane Collection - Strong Poison / Have His Carcass / Gaudy Night)

Cosy Night! - You can't find a better between-the-wars tea-sipper. Just don't expect any dead bodies. It's a different kind of mystery.

Sayer's Masterpiece - In Gaudy Night, Dorothy Sayers clearly decided to "up her game" as a writer. Since this is a woman and writer whose "game" is considerable, you are in for a real treat. This novel is both a mystery and a masterpiece. That said, I can't recommend the book if you haven't read a good number of the other Whimsey mysteries already. Many of us, myself included, want to read "the best of the best" as our first book for an author but that won't work here. Sayers wrote each of her mysteries for a loyal following and each book assumed that you had read the previous ones. I discovered this accidently by beginning with a later mystery and being puzzled by characters that appeared with little introduction. They were, in fact, reoccurring characters who had been introduced in previous stories.
In Gaudy Night we get to know the character of Harriet Vane in a much deeper way than we did in Sayer's previous two mysteries that included her. But you need to know Lord Peter Whimsey very well for this book to really work. In Gaudy Night and in Nine Tailors, Lord Peter has aged and is more subdued. However, there is little subdued about the Lord Peter in the earlier novels and his buoyancy, brilliance, energy, and self-confidence both attract and irritate Harriet. That's why you need to know Lord Peter's character, both as Harriet perceives it at the beginning of Gaudy Night, and as Sayers develops it over her excellent series of books.
Unfortunately, the Sayers' mystery titles listed by Harper Collins in their paperbacks are only in alphabetical order. But Wikipedia has a good biography of Sayers where you can get all the novels' titles as they were written. Otherwise, I'd recommend that you at least read Clouds of Witness before you read the first of the Harriet Vane/Whimsey mysteries, Strong Poison, and then read The Unpleasantness at the Belonna Club before going on to Have His Carcase (optional) and Gaudy Night. Each one of Sayers' mysteries has much that delights with interesting characters, puzzling plots, and laugh out loud humor - so if you need to go back and start with the very first before progressing through to Gaudy Night, I have to say that I envy you!