Gaudy Night

I like Dorothy Sayers - read the all - she is a lot like Agatha Christie, but with a little humor. ( )

(20) It took me a bit to get into this mystery novel by this highly regarded literary mystery author. (How have I NOT read her work before?) The setting is Oxford maybe early 20th century or so and the book is peppered with allusions and Latin, French, even Greek. The Woman's college at Oxford with its own dons, and warden, etc. is where Miss Harriet Vane returns for what seems like a class reunion - the eponymous 'gaudy night.' While there she becomes involved in the mystery of a malicious practical joker who is terrorizing the college - sending nasty notes, stealing things, vandalizing. The dons are trying to deal with the matter internally as publicity would be devastating to the school's reputation - Enter Miss de Vane - a character I am now just encountering that has a perilous history and is courted by this author's serial amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey.

The mystery unfolds slowly - eventually turns out to be a limited group of suspects who are thrown in a room together at the end as Lord Wimsey discusses the deductions that have led him to know the identity of the culprit. No spoilers here - but lets just say -- I didn't guess. But in all fairness, I feel the reader is somewhat purposely misdirected. Anyway, the mystery was delightful, but I felt I was missing things at times because I had never read this series before and I could not keep all the dons straight. I feel Miss Barton, Miss Edwards, Miss Pyle, etc. etc. were not characterized sufficiently for me to keep them straight in my mind to truly participate in the sleuthing. Wait now, which one was that again? Who was where, when? .. Who is she, again? I fear 20 years ago I would not have had this difficulty but my olde(er) brain has trouble without either distinct purposeful characterizations or a 'cast of characters' list to refer back to.

So while not my highest rating, I enjoyed this very much and I think have finally found a new mystery series to read. I have not been able to truly warm up to Rendell's Inspector Wexford, or Josephine Tey, or even Poirot. I think I will look for the first in the series. ( )

Glorious. I knew that a Sayers re-read would have highs and lows — every book thus far has had some kind of racial slur in it, and that’s almost enough of a turn off to stop reading. Lord Peter’s decision to woo Harriet Vane while she was on trial for murder — also a low point.

And then there’s Gaudy Night. The book where I originally fell irrevocably in love with the series. If it let me down, I’d have stopped this nostalgic exploration. Dear reader, it did not. It continues to be a transformative work for me — it is so strongly evocative of both Oxford’s rare and tranquil setting and its fraught and turbulent scholarship. I had two halcyon summers there and this book takes me back there so vividly. I also went to a women’s college, and this book captures that experience as well — thoughtful, brave, embattled women scholars, and the constant pull to put study aside for relationships. All of those things are so central to this story, and the mystery is engrossing as well.

It’s worth reading for all of that, but the part which takes my breath away, again! Is the apology at the end. Possibly one of the most romantic conversations in literature, for me, — Lord Peter realizing that trying to woo Harriet when she was vulnerable was a terrible, damaging, unkind thing to do. And he takes responsibility for it and apologizes for it. And then Harriet makes her own decision about what she wants to do next.

Brings a smile to my face every time. ( )

Not so much a mystery as a long dialogue, this book is very special book about a relationship and about relationships. An exploration of what constitutes an equal relationship and a preview of what our modern day sensibility has come to say about women's liberation. A story within the mystery, a unique mystery novel. "To suppress a fact is to publish a falsehood." To deny an emotion is to betray oneself. An engaging, humor-filled story that nevertheless explores serious themes. ( )

If you're a fan of the eccentric English mystery with lots of references to the Bible, Greek myth and myriads more you'll love this book. ( )