Gaudy Night - Dorothy L. Sayers

Over my life in education, there have been two points where I have been obliged to read books which I would most certainly avoid were it not for necessity, only to find myself proved wrong in my assumptions. The first was with Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice', which I managed to escape for GCSE but which returned to collar me at AS level. The second was this gem by Dorothy Sayers. Not generally being a fan of either crime fiction books (with the exception of Forsyth's blinding 'Day of the Jackal'), or literature which my mum would read, this definitely came as a pleasant surprise. The premise of Sayers' murder mystery is, surprisingly, not a murder. The ...  Read the complete review

Introduction Dorothy L Sayers, famous for whodunnits, was crowned as one of the Queens of Crime, along with Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh. Although some of her books have been televised in relatively recent years, she no longer seems to be quite as well-known as Agatha Christie. However, as a fan of crime fiction, I have always loved her books and would like to see them more appreciated. The main detective in her books is Lord Peter Wimsey, who is not a policeman, but rather a private sleuth who also happens to be very high-bred and wealthy. The author Dorothy L Sayers was born in 1893 and her father was headmaster at Christchurch Cathedral ...  Read the complete review