Gaudy Night

By Dorothy L. Sayers

The seedy underbelly of academia threatens to erupt into violence, if Lord Peter and Harriet Vane can’t put a stop to it.
 
Famous mystery writer Harriet Vane is asked to help when her alma mater becomes plagued by scandalous letters, threats, and vandalism. Fearing that things might escalate to murder, she asks Lord Peter Wimsey to assist her investigation, but his reentrance into her life brings to a head her uncertainty regarding love and marriage – and Lord Peter himself.
 
Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9780771060236

Dorothy L. Sayers

Simon Winchester is the acclaimed author of many books, including The Professor and the Madman, The Men Who United the States, The Map That Changed the World, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and Krakatoa, all of which were New York Times bestsellers and appeared on numerous best and notable lists. In 2006, Winchester was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen. He resides in western Massachusetts.

Reviews for Gaudy Night

[jannes_16 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While being a loving (and lovely) portrait of Oxford and academic Life in the 30s. The mystery itself sadly falters somewhat, however. the plot never really gets going, and the pace slackens even more towards the ending. The whole thing feels rather directionless after a while, and the climax is underwhelming.In addition, there's a lot of talking heads, who comes of rather stiffly. The novel seems to want to be a novel about ideas - about academic loyalty, about a woman's place in society, about love and relationships and work, and about what to sacrifice for what. This doesn't really work, even if you give it leeway for being a product of it's time - the talking is endless en repetitive, comes of as a pedantic ticking of boxes on a list of points and counterpoints, rather than the spirited exchange of ideas between scholarly minds it tries to be.I love the Oxford bits to bits, and some of the passages are witty and insightful, but in the end it bare felt worth my time

[manipledmutineer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I simply love this book; I have had it in my collection since I was a teenager and come back to it again and again. As a detective story, a story of unfolding love balanced against the life of the mind, and an evocation of pre-War Oxford, it has few peers

[dsc73277 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gaudy Night, published in 1935, is billed as a Lord Peter Wimsey novel, but he barely makes an appearance in the first couple of hundred pages. His friend Harriet Vane is really the central character. In her early thirties, she returns to her old Oxford college for a celebration and ends up staying to investigate a mysterious series of events that start with poison pen-letters and become more destructive. An entertaining mystery with some interesting reflections on the academic life and whether it is of value, especially when compared with raising a family or manual labour.

[eurekas_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely sublime, first rate and a real treat. There is a mystery, a love story, and a picture of Oxford at a very interesting time in history. It was a delight to read, not just entertaining but an intellectual treat.

[nrclibn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A bit too much immersion in upper-class British academe for my tastes. After slogging through all the Latin and the jargon, I was feeling some class/education based resentment and irritation, just like the guilty party in the book.

[gjbean · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Can't remember the book but I had a three star rating down.

[laurierking · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful language, gloriously ridiculous plots, and the first to bring the emotional life of her characters into the fore of the mystery. (Even though she did insist on apologizing for it.)

[susanliston · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I expected to like this book. I'd never read Dorothy Sayers, but can't think of why, I've read dozens of Agathas and other English mystery writers. And this book is always on favorites lists. The style of something written in Britain in the 30s is going to take a little bit of getting used to, so I blamed that for awhile until I realized that I was beginning to doze. It was awfully wordy and overlong for a typical mystery and I had trouble keeping the characters straight. Several scenes were nicely creepy and atmospheric, but I did feel like I was plodding by the time I finished it.

[lucypick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am rereading this right now for the millionth time. Always get something new from it --- right now, inspiration for a novel.

[danibrecher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

From a very early age, I can remember my grandmother staying up late into the night, reading Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. Much to my shame, it has taken me until now to read one, but once I did, I found myself reading until ungodly hours as well.Gaudy Night is the third mystery featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and his girlfriend, the mystery writer Harriet Vane, but it is entirely possible to read without knowledge of the other books. The large majority of the novel follows Harriet as she attempts to solve a mystery at her alma mater, Shrewsbury College in Oxford. Unlike most mystery novels, this one doesn't involve a murder (or, at least, a successful one). Instead, the mystery surrounds the identity of a "Poison Pen," who sends threatening letters to the female dons of the college and generally wreaks destruction around the quadrangles. Harriet takes on the case after she finds herself targeted during a reunion weekend (the titular Gaudy Night), staying in the college for the following year under the pretense of working on a piece on La Fanu. Only when things turn violent does Harriet call upon the debonair Lord Peter to help investigate the crimes.The novel is infused with a wonderfully strong sense of place, making the reader feel almost as if they know the Shrewsbury campus and its inhabitants. Set pieces with Harriet punting on the river or dining with the dons in the Hall enchant. Sayers has a wonderful eye for detail and has fully imagined this all-female college (which, in the introduction, she charmingly apologizes for constructing on the Balliol fields).To be fair, the mystery isn't the most exciting of all time, but things really perk up when Lord Peter arrives with his bon mots and sets off a more violent set of crimes. In some ways, Gaudy Night really succeeds more as a character study of the female dons and their students, who live in a world where they must decide between a intellectual career and a family. This sort of difficult choice remains familiar to career women today, and it is interesting to note how little things have changed in the last 75 years in this regard.There are many wonderful things to be discovered in Gaudy Night, from memorable characters like Lord Peter's overly privileged nephew Saint-George to the most amazingly egalitarian proposal scene of all time (it involves Harriet and Peter speaking Latin to each other).One word to the wise: Sayers uses the names of the female dons interchangeably with their titles, which can get awfully confusing. I found it helpful to make a list to keep track of who's who.

[figgles_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favourite Dorothy Sayers, one of my favourite books of all time. Each rereading I see something new. Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane resolve their differences against a backdrop of literature and learning and with the architecture and soul of Oxford University as a third major character. A treatise on love and integrity wrapped up in a mystery novel!

[downtownlibrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read all of the Dorothy Sayers mysteries years ago, and recall this was one of my favorites. Wonderful portrayal of Oxford at a certain time.

[ginnyred57 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite books, my well-thumbed paperback copy has been with me since my college/post college days in Eugene, OR and still bears a sticker from Smith Family Used Books (I paid $2.00 for it). Love walking around Oxford when in England and spotting locations that appear in the book. Must have been purchased in the early 80's based on the publication date.

[creighley_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dorothy Sayers's third tale which includes the mystery writer, Harriet Vane, is set at Oxford University where a series of events has everyone on edge and wondering who could be vandalizing the university and slandering the good names of those who go there. This is a good read to see how far mystery/detective books have come. It is also a good idea of how far and women have come! Thank Heavens! Admittedly, this was not my favorite, but it did interest me enough to keep reading to the end where I am very happy to say that someone finally woke up!

[themulhern · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book is a romance novel of the sort that Mary Renault wrote during and immediately after WWII before she turned to writing historical novels. The two protagonists are sensitive to just about everything; so much so that this reader can't really tell what's bothering them half the time. How much better if they would just get over themselves and start doing something instead of crushing each other with a well-chosen phrase and then quoting French poets.Sayers' previous Lord Peter works, even those involving Harriet Vane, were actually mysteries or at least adventures of one sort or another. The plot is hung around a mystery of sorts; but the whole purpose of the mystery is to explore the Place of Woman in Society. It is therefore important that the investigator remain clueless for a long time while various events transpire. Consequently, Wimsey and Miss Climpson are kept entirely out of the action until Wimsey arrives at the very end of the book. Harriet Vane observes rather than detects and what she mostly observes is the behavior of the dons and the students while she ponders her true calling in nature and what she ought to do with herself.In previous books Harriet Vane seemed to deal pretty well with the fact that she was "branded an adulteress" but in this book she gets all wobbly whenever anybody alludes to "her past". There is a lot of very veiled talk about the wonderfulness of sex and how any society where the majority of the people were not engaging in regular sexual activity must be warped and twisted. There is no overt hint of lesbianism but the science tutor is strong, frequently wears tweeds, very direct, and sits in a "mannish" way.As with previous books, Sayers draws a compelling picture of a society still out of whack due to the terrible carnage of WWI. More women are working rather than married, and women are earning advanced degrees at Oxford colleges. The picture of Oxford with all its whacky customs and architecture, its quads and staircases and sported oaks and fining and segregation of the sexes is well-drawn. The proper study of all students is either History or English --- the Science tutor is away from the college for one whole term and nobody seems to notice the difference. Mathematics is not yet heard of. Peter Medawar began at Oxford in 1932 and had no real difficulty finding science stuff to do, so this picture represents Sayers' own bias rather than the actual state of affairs at Oxford itself although things may have been different at women's colleges. "Scholarship" is portrayed as some sort of holy vocation in the humanities; although its products are actually shown to be more or less useless as in the remarks on Vane's own study of LeFanu. It is unlikely that any more accurate understanding of Phoenician coinage will ever be arrived at as there are probably not enough remaining coins or documents hanging around; why should anyone care? The scholars in this book seems almost like Talmudic scholars; there is no iron test of "Does it work?" or "Does it inform the decisions we make today?" and the same old scholarly ground is relentlessly worked over until it must be completely worked out.The novel was published in 1935, just four years before the outbreak of WWII. Hitler is already a well-known name and there is some enthusiasm among some of the minor characters for various systems of eugenics. There is also the usual talk about evil being just a biological problem, easily eliminated by means of drugs or surgery. Lord Peter Wimsey, now a minor diplomat as much as a detective, does not believe that war will be avoided but continues to do his best to defer it.In this, her last true Lord Peter Wimsey novel (Busman's Honeymoon was actually the book of the play, and not an original novel), Sayers' literary vices detract most from her literary virtues.

[june6bug · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A series of frightening events at a women's college in Oxford are investigated by Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey. As usual, Sayers' work is engaging, intricate, and satisfying to read.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A much acclaimed favorite among Sayers fans, a good mystery, story and romance. I love it, though I also love several of her other Lord Peter novels as well.This book is from Harriet Vane's perspective, for the most part. She is still trying to cope with the devastating events in her life, and with that persistent man who wishes to marry her. In the midst of this turmoil, she is thrown into a different sort. Her beloved college, Shrewsbury is having a Gaudy. Attending with one of her old classmates, Harriet's feelings are torn between the comfort and security of Oxford and the feeling that one can never go back. She feels safe here, but is she? Someone is causing mischief at the college. Not just harmless pranks, but twisted, cruel things. Evil is intended, but for whom? Harriet is called upon for her experience and wisdom to help sort out the trouble and as she works at the knot she worries about her own intentions and motives. When Lord Peter arrives in the story, fireworks begin, not only for them, but for the college as well.

[ysabeau_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite of the Lord Wimsey books. Perhaps because he and Harriet finally come to an understanding, or maybe because the long-lost days of 1930s Oxford are so interesting.

[smiley_13 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great Vane/Wimsey mystery with an evocative Oxford setting. Near great read for a mystery. I did figure out the villian before the end though. Does Wimsey have any flaws? Physical, emotional. intellectual? I didn't see many in the five Sayers books I've read so far. Sayers can set her characters in convincing and complex surroundings. I'll probably read it again.

[lizzy_bb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How many books contain marriage proposals in Latin? Dear Dorothy!

[medievalmama_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite Sayers fiction and the only one that is a mystery but not a murder mystery. Ah, the joy of going back to one's college as an expert and the joys of academic politics. Good read.

[bookswamp · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lord Peter No. 10, 1935; Harrit Vane not only solves the crime but finally (my, how we have been longing for this!) accepts Lord Peter's proposal.

[kadri-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The final stretch of the longstanding saga of Lord Peter's courtship of Harriet Vane (who is more reasonable and likable in this one than in most others :)). Includes hilarious insights into the workings of the Denver family. The old Duchess is fabulous, as always.

[benfulton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My mom was a big English mystery fan, and I devoured her library at an early age, but haven't really gone back to read them until my wife took an interest in Elizabeth Peters a few years ago, and followed with Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Patricia Moyes in a rather predictable fashion. I'd forgotten how good Ms. Sayers really is; Gaudy Night might be thought of as the third in a series of love stories with some incidental murders. By the time I'd gotten halfway through this one, I'd almost entirely lost interest in whodunit for wondering will they or won't they. Much better characterization than you usually get in standard mysteries.

[linda_22003 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a close second to my favorite Wimsey story, "The Nine Tailors". Others have described the basic plot, but new readers will be surprised to see one of the most romantic marriage proposals in modern fiction delivered - and responded to - in Latin.

[netedt_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rather self-indulgent story. Sayers obviously loved Oxford and the scholastic life. Lots of local references and untranslated 'bon mots'. Readers who do not share her passions are in for a slow read. The book has more to do with the heart versus head tension of the heroine, Harriet, than with any detective work. Again, unless you already know and care about the characters involved this makes for a long, slow slog.

[dknippling_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A reread. One of my favorite love stories, even if most of the romance isn't in this book, but others. One of the things I like about romantic fiction, wherever it crops up, is that it often starts out with the main character thinking that love is on one hand, and some other important value is on the other, and that in order to really commit to being in love, you have to give up this other thing. Then, of course, the main character comes to realize that no, that wasn't what was being asked (well, in the case of a book that doesn't end tragically; tragic romances are different), that love and this other thing don't conflict.Here it is Harriet's independence and self-respect. I know that some Whimsey fans dislike her or think her a Mary-Sue character, representing the author, but I think it works well here.The mystery? Well, I'm less fond of that; one of those "the lady doth protest too much" things, where the author said that it must not be so too many times, so it wasn't so much a case of solving the mystery as looking at the writerly tricks and seeing where they must lead.

[foodairbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book (but I minored in Latin as an undergrad). I have read it countless times. It seems to me if you wanted a picture of an independent, educated woman's life during the 30s, this would be a good place to start.

[janesteen_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Where I got the book: my bookshelf. This is a 1940 Gollancz edition I picked up somewhere and I absolutely love it because no matter where you are in the story, the book lays flat and keeps its place. I get so impatient with books that won't stay open.The story: five years after being erroneously accused--and then, thanks to Lord Peter Wimsey, acquitted--of murdering her lover, Harriet Vane is getting on with her life as a writer and puzzling over what she's going to do about Lord Peter: push him out of her life or accede to his marriage proposals? She's invited back to Oxford to visit her old college, where a mysterious prankster and writer of anonymous notes seems to have a grudge against academic women in general and Shrewsbury College in particular. Called in to investigate, Harriet ponders whether an intellectual woman should allow love into her life or whether retirement into a life of learning is the answer. The appearance of Peter in Oxford to help with her investigations could be disastrous--maybe.This is my favorite Wimsey book, and probably one of my favorite love stories of all time. It is, I think, Sayers' most feminist novel, showing women trying to carve out an existence for themselves that has nothing to do with men, and yet acknowledging that love and relationships can have a place in a woman's life without totally destroying her true self. I think Sayers is arguing for give and take; it's true even today that women make a certain sacrifice, far more than men do, when they enter into a marriage (the physical and emotional effects of childbearing and the change in status are still very real, despite our so-called progress) and I think Sayers is seeking, not so much an end to such sacrifice but an acknowledgement that it is real and should not be entered into lightly.After pulling Wimsey and Vane through two novels, Sayers is faced with the challenge of getting two emotionally scarred characters to the big Yes, and she does so through Harriet's eyes, using her beloved Oxford as the catalyst. In the (disturbed) peace of academe, Harriet is able to reconcile her past with her present, explore Wimsey's own vulnerabilities and finally acknowledge her physical attraction to him. It's that attraction, it seems to me, that's the clincher; Sayers clearly believes that marriage must be a union of bodies first and foremost, and that the emotional and intellectual side of things will sort itself out if the physical bond is strong enough.It's also interesting that Harriet's new insights into her own feelings bring about a revolution in her development as a writer. It's often been said that Harriet is Sayers herself, and indeed I have always had the impression that Sayers fell in love with her own creation, Wimsey, and wrote herself into the stories so that he could fall for her; a very interesting statement about the life of the imagination! Whether that's true or not, I happen to find Harriet convincing in her own right, but what she discovers about her writing in Gaudy Night may well be a reflection of Sayers' feelings about how a detective novel should be, i.e. no mere intellectual puzzle but a true novel with psychological growth in the characters. I think we take it for granted today that the characters in a novel should have a growth arc, recognizing two-dimensional characters for what they are and scorning them; I think we tend to forget that even some of the best writers of bygone decades tended to deal far more in caricatures and "types" than we would now accept. What we still read now are the ones that survived precisely because they were a cut above the others.Gaudy Night, famously, contains no murder but there are a whole lot of motives for murder, all centered on human relationships. Sayers tackles the demons (her own, I can't help but thinking) of possessiveness and jealousy, and the kind of love that wants to absorb its object. She argues for balance; but does she entirely achieve it with her lead characters? I'm not so sure.

[tadad_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is arguably the best of Ms. Sayers' books. The Nine Tailors and Murder Must Advertise rank right up there, but I admit to a preference for stories with Harriet in them. Harriet is certainly in this book...its her story with Peter only appearing for a short period. Nonetheless, this book really brings out their quirky and wonderful relationship.While the non-Harriet stories can be read in any order, this one should follow Have His Carcase.