Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers was first published in 1935.
Our Sleuth: Harriet Vane, 31, is a writer of mystery novels and the love interest of Sayers’ most famous fictional detective, Lord Peter Whimsey. In this book, she’s the main character.
The Setting: It’s 1935 and Vane, living in London, has been invited to her old college, part of the University of Oxford, in Oxford, England. Most of the action takes place in Oxford at the fictional women’s Shrewsbury College, Vane’s alma mater.
The Premise: Vane is asked to return to Shrewsbury College in Oxford to quietly determine the identity of a “cross between a Poltergeist and Poison-Pen,” someone who is assailing students and educators with nasty notes and destroying property. The action unfolds across time and, eventually, Lord Peter Whimsey shows up to lend a hand.
Themes: Questions about a woman’s place in scholarly studies and in society in general run throughout the work, as do the tradeoffs that come when an independent woman contemplates marriage. Sayers is as interested in her characters and social commentary as she is on figuring out whodunnit.
My Take: Gaudy Night is considered a classic of mystery’s Golden Age (mostly the 1920s and 1930s) and it stands the test of time. It’s a great fall read, with its academic setting and spooky doings, but it’s not an easy one if you’ve been raised on the more prosaic Agatha Christie or modern-day cozies. Still, I highly recommend getting to know one of the best female sleuths ever written. While this is Sayers’ tenth Lord Peter Whimsey mystery, Vane is clearly the main character here.
Nearly 100 years after Sayers created her, Vane feels real and relatable in her struggle to live her life on her own terms. This is not surprising given that Sayers, among the first women to graduate from Oxford, is believed to have borrowed much of the character from her own life.
Opening Lines:
Harriet Vane sat at her writing-table and stared out into Mecklenberg Square. The late tulips made a brave show in the Square garden, and a quartet of early tennis-players were energetically calling the score of a rather erratic and unpractised game. But Harriet saw neither tulips nor tennis-players. A letter lay open on the blotting-pad before her, but its image had faded from her mind to make way for another picture. She saw a stone quadrangle, built by a modern architect in a style neither new nor old, but stretching out reconciling hands to past and present.
Of Note: If you’re new to Sayers, buckle up. She tells a layered and winding story here, touching on various issues of class and society while spinning the tale of a disturbed antagonist wreaking havoc on a community of women who’ve made unconventional choices for the time. It can take a minute to get used to the language and pacing.
Heads Up: No violence, gore, or other potential triggers. As clean as it gets.
Etc.: This 2019 article in The New Yorker argues Sayers is the “godmother of feminist detective fiction” and Gaudy Night is the “forerunner of works by Gillian Flynn and Tana French.”
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