This edition published 15th October 2009 by Hodder and Stoughton. Originally published 1935.
From the cover of the book:
Harriet Vane has never dared to return to her old Oxford college. Now, despite her scandalous life, she has been summoned back . . .At first she thinks her worst fears have been fulfilled, as she encounters obscene graffiti, poison pen letters and a disgusting effigy when she arrives at sedate Shrewsbury College for the 'Gaudy' celebrations.
But soon, Harriet realises that she is not the only target of this murderous malice - and asks Lord Peter Wimsey to help.
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Crime novelist Harriet Vane returns to Shrewsbury College, Oxford, for the annual 'Gaudy' celebrations. It has been many years since she visited her alma mater and she is filled with trepidation, especially given the scandal associated with her reprieve from the gallows by the intervention of celebrated detective, Lord Peter Wimsey. Harriet's visit goes rather better than she expected, despite some awkward conversations, and a bizarre letter which she dismisses as a prank.
Weeks later, an epidemic of vile, poison pen letters and vandalism now threatens to mar Shrewsbury College's spotless reputation. Keen to avoid the involvement of the police, Harriet is persuaded by the warden to secretly look into the affair. She decamps to Oxford under the pretext of undertaking an academic study, and sets her author's mind to the task. However, it proves extremely difficult to pin down the culprit, and as events spiral towards the possibility of real violence, Harriet calls on Lord Peter Wimsey's help...
It is a long time since I indulged myself with a Dorothy L. Sayers' mystery, and I have never actually read one featuring the glamorous Harriet Vane. It was perhaps, a bit ambitious to start with this one given it takes place some years after the meeting of Wimsey and Vane (which happened back in book six, Strong Poison), but when this gem came up on the reading schedule with the lovely #QuietClassics readalong gang, I just had to dive in!
This is a chunky book, coming in just shy of 600 pages, and once you embark on the story it is easy to see why. This is a Golden Age novel that takes its time, which I found a bit disconcerting to begin with, but it proves to be eminently satisfying once you settle into its seductive rhythm. Sayers' mystery is complex, and weaves sinuously through twists and turns like the rivers that flow through the heart of Oxford, and just like those waterways, it proves to be a story full of menacing eddies and changing currents that disguise hidden depths.
As the novel unfurls, tracing Harriet's attempts to discover who is behind the unsettling campaign of malice at Shrewsbury College, it explores an absolute feast of themes about class, the world of female academia, and the role of women in the 1930s. There is a lot going on under the guise of scholarly life at Shrewsbury, and Sayers does a splendid job delving into the complex emotions that the disturbed villain of the piece stirs up by their actions. The spite that motivates said villain is bitter indeed, and it dredges up an extra dimension about professional responsibility that is seriously thought provoking.
Harriet's own feelings are fascinating too, especially in the way her mind changes about Oxford, Shrewsbury College, and her feelings for Wimsey. Intriguingly, the charismatic Wimsey is absent for much of the novel, but the force of his personality is felt through Harriet's musings, and he is very significant in solving the tricky mystery. The interplay between the two in the course of their unconventional romance is delicious throughout. Alas, Wimsey's glorious valet, Bunter, only appears very briefly in this mystery, but in his stead, the stalwart college porter, Padget, is a gem.
I really enjoyed how you come to see Oxford of the 1930s from Harriet's insightful point of view, and I sense a lot of Sayers' herself in the character. There is so much lovely atmosphere in the life she describes - the hi-jinks and dramas of the undergraduates, the college surroundings, the interactions between staff and students... all provide a beguiling glimpse of the between the wars era, full of social history and nostalgia, with light touches of absurtdity and humour too.
This book was an immersive joy. Some of the literary and Latin references do feel a bit self-indulgent, but they are in keeping with the style, and I really enjoyed slowing the pace with a proper classic. I will definitely be making time for some more Dorothy L. Sayers in the not too distant future.
Gaudy Night is available to buy now in multiple formats.
About the author:
Born in Oxford, England, Sayers, whose father was a reverend, grew up in the Bluntisham rectory and won a scholarship to Oxford University where she studied modern languages and worked at the publishing house Blackwell's, which published her first book of poetry in 1916.
Years later, working as an advertising copywriter, Sayers began work on Whose Body?, a mystery novel featuring dapper detective Lord Peter Wimsey. Over the next two decades, Sayers published ten more Wimsey novels and several short stories, crafting a character whose complexity was unusual for the mystery novels of the time.
In 1936, Sayers brought Lord Peter Wimsey to the stage in a production of Busman's Honeymoon, a story which she would publish as a novel the following year. The play was so successful that she gave up mystery writing to focus on the stage, producing a series of religious works culminating in The Man Born to Be King (1941) a radio drama about the life of Jesus.
She also wrote theological essays and criticism during and after World War II, and in 1949 published the first volume of a translation of Dante's Divine Comedy (which she considered to be her best work).
Dorothy Sayers died of a heart attack in 1957.
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