Dorothy L. Sayers: Paperbacks

Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers. I first became aware of Sayers’ work during a run on PBS “Mystery” in the 1970’s, but it didn’t make much of an impression on me during the ten minutes I bothered to watch it. It was the later Petherbridge incarnation that was my way into it. In the meantime, I had become aware of her connections to C. S. Lewis and had seen a pile of Peter Wimsey books at old Half’s store. When I went back to check again, all were gone except this one. An Avon printing from the 1960’s, apparently, this was Sayers’ first foray into the detective genre, in which she became quite expert. This freshman effort has her happily playing around with the conventions and being rather influenced by Agatha Christie. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: A ‘Teccie, as Sayers would say. Paperback.

Clouds of Witnesses, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Lord Peter’s brother is accused of murder, and a trial before the House of Lords is called. Peter must find the truth before his brother is condemned. A fine story, with scandal in ’high life’ and the pageantry of a trial among the nobility. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Mystery. Paperback.

Unnatural Death, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Establishes ‘The Cattery’, Lord Peter’s agency of clever old spinsters who can be injected into situations and ask a lot of questions without arousing the suspicions that a more obvious detective agent would. Was this before or after Miss Marple? Yes, after, but only just by a matter of months. Christie and Sayers were both members of The Detection Club; did the idea arise in conversation there? Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Mystery. Paperback.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, by Dorothy L. Sayers An old general is found dead at his club – it was such a stuffy club no-one noticed for a while. A complication about an inheritance ensues, and a murder is discovered. Good, but not the most engaging novel; I’ve only read it once. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Mystery. Paperback.

Strong Poison, by Dorothy L. Sayers It was the PBS Mystery! production of this book in 1987 that really started me on Sayers. It introduces Harriet Vane, almost certainly a ‘Mary Sue’ for Sayers herself, whom some critics believe had fallen in love with her own creation. She had certainly developed him into his own person and was clearly enamored with her expanding ‘sub-creative’ world that was growing into a vehicle for her own meditations on themes of writing and religion. Vane overturns the expected tropes when she doesn’t simply fall into the arms of her rescuer at the end of the story. Instead, their relationship is developed more naturally through the next few books. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Mystery. Paperback.

The Five Red Herrings, by Dorothy L. Sayers. A diversion into Scotland, where the differences in procedure there makes up the interest … as well as the lovely murder mystery. Lord Peter keeps a distant eye on it, then swoops in at the end for the cop, as it were. As such, almost only technically a Wimsey story. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Mystery. Paperback.

Have His Carcase, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Harriet Vane is trying to overcome the effects that her trial for murder and failed romance has left her, but she runs into another murder. As she uses her skills as a mystery writer in attempting to solve the case, Lord Peter (who is drawn into it) tries to approach her delicately, and with respect. Their relationship is left at the end in a kind of a draw, with her no longer outrightly rejecting him. This edition has a cover tie-in to the PBS show. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Mystery. Paperback.

Murder Must Advertise, by Dorothy L. Sayers. “In her 1941 book The Mind of the Maker Sayers wrote: "I undertook (not very successfully) to present a contrast of two 'cardboard' worlds, equally fictitious — the world of advertising and the world of the post-war 'Bright Young People'. (I knew and cared much more about advertising than about Bright Youth).” I think it is superb, especially the final paragraph on the brittleness of sloganeering as a way of life. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Mystery. Paperback.

The Nine Tailors, by Dorothy L. Sayers. An odd man out in this series, as it is an HBJ book, rather than a Harper Perennial, with their Art Deco covers. One of Sayers very best, centering around bell ringing and her childhood background. This is the book she wanted to write while grinding out “Murder Must Advertise”. Full of her penchant for quotes and so atmospheric that I feel I’ve been in the Fens myself. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Mystery. Paperback.

Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L. Sayers. The climax of Peter and Harriet’s courting. Harriet goes back to college for a reunion and finds a mystery. While she tries to decide between her writing career and returning to an academic life, she uses her newly awakened analytic skills to examine her relationship with Peter and concludes that she no longer need resist. The theme is a woman’s role in life, how to balance domesticity and career (especially an academic career), and how the man should respect that decision. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Mystery. Paperback.

Busman’s Honeymoon, by Dorothy L. Sayers. First appeared as a play (written with her friend, Muriel St. Clare Byrne), then novelized. The honeymoon coda to Peter and Harriet’s long wooing, the mystery is less important than their newly wedded arrangements. Perhaps not as necessarily great as the other three Vane books, but very amusing for the interplay of personalities that we have seen developed over time. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Mystery. Paperback.

Hangman’s Holiday, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Collection of short stories, including four Wimsey’s, six Montague Egg’s (commercial traveler), and two others. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Mystery. Anthology. Paperback.

In the Teeth of the Evidence, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Collection of short stories, two Wimsey’s, five Montague Egg’s, and ten others. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Mystery. Anthology. Paperback.

The Documents in the Case, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Not a Lord Peter mystery, it hinges on the molecular difference between natural and synthesized substances, a subject just coming into play at the time. Written with Robert Eustace, it doesn’t read quite as spirited as some of her other books and doesn’t have the interest of her Wimsey mythology. The inside covers of these Harper editions don’t seem to be aging well, with yellowing and speckling. Well, it has been since 1987, so … thirty-three years? Ranking: Ultimately Expendable, but it is Sayers, dash it! File Code: Mystery. Paperback.