Allreaders.com

Message Board

Dorothy L. Sayers Message Board 10/4/2010 3:12:16 PM
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Sayers has written!

Author Sayers's Book Reviews

Busman's Honeymoon
In this final book of the series, Sayers displays her attained mastery of the genre. Peter and Harriet are married at last and off on their honeymoon. Unfortunately, a murder takes place in their home, and they're off. Busman's Honeymoon's mystery is good, and the puzzle first-rate, but a great deal of the book involves the pair adjusting to married life and to each other. This book is a tour de force and not to be missed by mystery lovers....
Clouds of Witness
Peter's sister's fiance is shot, and Peter's brother is arrested for the murder. Can Wimsey find a way to exonerate both of his siblings, and find the killer? The best part of this book is the detailed descriptions of the mechanisms of trying a peer in Britain. ...
Gaudy Night
Gaudy Night is a tale of intrigue within an intellectual setting. The crime is not actually a physical wrong committed against any number of people, but is more of an intellectual crime committed against an educational institutition. The protagonist, Harriet Vane is asked to return to her alma mater Oxbridge, to solve the mystery of who might be doing the mechevious acts against certain Dons within the school. Vane herself has just recently been ac...
Murder Must Advertise
When copywriter Victor Dean falls to his death down a spiral staircase in the respected British advertising firm of Pym's, the fatality looks accidental. However, the victim's sister finds a suspicious half-written letter among his effects and prevails upon the head of the firm to hire private investigator Lord Peter Wimsey undercover as a copywriter so he can look into the case. It turns out there is much more to the death, and the victim's life, than m...

Sayers booklist

The Documents in the Case
This book, which is told Wilkie-Collins style, with assorted narrators and in the form of letters and statements, is a fabulous work of detective fiction that does not involve Peter Wimsey, Sayers' usual detective. In Documents, the situation in a shared house leads to murder, and a son sets out to find his father's killer. This book also provides a fascinating glimpse of "suburban" life circa 1930. ...
The Five Red Herrings
In the story a man is murdered and the murder is made to look like an accident. There are five suspects who all have a good reason for revenge, but all have good alibies....
The Nine Tailors
On a snowy New Years eve, Lord Peter Wimsey and his valet Bunter have a minor car accident, stranding themselves in the snow-bound flats of Norfolk. Finding their way to the nearest village, Wimsey helps out at a bell ringing to call in the New Year. Months later, the same village is brought to the noble sleuth's attention when he learns of an unidentified person who died in an unknown manner and was buried in someone elses grave. Wimsey can't help bu...
The Unpleasantness At The Bellona Club
Ninety year old General Fentiman is found dead in his usual chair at the Bellona Club. Normally, this would not cause a sensation, he had a bad heart, but his sister also died on the same day. Her will stipulated that if her brother died first, he would inherit almost a half a million dollars. If he did not, her cousin/companion, Ann Dorland, would inherit the bulk of her estate. The general's grandsons and heirs, Robert and George Fentiman, are now in a...
Unnatural Death
A chance encounter with a doctor sets Lord Peter on the trail of a perfect murder - the victim was a bedridden, ill old lady, the means are invisible, and the motive is obscure. Nonetheless, he discovers that a murder has been done, and more are coming. ...
Whose Body?
This is Sayers' first novel, and so a little different than her others. In it, Lord Peter Wimsey investigates the mysterious appearance of an unindentified naked corpse (wearing pince nez) in a suburban bathroom....