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Books by Dorothy L. Sayers

Cover of Busman's Honeymoon.

Busman’s Honeymoon

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1937 · read 2020-02-11

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I think at this point (or earlier, but who knows) Dorothy Sayers had understood that her forte was in the characters and the dialogue, and WOW does she ever deliver. It's a honeymoon with a murder, of course, and I can't get over my love of the characters, so I won't even try.

Cover of Gaudy Night.

Gaudy Night

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1935 · read 2020-02-08

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Gaudy Night is the first book on my Wimsey re-read that I hadn't read before. In truth, it's about 3.5-4 stars, but it gets five for breaking my heart.

Cover of Whose Body?.

Whose Body?

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1923 · read 2019-09-29

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I read and re-read a lot of Dorothy L. Sayers in German when I was a kid, around 10. I loved those books to bits, so I started wondering if they were as good as I remembered. I started my re-read in the beginning, with Whose Body?, and it turns out: yes. The books are as good as I remembered, or even better, now that I get to read them in English and have an Internet at my fingertips to look up all the more and less obscure literary allusions – which there are many of. The writing style is charming, and has a very distinctive voice of its own, and lends very realistic, nearly audible voices to each and every character on cast.

Cover of The Nine Tailors.

The Nine Tailors

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1934 · read 2005-08-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I stand by my previous 5 star rating even on the re-read. Of course, this is heavily influenced by the fact that I read this book several times as a kid, but still – I think it is a good book. It's definitely by far my favourite book from Dorothy L. Sayers. Everything fits: characters, dialogue, extreme amounts of atmosphere, and even a plot worth the name. There are some side characters that I'd have loved to see more of, but that's the only criticism that comes to mind.

Cover of Strong Poison.

Strong Poison

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1930 · read 2020-01-10

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I like Strong Poison a whole lot – Peter meets Harriet for the first time, and behaves like a bit of an idiot, which is both realistic and appreciated. Lots of terrible things about society in those days are displayed ostensibly without judgement, but with lots of judgement just by the looks Mrs Sayers throws at said society. It's delightful.

Cover of Clouds of Witness.

Clouds of Witness

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1926 · read 2006-06-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

This was just as fun as I remembered. Peter's mother appears a lot (always a good thing), and his brother is a total idiot. Peter does his thing and I love everything about it. The story is a bit inconsequential, but we're here for the dialogue, not some pesky murder mystery.

Cover of Murder Must Advertise.

Murder Must Advertise

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1933 · read 2005-12-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Murder Must Advertise is such a fun book. Witty, word-play-y, though it works best if you're already familiar with Lord Peter. Great characterisations, and not even that bad of a plot (always the weak point with Sayers). The characters were life-like and good and touching in unexpected places. Keen eye for British class and culture. Loved the banter, missed the Bunter. I'm very happy my re-read arrived here, because Murder Must Advertise and the next book, Nine Tailors, seem to me the best of Sayers' work.

Cover of Striding Folly.

Striding Folly

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1972 · read 2020-02-22

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Three Wimsey short stories, one of which doesn't really feature him at all. The other two show him as a family man, first on the night of the birth of his first child, then as the father of three children. Beautifully one as family study (neither he nor Harriet have really changed, with hilarious results). Weird to see such a well-written and snarky defense of spanking (some) children at the detriment of a nosy and stupid woman with ridiculed modern views.

Cover of Have His Carcase.

Have His Carcase

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1932 · read 2020-01-23

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This was a fair Wimsey novel – banter (especially between Him and Her), with the mystery being less important than the people (who cares about a dead body on the beach). The strong focus on their non-relationship detracted a bit from my carefree enjoyment, though, and made me read the book more through a historian's lense: Gender roles, social norms, and general expectations have changed so much, and Dorothy L. Sayers' take on them is fascinating and utterly foreign to me.

Cover of Lord Peter Views the Body.

Lord Peter Views the Body

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1928 · last read 2020-01-05

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This collection is a very nice mix of Lord Peter Wimsey stories. I particularly liked the ones where he's an under-cover spy, and the one where he and his nephew go on a treasuer hunt. While the plot quality varies a bit, the writing and character building are delightful.

Cover of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1928 · read 2019-12-29

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I disliked the last third/final twist of this novel, and found the first half a bit predictable, but I continue to enjoy the characters and the writing tremendously, so this may just be my general dislike of mysteries.

Cover of In the Teeth of the Evidence.

In the Teeth of the Evidence

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1933 · read 2020-05-09

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Collection of short stories: A Wimsey, two-ish Eggs, and then a lot of random stuff. Sadly I like Sayers best when she does characters and snark, and least when she concentrates on plots (her plots are not great), so this wasn't for me.

Cover of Hangman's Holiday: A Collection of Short Mysteries.

Hangman’s Holiday: A Collection of Short Mysteries

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1933 · read 2020-01-27

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

This collection has two types of stories: Lord Peter Wimsey ones and Montague Egg ones. On the upside, the Lord Peter stories have great characters and witty banter, so they are fun to read even though their plots are a bit stupid or dull. On the other hand, the Montague Egg stories have mind-numbingly stupid and dull pts, so not even a witty character with good dialogue manages to save them.

Cover of The Five Red Herrings.

The Five Red Herrings

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1931 · read 2020-01-22

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

I tend to like the Lord Peter Wimsey novels a lot – but I dislike mysteries in general, and I like these particular mysteries because Dorothy L. Sayers wrote brilliant dialogue and characters. This book has decidedly less dialogue and less Lord Peter than any of the previous one. Instead it focuses on the local artists and fishing – and in turn felt just as tedious as having to live with people who are only interested in their own drawings and catching fish. It dragged on and on and was no fun. I couldn't manage to care about the accused, or the victim, or the train schedules that were recited for pages on end.

Cover of Unnatural Death.

Unnatural Death

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1927 · read 2019-12-25

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

A Lord Peter Wimsey mystery about lesbians, mostly. The mystery itself wasn't very compelling, with a solution so obvious I kept expecting a twist. The lesbian couples were a nice touch, though applied with their fair share of misogyny. Then there's the racism, which … could've been worse, considering the time. Is implicitly criticised, vaguely? There were some good characters to this book, but not much else.