Rating: 
Summary: Rich, rewarding and way before her time.
Review: Harriet Vane is long past marrying age, independent (like Ms. Sayers herself, she is a mystery writer) ... and on top of all that, she was the primary suspect in the murder of her own fiancé not too long ago. So can she possibly be a good choice as the person that her alma mater, Oxford's [fictional] Shrewsbury College turns to in order to help solving crimes ranging from poison pen letters to acts of vandalism and assault? Not all of the college's dons think so. In fact, even before being called on for this delicate task, upon returning to Oxford for the first time in years for a school reunion ("Gaudy Night"), Harriet's presence in the college triggers thinly-veiled inquiries into the details of her encounter with the criminal justice system and, coincidentally with that experience, into her difficult friendship with Lord Peter Wimsey (much-acclaimed graduate of another Oxford college, diplomat, amateur sleuth and, for much of his career, one of literary history's most dashing bachelors). Shrewsbury's teachers and students, past and present, heatedly discuss issues ranging from a woman's choice between profession and family, and the respective values of independence and loyalty, to the meaning of truth and accuracy in a scholar's work ethics. Those who were never in favor of the college's decision to ask Harriet to help unraveling the secret behind the progressively evil deeds plaguing Shrewsbury are, predictably, even more scandalized when she ultimately brings in Lord Peter Wimsey; who after all, as everybody has long since concluded, is vying for her hand in marriage. Ultimately, however, the dons find themselves almost uniformly grateful to Harriet and Lord Peter: The perpetrator's identity is revealed, and the sleuthing pair has managed to keep the affair out of the headlines and out of the local police's reach - which would have meant immeasurable damage to the college's reputation, so crucial at a time when the presence of women on the sacred grounds of a traditional and highly acclaimed university was anything but a given.This novel has it all: the best of Dorothy Sayer's writing (rich characters, intimate knowledge of her subject and the setting of her story, suspense, humor and a thoroughly believable plot), a profound and engrossing discussion of moral issues way before her time and, last but not least, one of the classiest and most unusual marriage proposals I know of, in fact or fiction. ("Placet, magistra?") Unlike many other mysteries it does not open with the crime to be solved; rather, Ms. Sayers leads the reader into the story through Harriet's reflections upon returning to Oxford for her school's reunion. This book, then, is not to be measured by the standards or the sensationalism of an action thriller - it follows the beat of a more measured drummer, although tensions are certainly running high throughout the story; emotionally, socially and otherwise. This is one of Dorothy Sayer's best works, and not only a great mystery story but as truly rewarding and lasting a reading experience as any literature ever will be.
Rating: 
Summary: Good novel, not a great mystery
Review: I don't read a lot of mysteries, so I'm hardly qualified to review one. But reading this one helped me clarify what I want out of a mystery novel. I want all the necessary and relevant facts presented to me to solve the mystery, and I want the detective to be so brilliant that she sees what I can't and solves the mystery in such a way that I go, "Of course! It was right in front of me all the time, I just couldn't see it!" That's fun reading.
Maybe that's rare, I don't really know. This book doesn't have it. When the mystery is solved, the culprit turns out to be a minor character, and the conclusive bit of evidence was gathered by Wimsey outside of the story. It's really more police work than detective work, and it ultimately feels anticlimactic to me.
What Sayers does do well is explore her protagonist's psyche and her complex relationship with Lord Peter. Rarely have I read a better account of grown-ups trying to figure out a relationship; this is not flowers and romance love, but it is love, and I enjoyed the complexity, subtlety, and seriousness of it. In the end, Sayers (in this book, anyway) is really more like Jane Austen than Agatha Christie, and I guess I just wish I'd known that going in.
Rating:
Summary: The most intelligent book written on Lord Peter Wimsey!
Review: I would certainly recommend this book to all readers of crime literature! The main character of the novel is partly the writer of detective novels Harriet Vane, and through her realtionship with Lord Peter Wimsey we get a new and both human and realistic picture of the man behind the arrogant face and the posh manners. This book is more than just another whodunit, it is a psycological view into a writer with a past, a sensitive aristocrat and the end of a romance. Remember also to read "Bushman's honeymoon", which continues the story... Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Perfection
Review: I've never said this before and I don't think I'll say it about any other book: This book is perfection. The telling is beautiful, seamless and touches every emotion, the way a good book should. Lord Peter Wimsey is such a well-developed character: he has Holmes's wit, combined with charisma, charm, sensitivity, tenderness and intelligence. Earlier in the series, he hadn't figured out who he was or what he wanted to be, but now he knows: to marry Harriet. Miss Harriet Vane is an even better character than his lordship. She's believable, independent, a writer, tender inside, witty, polite and has intelligence to match Lord Peter's. The moments of affection - I hesitate to call them 'love scenes' - were breathtaking, without either party removing any clothes. Some writers today could learn from that. The suspense is high, the love is brewing and the plot is seamless and unlabored, as if it really did happen. I recommend this to EVERYONE. I may only be a kid, but I know perfection when I see it. On another note: I don't like the DVDs of the Dorothy Sayers books. They are perfect in all their literary glory; why try to improve perfection? Another thing, Lord Peter Wimsey is his best on paper, not impersonated by some silly person trying to act like an English lord, who will never come close to Sayers's Peter's immortal charm, intellect and tenderness.
Rating: 
Summary: Diabetics Beware
Review: It's over thirty years since I read GAUDY NIGHT and BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON. I don't suppose I'll ever read them again. By the time she wrote them, Sayers had lost whatever she had to offer as a mystery writer. She was taking herself seriously. In Harriet Vane, Sayers produced perhaps the most nauseating wish fulfilment figure in the whole of crime fiction. She makes Jemima Shore look like something out of Dostoyevsky. Avoid like the plague unless you wish to gross out on snobbery and sentimentality. And the murder method in BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON is singularly unconvincing.
Rating: 
Summary: Wordy night
Review: Loaned to me by a friend, this book has given me a lot to chew on. Matters of principal, academic righteousness, gender essentialism, dominance, class relations, all are brought up in this novel, a very ambitious "whodunit." Some of these issues are tackled in a straightforward manner, and others only peripherally. Lord Peter and Harriet are presented as winning characters, and most of the secondary characters are fleshed out pretty nicely -- a difficult thing to do with a large cast. Still, it was too easy to get the different dons mixed up. Lastly, this is my first Sayers novel, and I don't think the reading experience was particularly marred by a lack of familiarity with the previous books. Rather, I felt disturbed by my inability to catch the literary references. Knowing your classics would serve you much better than knowing your other Sayers.
Rating:
Summary: Meet the nephew
Review: My first encounter with Dorothy L. Sayers was the Mobile Mystery Theater series showing on PBS. Unfortunately I did not realize that my video player was also a recorder until the "Gaudy Night" was on Mystery Theater. In that sense I was lucky to copy the complete three hour "Gaudy Night." There is rumor that this will be out on DVD in 2002.
Naturally the TV media cannot fill in all the details that you would pick up from reading the book; so I read the book. This added more depth and characters to the story. Dorothy not only fleshes her characters out but her side trips into philosophy and psychology make the story that much more interesting. Just when you ask what is the relevance to this conversation it is wrapped up in the final solution.
It is too bad They do not make the unabridged tape of this book anymore as The reader Is Ian Carmichael the first TV Lord Peter Wimsey.
This is the third of a fourth book series. Enough background information is given however to make this a stand-alone story.
The notorious Harriet Vane is invited to a class reunion. She is looking forward to a quiet time with a better part of her history. Once there, she starts getting notes that carry negative connotations. The notes are pasted together from cut out newspaper words. Soon others are receiving the notes. The School authorities request Harriet to help get quietly to the bottom of this. Circumstances eventually force her once more to go to Lord Peter Wimsey for help. I am over simplifying the plot but it is better to discover it for your self. This is a five star book.
Rating:
Summary: A superb novel of mystery and love
Review: Sayers famously once said (to paraphrase) that love had no business cluttering up a good mystery. Yet the love story in this novel, the climax of the Harriet Vane-Lord Peter Wimsey affair*, forms the meat of this intelligent, witty, and still fresh mystery. Set in 1930's Oxford, Harriet must help her former college solve a mystery while solving the mystery of her heart's desire. I can't recommend this novel too highly. * You may wish to read Strong Poison and Have His Carcase first.
Rating:
Summary: A book I read and re-read
Review: The very best of the Wimsey books! When a nasty, anonymous note is slipped into the sleeve of Harriet Vane's gown when she attends the Shrewsbury College Gaudy, she thinks it is a reference to her personal history. But it soon turns out that the animus is directed at the College, and Vane is asked to investigate. In the course of so doing, she begins to wonder if she should return to the scholarly life.
Sayers' great strength as a mystery writer, particularly apparent in the Wimsey-Vane books, was her ability to write about relationships. The working out of Harriet and Peter's relationship is crucial to this book. It is not that the mystery is secondary; indeed, it is in the unraveling of that mystery that Harriet is able to confront her concerns about Peter and is also learns more about him than in all the time she knew him.
But the crux of this book is the importance of intellectual honesty in the face of personal considerations, of the need to do work that matters to you. It is about women's struggle for a recognized place in the public realm, as well as the private.
There are wonderful by-ways here as well. Harriet's life as a writer, both of mysteries and scholarly works, is described in fine detail, with the addition of a humorous description of the 30's London literary scene. Oxford itself, both town and gown, is a character in the book. How lovingly it is drawn!
Rating:
Summary: A detective story with romantic interruptions
Review: This 1936 novel is the 12th Lord Peter novel. Lord Peter Wimsey (for anyone not familiar with the series) is the very wealthy younger brother of the Duke of Denver. He is a very sought after man about town, "lends a hand at the Foreign Office from time to time" and pokes his nose into private detection from time to time. Five years before (STRONG POISON) he saved the unjustly accused Harriet Vane, a well-known mystery writer, from execution for the murder of her former lover. During the case Peter fell head over heels in love with Harriet who was too upset to even consider romance. Their romance proceeded in this very one-sided manner for five years. GAUDY NIGHT focuses on Harriet and her detection efforts. She has been invited by an ill college friend to attend the "Gaudy", and end of term celebration at their alma mater, the fictional Shrewesbury College at Oxford. Harriet reluctantly agrees and finds herself embroiled in a poison pen campaign that has been plaguing the college. She takes up residence in the college to try to get to the bottom of the problem. During her time there she makes the acquaintance of Lord Peter's nephew, Viscount St. George, and through him, begins to see her persistant suitor in a new light. When Peter himself appears Harriet finds facets of him that she had not seen before. Working together they solve to problem of the poison pen and resolve the long standing romantic issues as well. Those looking for a 'straight' detective novel like some of the earlier Lord Peter stories will probably be frustrated by this one although the mystery is challenging, in and of itself would it would justify a long short story at best. Those looking for a romance story to resolve this long courtship will be even more frustrated by the very scant amount of interaction between the 'lovers'. So just what makes this worth 5 stars? Harriet Vane finally emerges as a character every bit as complex and interesting as Peter. Do read this one and the next book, BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON.
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