Gaudy Night (Lord Peter Wimsey, #12) in 100+ Books in 2025

May 07, 2009 Jgrace rated it it was amazing

Shelves: england, kindle, romance, judithg, audio, brit-lit, relationships, mystery, series, classic-mystery

Gaudy Night – Dorothy Sayers

Unabridged audio performance by Ian Carmichael
4 stars (for the audio performance)

(5 stars and a favorite for the novel)

I’ve read this novel many times. It’s a top favorite with me. I love it for the Oxford setting that Sayers depicts with such affection. I’m in constant sympathy with Harriet Vane as she struggles with her past, her conscience, her need for independence and her confused affection for Peter Wimsey. In 1935, Sayers created a forum, within a mystery, for ...more

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Nov 12, 2010 Dolly rated it really liked it

Shelves: education-school, poland, mystery, france-french, historical-fiction, england-english, library, 2010, italy-italian-roman

I had won an ARC of Jill Paton Walsh's new Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane story, The Attenbury Emeralds, and since I had not read a book by Dorothy L. Sayers in a few years, I wanted to reacquaint myself with her characters prior to reading the new story. This is the only Lord Peter Wimsey book I had at the house, so I delved into it.

This is a long book. And it has some difficult language (see the list of new words at the end!), and many references to a time and place with which I have littl I had won an ARC of Jill Paton Walsh's new Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane story, The Attenbury Emeralds, and since I had not read a book by Dorothy L. Sayers in a few years, I wanted to reacquaint myself with her characters prior to reading the new story. This is the only Lord Peter Wimsey book I had at the house, so I delved into it.

This is a long book. And it has some difficult language (see the list of new words at the end!), and many references to a time and place with which I have little knowledge. Still, I was often enchanted by the story and for sure, I was caught up in the relationship of Lord Peter and Harriet. The mystery was not an easy one to solve, and while I had thought along the same lines as Peter, the eventual unveiling of the culprit surprised me somewhat.

The descriptions of the Colleges at Oxford and the local scenery are wonderful and I can only imagine what it might've been like so long ago. I have been to Cambridge, England and seen the punting on the Cam, and had a Ploughman's lunch at a pub on the banks, so the descriptions brought back some pleasant memories despite the difference of the age. The only real issue I took with the book was the numerous references to smoking cigarettes, although I know that it was an appropriate, common activity at the time. It still was a bit grating for this non-smoker.

new words: unctuous, agapemones, subfusc, Prosodic, djibbah, marocain, pottiness, bombazine, emoluments, Responsions, otiose, peculations, charabanc, logaoedic, missal, mountebank, insufflator, vitiate, eddication, opprobrious, malmsey, sozzled, termagant

quotes:
"Miss Martin herself would never dream of writing abusive letters to a person who had been acquitted of murder, and it had undoubtedly never occurred to her that to ask the notorious Miss Vane for advice about how to deal with that kind of thing was to talk of rope in the house of the hanged."

"Lord, teach us to take our hearts and look them in the face, however difficult it may be."
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Jul 15, 2011 Carmen rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery-and-thrillers

I had some difficulties getting into this book. It doesn't have to do with any murders, but instead with a continous series of pranks aimed at the various members of a women's college. I was also a bit disappointed that very little historical details made it into the story. ...more

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