Gaudy Night (Lord Peter Wimsey, #12) in Reading the Detectives

Jul 30, 2017 Jan C rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, rtd-2016-sayers-challenge, 2017, england

This is probably the fourth I have read this. But I can't remember it taking me this long before. I still enjoyed it.

It must have been quite a while since I didn't remember who the suspect was. Love her rant! (All of the suspects are women.)

This one takes place at Oxford. Harriet is working on one of her books. Suddenly there are poison pen letters, mischievous goings on, etc. Finally she suggests that perhaps her friend Lord Peter can help resolve the problem. ...more

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Mar 16, 2009 Susan in NC rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reread, favorites, want-to-reread, tbr-retro, retro-pool2023

I very much enjoyed rereading this Golden Age Classic. I first read it a looong time ago (30+ years, during college vacations, when I was falling in love with British Golden Age mystery writers).

A fascinating and satisfying puzzle wrapped up in a beautifully written ode to Oxford, and work, and love - but I’ll be honest, I could do without all of the literary references and poetry. Many of them simply fly over my head; Lord Peter Wimsey often prattles on brilliantly, but he doesn’t make an appea I very much enjoyed rereading this Golden Age Classic. I first read it a looong time ago (30+ years, during college vacations, when I was falling in love with British Golden Age mystery writers).

A fascinating and satisfying puzzle wrapped up in a beautifully written ode to Oxford, and work, and love - but I’ll be honest, I could do without all of the literary references and poetry. Many of them simply fly over my head; Lord Peter Wimsey often prattles on brilliantly, but he doesn’t make an appearance until at least halfway through the action. As a long-time fan, I’m used to Lord Peter using the empty-headed, chatty aristocratic front to carry on his investigations by lulling suspects into complacency, but here the quotations and literary allusions are piled on by almost all the characters- it is set among academics at a British women’s college in the 1930s, after all!

Harriet Vane takes center stage in this mystery, which begins with her attending her college’s Gaudy Night, sort of like American college homecoming. Harriet is nervous to return to academia, as since graduation she had taken a lover and been tried (and found innocent) for his murder (“Strong Poison”), in which Lord Peter Wimsey investigates and tracks down the real killer, thus saving Harriet’s life and earning her grudging gratitude.

The whole, dreadful experience obviously took a lot out of Harriet, and we learn a great deal about that in the first, rather slower moving third or so of the novel, as she attends Gaudy Night at Shrewsbury College, Oxford, reconnects with some old friends, is accepted back into the fold by fellow academics and dons alike.

I really enjoyed this part, getting to know Harriet better and seeing into her life as a single, successful writer; not really much mystery going on, but still enjoyable. Harriet spends a lot of time musing over work, and love, and what to do about Peter and his regular proposals of marriage. She even contemplates returning to Shrewsbury to work on another degree, realizing the cloistered life in college would solve the Lord Peter problem, and she envisions a contemplative, productive life of the mind.

There is a sick, twisted mind at work in Shrewsbury, however; vicious poison pen letters are sent to Harriet and other women in college, and there are destructive pranks, all seemingly aimed at besmirching the reputation of the college. At a time when women academics - indeed, higher education for women at all - were still looked at askance (hard to imagine these days), and women had to guard their reputations lest they be outcast and shamed (as Harriet was for taking a lover), scandal attached to Shrewsbury could cause great damage. Harriet is asked to investigate based on her experience investigating a murder with Lord Peter (“Have His Carcase”). Harriet stays in college to investigate, under cover of doing research for her own current work, and helping one of the dons finish the proofs for an academic work. Soon, however, the pranks get out of hand, and Harriet consults Peter for his advice on how to tackle the case.

Anyway, after a rather slow build-up, in which the beautiful, dreamy setting of Oxford is the star, and there are many scenes of academics dissecting life, work, love, the roles of women, and honor, and Harriet and Peter circling each other, Harriet has an encounter with the prankster and gets hurt. Peter suspected the culprit all along, and moves in for the capture - he makes his case, the academics give the unhinged prankster a chance to make her answer, and a hideous scene ensues in which emotions are laid bare in a most un-British way...

A very satisfying, lovely ode to Oxford, mystery and resolution to the Peter-Harriet romance all in one, this book (and series!) remain favorites. ...more

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