"Dot" in Beekeepers Apprentice

[Mj]

Mary Russell has a dorm-mate she calls "Dot"
who joins her for dinner though "going to hell with Dante"
Could this _possibly_ be/supposed to be
Dorothy Sayers?
(not clear on the timelines as to attendance at Oxford)

[Robin P]

Mj wrote: "Mary Russell has a dorm-mate she calls "Dot"
who joins her for dinner though "going to hell with Dante"
Could this _possibly_ be/supposed to be
Dorothy Sayers?
(not clear on the timelines as to att..."

That would be delightful and seems to fit with the fact that Lord Peter makes an appearance in Book 3 of the series "A Letter of Mary". He's not totally identified, I suppose because unlike Sherlock Holmes, his character is still copyrighted. But in Book 3, Mary & Sherlock are visited by their friend Peter, an aristocrat who had a bad time in the war, collects books, plays piano with his wonderful long fingers, and speaks in a drawling way with dry humor. I thought, "this character is familiar, was he in Book 1 or 2?" and suddenly realized "it's Lord Peter" and started laughing out loud sitting in my car where I was listening to the audiobook.

Here's what Wikipedia says about Sayers' education, the general period is right.

In 1912, she won a scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford, and studied modern languages and medieval literature. She finished with first-class honours in 1915.Although women could not be awarded degrees at that time, Sayers was among the first to receive a degree when the position changed a few years later, and in 1920 she graduated as a MA.

[Maeros]

Never realized that! That's amazing! Thankyou for sharing. Who noticed the reference to that 'rather odd man'Tolkien in 'Letter of Mary'?