If You Love Agatha Christie, Meet Dorothy Sayers

I stayed away from Dorothy Sayers for years. I tried one of the Peter Wimsey books several years back, but found it too intellectual for my tastes. (Now that's a fancy way of saying her books made me feel stupid.) And the dialect! I have a pet peeve about reading dialect. So I never picked it up again.

Then I read Mind of the Maker. I loved how she connected creativity to faith in God. That warmed my feelings toward her a bit. I knew she was friends with C.S. Lewis, too, so I swore I’d try her again at some point.

Then my son was reading Gaudy Night for English last year, and I usually read the books my sons are reading if I can. I read it last summer while my younger son was taking swimming lessons. I’ll never forget a stranger approaching me and saying, “That is my favorite book. You’re going to love it.”

And I did.

Since then I’ve been hooked on this detective who is like Wooster (of the Jeeves and Wooster series) with a brain. I love how he knows a little bit about everything and isn’t afraid to allude to the classics or theology. Your brain can’t go to sleep while you’re reading Sayers, but it’s well worth the exercise.

Here are my favorites:

Have His Carcase

All the books with Wimsey and his love interest, mystery writer friend Harriet Vane are good, but this one is my favorite, maybe because it's a puzzle mystery with Russian undertones. Harriet finds a body on the beach, and she and Wimsey solve the case together, interviewing a cast of well-developed secondary characters. The best thing about this couple is their conversations. They have deep, meaningful discussions and aren’t afraid to argue about real things.

Murder Must Advertise

This novel is probably the most humorous of Wimsey’s novels. He goes undercover at an ad agency, while at the same time, pretending to be a harlequin to infiltrate a dope ring. The mystery itself is interesting, but what Sayers has to say about advertising, its psychology, and its effect on culture is fascinating as well.

The Nine Tailors

One thing I love about Sayers work is that you always learn something—whether it’s about advertising, gentlemen's clubs, the moors, or Scottish art colonies. In this novel, which centers on a rural parish, you learn about bell ringing. Nine tailors refers to the nine bells that are rung when a man dies. I loved how the back story enriched the main story and all the different Biblical allusions like the Flood, cherubim, which tie into the mystery. Very rich.

TV Adaptions:

Most of her novels have been made into BBC/Masterpiece productions. The Harriet Vane/Wimsey books (Strong Poison/Have His Carcase/Gaudy Night) from 1987 feature Harriet Walters (Mrs. Dashwood from the 1995 Sense and Sensibility) and Edward Petherbridge. *This is my favorite adaption.

The productions of the Wimsey only by the BBC (1972-1975) featuring Ian Carmichael are wonderful as well.

What have you been reading or watching lately? What are your favorite mysteries?