Dorothy L. Sayers

Rustic old Riddlesdale Lodge was a Wimsey family retreat filled with country pleasures and the thrill of the hunt -- until the game turned up human and quite dead. He lay among the chrysanthemums, wore slippers and a dinner jacket and was Lord Peter's brother-in-law-to-be. His accused murderer was Wimsey's own brother, and if murder set all in the family wasn't enough to boggle the unflappable Lord Wimsey, perhaps a few twists of fate would be -- a mysterious vanishing midnight letter from Egypt...a grieving fiancee with suitcase in hand...and a bullet destined for one very special Wimsey.

When a disfigured corpse is discovered in a country parish, the local rector pleads with Lord Peter to take on what will become one of his most brilliant and complicated cases.

Mystery novelist Harriet Vane knew all about poisons, and when her former lover died in the manner prescribed in one of her books, a jury of her peers had a hangman's noose in mind. But Lord Peter Wimsey was determined to find her innocent.

The wealthy Agatha Dawson is dead--a trifle sooner than expected--but there are no apparent signs of foul play. Lord Peter Wimsey, however, senses that something is amiss and refuses to let the case rest--even without any clues or leads. Suddenly, he is faced with another murder: Agatha's maid. Can super-sleuth Wimsey find the murderer and solve the case before he becomes the killer's next victim?The intricate trail of horror and senseless murder leads from a beautiful Hampshire village to a fashionable London flat and a deliberate test of amour.

The stark naked body was lying in the tub. Not unusual for a proper bath, but highly irregular for murder -- especially with a pair of gold pince-nez deliberately perched before the sightless eyes. What's more, the face appeared to have been shaved after death. The police assumed that the victim was a prominent financier, but Lord Peter Wimsey, who dabbled in mystery detection as a hobby, knew better. In this, his first murder case, Lord Peter untangles the ghastly mystery of the corpse in the bath.

The dons of Harriet Vane's alma mater, the all-female Shrewsbury College, Oxford, have invited her back to attend the annual Gaudy celebrations. However, the mood turns sour when someone begins a series of malicious acts including poison-pen messages, obscene graffiti and wanton vandalism. Harriet asks her old friend Wimsey to investigate.

When ad man Victor Dean falls down the stairs in the offices of Pym's Publicity, a respectable London advertising agency, it looks like an accident. Then Lord Peter Wimsey is called in, and he soon discovers there's more to copywriting than meets the eye. A bit of cocaine, a hint of blackmail, and some wanton women can be read between the lines. And then there is the brutal succession of murders -- 5 of them -- each one a fixed fee for advertising a deadly secret.

Society’s eligible women are in mourning. Lord Peter Wimsey has married at last, having finally succeeded in his ardent pursuit of the lovely mystery novelist Harriet Vane. The two depart for a tranquil honeymoon in a country farmhouse but find, instead of a well-prepared love nest, the place left in a shambles by the previous owner. His sudden appearance, dead from a broken skull in the cellar, only prompts more questions. Why would anyone have wanted to kill old Mr Noakes? What dark secrets had he to hide? The honeymoon is over, as Lord Peter and Harriet Vane start their investigations. Suspicion is rife and everyone seems to have something to hide, from the local constable to the housekeeper. Wimsey and his wife can think of plenty of theories, but it’s not until they discover a vital fact that the identity of the murderer becomes clear. Dramatised by Alistair Beaton for BBC Radio 4 with Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, Sarah Badel as Harriet Vane and Peter Jones as Bunter. It was first broadcast from 2 January to 7 February 1983. 2 CDs. 2 hrs 25 mins.

The second Dorothy L. Sayers classic to feature mystery writer Harriet Vane, Have His Carcase. Harriet’s discovery of a murdered body on the beach before it is swept out to sea unites her once more with the indomitable Lord Peter Wimsey, as together they attempt to solve a most lethal mystery, and find themselves become much closer than mere sleuthing partners in the process.

Ninety-year-old General Fentiman was definitely dead, but no one knew exactly when he had died—and the time of death was the determining factor in a half-million-pound inheritance. Lord Peter Wimsey would need every bit of his amazing skills to unravel the mysteries of why the General's lapel was without a red poppy on Armistice Day, how the club's telephone was fixed without a repairman, and, most puzzling of all, why the great man's knee swung freely when the rest of him was stiff with rigor mortis.

The body was on the pointed rocks alongside the stream. The artist might have fallen from the cliff where he was painting, but there are too many suspicious elements—particularly the medical evidence that proves he'd been dead nearly half a day, though eyewitnesses had seen him alive a scant hour earlier. And then there are the six prime suspects—all of them artists, all of whom wished him dead. Five are red herrings, but one has created a masterpiece of murder that baffles everyone, including Lord Peter Wimsey.

In this anthology, renowned murder mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers tackles faith, doubt, human nature, and the most dramatic story ever told. For almost a century, a series of labyrinthine murder mysteries have kept fans turning pages hungrily as Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane discover whodunit, again and again. Detective novel enthusiasts may not know that for almost as many years, Christian thinkers have appreciated the same Dorothy L. Sayers for her acumen as an essayist, playwright, apologist, and preeminent translator of Dante's Divine Comedy. Now, for the first time, an anthology brings together the best of both worlds. The selections uncover the gospel themes woven throughout Sayers's popular fiction as well as her religious plays, correspondence, talks, and essays. Clues dropped throughout her detective stories reveal an attention to matters of faith that underlies all her work. Those who know Sayers from her nonfiction writings may wonder how she could also write popular genre fiction. Sayers, like her friend G. K. Chesterton, found murder mysteries a vehicle to explore the choices characters make between good and evil. Along with C. S. Lewis and the other Inklings, with whom she maintained a lively correspondence, Sayers used her popular fiction to probe deeper questions. She addressed not only matters of guilt and innocence, sin and redemption, but also the cost of war, the role of the conscience, and the place of women in society. None of these themes proved any hindrance to spinning a captivating yarn. Her murder mysteries are more reminiscent of Jane Austen than Arthur Conan Doyle, with all the tense interpersonal exploration of the modern novel.

One of the first women to graduate from Oxford, Dorothy Sayers pursued her goals whether or not what she wanted to do was ordinarily understood to be "feminine." Sayers kept in mind that she was first of all a human being and aimed to be true not so much to her gender as to her humanity. The role of both men and women, in her view, was to find the work for which they were suited and to do it. While Sayers did not devote a great deal of time to talking or writing about feminism, she did explicitly address the issue of women's role in society in the two penetrating essays collected here. Though she wrote several decades ago, she still offers in her piquant style a sensible and conciliatory approach to ongoing gender issues.

Choice selections from the Wimsey family’s correspondence during World War II.   Intended by Dorothy Sayers primarily as a form of commentary on the war, on topics ranging from British life and government to foreign powers and dreams for the post-war future, it serves as a fascinating appendix to the adventures of Lord Peter Wimsey and his companions.  

A fleeting killer's green mustache. A corpse clutching a note with misplaced vowels. A telephone with the unmistakable ring of death. A hopeful heir's dreams of fortune done in when nature beats him to the punch. A playwright's unwatered-down honor that is thicker than blood.In each case, the murder baffles the local authorities. For his Lordship and the spirited salesman-sleuth Montague Egg, a corpse is an intriguing invitation to unravel the postmortem puzzles of fascinating falsehoods, mysterious motives and diabolical demises. Contains: In the teeth of evidence -- Absolutely elsewhere -- A shot at goal --Dirt cheap -- Bitter almonds -- False weight -- The professor's manuscript -- The milk-bottles -- Dilemma -- An arrow o'er the house --Scrawns -- Nebuchadnezzar -- The inspiration of Mr. budd -- Blood sacrifice -- Suspicion -- The leopard lady -- The Cyprian cat.

The grotesquely grinning corpse in the Devonshire shack was a man who died horribly -- with a dish of mushrooms at his side. His body contained enough death-dealing muscarine to kill 30 people. Why would an expert on fungi feast on a large quantity of this particularly poisonous species. A clue to the brilliant murderer, who had baffled the best minds in London, was hidden in a series of letters and documents that no one seemed to care about, except the dead man's son.

The wife of a wealthy man is found dead, and it is up to Lord Peter Wimsey and his wife, Harriet, to solve the case.

In this delightful collection of Wimsey exploits, Dorothy L. Sayers reveals a gruesome, grotesque but absolutely bewitching side rarely shown in Lord Peter's full-length adventures.Lord Peter views the body in 12 tantalizing and bizarre ways in this outstanding collection. He deals with such marvels as the man with copper fingers, Uncle Meleager's missing will, the cat in the bag, the footsteps that ran, the stolen stomach, the man without a face...and with such clues as cyanide, jewels, a roast chicken and a classic crossword puzzle.

Amusing and absolutely appalling things happen on the way to the gallows when murder meets Lord Peter Wimsey and the delightful working-class sleuth Montague Egg. This sumptuous feast of criminal doings and undoings includes a vintage double identity and a horrid incident of feline assassination that will tease the minds of cat-lovers everywhere. Not to be missed are "The Incredible Elopement of Peter Wimsey" (with a lovely American woman-turned-zombie) and eight more puzzlers penned in inimitable style by the mistress of murder. Includes: The image in the mirror -- The incredible elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey -- The queen's square -- The necklace of pearls -- The poisoned dow '08 -- Sleuths on the scent -- Murder in the morning -- One too many -- Murder at Pentecost -- Maher-Shalal-Hashbaz -- The man who knew how -- The fountain plays.

Three of Lord Peter Wimsey's most baffling cases demonstrate his unique detction skills at their most spectacular. The engima of a house numbered thirteen in a street of even numbers; an indignant child accused of theft, a dream about a game of chess that uncovers the true story behind a violent death. Each of the stories introduces a different side of the twentieth century's most ingenious detective hero. This book also features a biographical essay by Janet Hitchman, Sayers' first biographer.

An alternate cover edition can be found here. All 21 of Dorothy Sayers' short stories about Lord Peter Wimsey, eccentric amateur sleuth. Also includes an article about Sayers and a parody of "Gaudy Night". From "Lord Peter Views the Body" (1928) 1. The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers 2. The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question 3. The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will 4. The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag 5. The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker 6. The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention 7. The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps That Ran 8. The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste 9. The Learned Adventure of the Dragon's Head 10. The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach 11. The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face 12. The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba From "Hangman's Holiday" (1933) 1. The Image in the Mirror 2. The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey 3. The Queen's Square 4. The Necklace of Pearls From "In the Teeth of the Evidence" (1939) 1. In the Teeth of the Evidence 2. Absolutely Elsewhere From "Striding Folly" (1972) 1. Striding Folly 2. The Haunted Policeman 3. Talboys Also Coda: Sayers, Lord Peter and God by Carolyn Heilbrun Codetta: Greedy Night, A Parody by E. C. Bentley