I had heard the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy Sayers were very good, but I had never read one until I picked up Gaudy Night on the strength of Maureen Corrigan’s recommendation in Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading. She had singled it out as a book that treats women’s issues, particulary questions of career and marriage, in a fair and thorough way. I found that to be true, but it’s also a gripping mystery and a wonderful portrayal of Oxford between the wars. It’s long and leisurely — my edition, an old library copy in penicillin-green cloth covers, with foxed pages and mysterious brown stains, ran to over 400 pages — but I savored every word.
I had heard the The mystery takes place at Shrewsbury College for women. Someone — a don, a scholar, or someone on the staff — is persecuting the college with ugly messages and dangerous, disturbing pranks. Harriet Vane, an old student of the college, volunteers to investigate the mystery. Eventually she must call on Lord Peter’s help. Peter would like not only to be her partner in investigation, but also her partner for life. Their conversations and thoughts regarding equality in marriage, and the dons’ discussions of the vying priorities of marriage, family, and career, are as relevant today as they must have been then.
