Fans of Wimsey, particularly those who read the novels in order, will be aware that Harriet Vane was first introduced into the world of Wimsey in the novel Strong Poison, where she finds herself on trial for murder. The fact the author manages to make the plot so menacing without having resort to murder is the first evidence of her skill.Īside from the detective aspect of the novel, this is also a passionate love story.

Against this polite backdrop, the acts of the person with a grudge against the college seem almost deranged and dangerous and there is a high level of tension and fear running through the novel. It is set in the inter-war years, where women were just finding emancipation and being admitted to such hallowed institutions as universities, where certain levels of behaviour were expected from women still, and the divisions between the sexes were more firmly delineated.

The ‘terror’ is rather genteel by the standards of today’s crime novels, but the setting for this book is the Oxford of a bygone era. The mystery involves a vicious campaign of terror in a women’s college at Oxford University. This is no straightforward detective novel, although it works extremely well purely on that level. The first time I read it as a teenager, there was no possible way that I could have understood and appreciated all the themes and nuances of this novel, but that did not stop me falling in love with it immediately, and my affection and appreciation for the book has only deepened over the intervening decades. There is so much going on in this novel, so many different layers and attractions to the story, that it rewards the reader with a new experience every time you pick it up, regardless of the number of times you have read it before. Īt first she thinks her worst fears have been fulfilled, as she encounters obscene graffiti, poison pen letters and a disgusting effigy when she arrives at sedate Shrewsbury College for the ‘Gaudy’ celebrations.īut soon, Harriet realises that she is not the only target of this murderous malice – and asks Lord Peter Wimsey to help. Now, despite her scandalous life, she has been summoned back. Harriet Vane has never dared to return to her old Oxford college. Because this is no normal detective novel, and I will explain why.

I have reread it numerous times during the past 34 years and have taken something different from it on each occasion. It was the first novel by this author that I encountered and, despite the fact that I have subsequently read all the Wimsey books and enjoyed them, this remains my runaway favourite. I first discovered the book via a recommendation from my school librarian as a teenager. Gaudy Night is the twelfth book in Sayers’ detective series featuring her aristocratic sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey, and is, in my opinion, her best novel. For my tenth, personal Desert Island Books, I have chosen Gaudy Night by Dorothy L.

Gaudy night book