Dorothy Sayers wrote very intelligent cozies in what I think of as the Golden Era. I think hers are even a bit challenging compared to Agatha Christie. What do you think?

I am a big fan of Dorothy L. Sayers.

Her writing style is certainly more challenging than Christie's. The dialogue, the pacing of speech. And in at least one part of Whose Body? she switched POV from 3rd to 2nd person.

So far I only read Whose Body, but I have more on my list. Enjoyable reading.

Gaudy Night made a huge impression on me because, while being a great mystery, it also revealed a lot of the feelings about women in higher education and how that role was changing. It was eye-opening, in fact. It's the one I remember the most strongly because it made me realize how much things have changed for women today.

Reply to post #4 (show post):
You have some treats in store, then!

Reply to post #5 (show post):
Gaudy Night is easily my favorite Sayers as well, for the exact reasons you mentioned. And Sayers said in her letters (edited by Barbara Reynolds) that this actually mattered more to her than the mystery part. That's also part of why the mystery in that book remains much more bloodless than in her other novels -- though she wasn't trying to send a message (she actually abhorred being called a feminist), she felt too much violence would have detracted from what she was saying about Oxford -- and, by extension, women's education -- as well as about [scholarly] integrity.

Have you read her two addresses that were jointly (re)published under the title "Are Women Human"?

I can sympathize with not wanting to be called a feminist as I feel the same way myself. I haven't read the articles but I would imagine I would enjoy them. The rest of her mysteries never gave me the same feeling as Gaudy Night. They were just really fun mysteries that I enjoyed. This one had the more serious tone.

Well, "The Nine Tailors" is also fairly dark, just by far not as concerned with topics relevant to society at large. I know that a lot of people find the bell ringing bits annoying -- I don't, and I think by and large this one is also extremely well written. I just generally get a kick out of the way her researcher's brain went into overdrive on certain topics ... bell ringing in "Nine Tailors", railway schedules in "The Five Herrings" ...

I think I started but never finished The Nine Tailors. I'll need to pull it out again.

Yes! :)

The Fen Country atmosphere is extremely well done.

I like Nine Tailors and Gaudy Night (especially) a great deal. I think my other top 2 are Strong Poison and Murder Must Advertise.

I'd have to re-read them all to really choose a favorite, but I remember being quite affected by Strong Poison.

I think Sayers's mysteries are way more complex emotionally than Christie's. Gaudy Night is my favorite too, with Busman's Honeymoon a close second. I didn't realize until recently that Sayers wrote Busman's Honeymoon as a stage play (with Muriel St Clare Byrne) and then as a book.

I've never seen a romance like Wimsey and Vane in any other mystery. Two older, independent creatures who are very much in love but not sure how they will to continue to be themselves if they are married.

Strong Poison has one of the most clever murder methods in a mystery. Murder Must Advertise is just plain fun. I was just flipping through it again the other day.

Agreed, the murder method in "Strong Poison" is VERY clever ... and unlike Christie's more outlandish contraptions (think "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" and "Murder at the Vicarage") well enough thought out that one can actually see it working in real life. (Then again ... Russian emigré drama on the Cornish coast, complete with code breaking and rare diseases? ["Have His Carcase"?] Oh well. Must've been the going flavor of those years, what with Anastasia and the Bolshie scare ... ;) )