Gaudy Night (1935) is the tenth title in Dorothy L. Sayers’ popular Lord Peter Wimsey series. The novel features Harriet Vane, Wimsey’s future wife, as its principal character. She appears in five of the Wimsey books: Strong Poison (1930), Have His Carcase (1932), Gaudy Night (1935), Busman’s Honeymoon (1937), and In the Teeth of the Evidence (1939). Gaudy Night was produced as a BBC three-part series in 1987 and was shown in the United States as part of PBS’ Mystery! program.

Sayers published numerous other works of fiction and nonfiction in addition to the Wimsey series. However, she is best remembered for her mysteries and is regarded, along with Agatha Christie, as one of the queens of Golden Age Detective Fiction during the 1920s and 1930s. The character of Harriet is loosely based on Sayers herself because she graduated from Somerville College at Oxford University with a master’s degree in modern languages and medieval literature. With regard to the character of Lord Peter Wimsey, Sayers admitted that he represented a composite of all the traits of her ideal man.

The novel begins in June 1935, but the mystery isn’t solved until nearly a year later. A few scenes take place in London, though most of the action is set in fictional Shrewsbury College at Oxford University. Shrewsbury is a thinly disguised version of Sayers’ own Somerville College. The story is told using limited third-person narration from Harriet’s point of view. The tone is generally light and witty, though Harriet does grapple with some serious issues as she tries to sort out her personal feelings for Wimsey. At many points, the central plot gives way to incidents that consist of social satire or philosophical speculation. This gives the novel an episodic feel rather than the dramatic tension usually associated with crime dramas. Using Harriet’s quest to apprehend a poison-pen letter writer, the novel explores the themes of privilege and poverty, the consequences of bad choices, and above all else, the position of female intellectuals in 1930s British society.

Plot Summary

As the story begins, well-known mystery author Harriet is debating whether to attend her college’s annual Gaudy Night festivities to honor alumnae. Because Harriet has survived the scandal of cohabiting with a man and was subsequently tried for his murder, she has quite a notorious reputation. In addition, she is studiously trying to avoid the romantic attentions of Lord Peter Wimsey, who unfailingly asks her to marry him every year on April Fools’ Day. Despite her misgivings, Harriet answers the invitation and goes to Shrewsbury College, where she fends off inquiries about her private life from curious schoolmates. She also reconnects with the faculty of the school for whom she feels genuine affection. During the Gaudy Night weekend, Harriet stumbles across a sketch of a nude woman with a knife attacking someone in a scholar’s robe. Later, she finds a poison-pen letter—calling her a murderess—stuffed into the pocket of her academic robe. Harriet destroys both papers and thinks no more of the matter until her college Dean, Miss Letitia Martin, writes to ask for her help with an outbreak of poison-pen letters at Shrewsbury.

By spring, Harriet returns and takes up temporary residence at the college to ferret out the culprit. The Poison-Pen’s attacks grow more aggressive and involve episodes of vandalism as well as attempted murder. Eventually, Harriet calls on Wimsey to help her solve the case. The two discover that the assailant is Annie Wilson (Charlotte Ann Robinson), one of the housekeeping staff at Shrewsbury. Annie holds a grudge against one of the female scholars, Miss de Vine, and blames her for destroying her husband Arthur Robinson’s academic career and life. Annie accuses all the female faculty of occupying positions that ought to be filled by men who have families to support. After expressing a desire to kill them all, the deranged culprit is taken into custody. With peace at Shrewsbury once again restored, Harriet and Wimsey resolve their personal issues and become engaged.

NOTE: All page citations are taken from the Kindle edition of the novel.