When Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion, known as the "Gaudy," the prim academic setting is haunted by a rash of bizarre pranks: scrawled obscenities, burnt effigies, and poison-pen letters--including one that says, "Ask your boyfriend with the title if he likes arsenic in his soup."Some of the notes threaten murder and one of them involves a long Latin quotation, which makes Harriet suspect that the perpetrator is probably a member of the Senior Common Room. But which of the apparently rational, respectable dons could ...
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When Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion, known as the "Gaudy," the prim academic setting is haunted by a rash of bizarre pranks: scrawled obscenities, burnt effigies, and poison-pen letters--including one that says, "Ask your boyfriend with the title if he likes arsenic in his soup."Some of the notes threaten murder and one of them involves a long Latin quotation, which makes Harriet suspect that the perpetrator is probably a member of the Senior Common Room. But which of the apparently rational, respectable dons could be committing such crazed acts? When a desperate undergraduate, at her wits' end after receiving a series of particularly savage letters, attempts to drown herself, Harriet decides that it is time to ask Lord Peter Wimsey for help. And when the mystery is finally solved, she is faced with an agonizing decision: Should she, after five years of rejecting his proposals, finally agree to marry Lord Peter?
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"Gaudy Night" has long been one of my favorite mysteries, not only for the developing relationship between Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey, but for its wonderful portrait of Oxford - the city is a true "character" in the book and indeed, central to the book's theme. For those who like mysteries set in academia, this is one of the earliest and best. Sayers makes scholarly integrity - and the issue of intellectual honesty vs. romantic sentimentality - the question at the center of the book's "whodunnit."
It had been many years since I'd read the book, and listening to it in this audio version was perfect - I heard things I'd missed in my earlier readings, and found that I was appreciating familiar passages even more.
