For me Gaudy Night is one of the most successful marriages of the puzzle with the novel of social realism and serious purpose. It tells me, as a writer of today, that it is possible to construct a credible and enthralling mystery and marry it successfully to a theme of psychological subtlety, and this is perhaps the most important of Dorothy L. Sayers's legacies to writers and readers.
From P.D. James, Talking About Detective Fiction (2009).
Yes!!! That is EXACTLY why I love Gaudy Night so much. And also because it is so romantic... :-)
ReplyDeleteI may need to find a copy of Gaudy Night. :)
ReplyDeleteI love Gaudy Night. It's the best of my campus novel and academic mystery collection. It's one of those books that rather ruins the reads that come after--so hard to measure up to that greatness. There is a rave review of the book at "things mean a lot" this week, too.
ReplyDeleteI definitely want to get hold of the PD James book - had not come across it before reading your posts. Thanks for that.
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