Category: Mystery

Lifespan: (June 13, 1893 - December 17, 1957)

Interesting & Unique Facts: Sayers was a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries that feature English aristocrat and amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. However, Sayers herself considered her translation of Dante's Divina Commedia to be her best work. Sayers also wrote three volumes of commentaries on Dante, religious essays, and several plays, of which The Man Born to be King may be the best known.

Lord Peter Wimsey burst upon the world of detective fiction with an explosive "Oh, damn!" and continued to engage readers in ten novels and two sets of short stories. Sayers once commented that Lord Peter was a mixture of Fred Astaire and Bertie Wooster, which is most evident in the first five novels. However, it is evident through Lord Peter's character development that he existed in Sayers' mind as a living, breathing, fully human entity. Sayers introduced detective novelist Harriet Vane in Strong Poison.

Author's work in order (with publication dates):

Lord Peter Wimsey Series

• Whose Body? (1923)
• Clouds of Witness (1926)
• Unnatural Death [Also published as: The Dawson Pedigree] (1927)
• The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928)
• Lord Peter Views the Body [12 short stories] (1928)
• Strong Poison (1930)
• Five Red Herrings [Also published as: Suspicious Characters] (1931)
• Have His Carcase (1932)
• Hangman's Holiday [12 short stories, 4 featuring Wimsey] (1993)
• Murder Must Advertise (1933)
• The Nine Tailors (1934)
• Gaudy Night (1935)
• Busman's Honeymoon (1937)
• Thrones, Dominations (1938)
• In the Teeth of the Evidence [18 short stories, 4 featuring Wimsey] (1983)

Other Crime Fiction

• The Documents in the Case (1930) [written with Robert Eustace]
• The Floating Admiral (1931) [written with members of The Detection Club, a chapter each]
• Ask a Policeman (1933) [written with members of The Detection Club]
• Six against the Yard (1936) [written with members of The Detection Club]
• The Sultry Tiger (1936)
• Double Death: a Murder Story (1939) [written with members of The Detection Club]
• The Scoop and Behind the Screen (1983)
• Crime on the Coast and No Flowers by Request (1984) [written by members of The Detection Club, Sayers takes part in the second]

Dante Translations and Commentaries

• The Divine Comedy: Hell
• The Divine Comedy, Part 2: Purgatory
• The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Florentine/Cantica III: Paradise [completed by Barbara Reynolds]
• Introductory Papers on Dante: Volume 1: The Poet Alive in His Writings
• Further Papers on Dante Volume 2: His Heirs and His Ancestors
• The Poetry of Search and the Poetry of Statement Volume 3: On Dante and Other Writers