I loved the most recent BBC series doing Sayers' stuff.

But I remain resolute in my Ngaio Marsh love. And Troy Alleyn was never a Mary Sue in her life.

Have you guys read "Lord Peter", the short story collection? It has the two stories Sayers wrote of Peter and Harriet married, one where their first kid is born and one several years later.

our bookclub just selected The Night Inspector by Frederick Busch. Anyone read it and have thoughts?

I was a little cranky with Sayers over the Lord Peter collection. Three sons, no daughters.

I wanted to see Peter with girls. Also, lordy lordy lordy, that collection really showed Sayres' Toryism. There was that line about how Bredon, the eldest, was going to get everything, and the person she was talking to was outraged, saying, but that's very bad for the other two boys. And Harriet smiled and said yes, but it's very good for the property.

Oy.

Muder Must Advertise is my favourite of hers, by a lot. Gaudy Night is behind it, mostly because I know Oxford, and because I loved loved loved some of the language in that book. Harriet's realest moment to me was when Peter offered to show her how to avoid being strangled, and she said to him, you're going to make me feel clumsy and stupid, and I. don't. LIKE. it.

Never liked her better than right there.

Nods on "Murder Must Advertise." "Nine Taylors" comes after it for me, because "Gaudy Night" annoys me so much. Oxford is lovely, but the women are so obviously '30s artifacts now. Anymore I just skip to the parts with Viscount Gerald, because he's funny.

our bookclub just selected The Night Inspector by Frederick Busch. Anyone read it and have thoughts?

You know, I'm pretty sure I own it, think I have read it, and yet remember nothing. But that's nothing against the book -- I'm terrible with that.

oh, can you see if you have it? so I can borrow? asuming you're ok to lend it. t /presumptious.

Of course.

Gaudy Night, and GN alone, is one of the recommended book club books through the Seattle Public Library's Center for the Book, which keeps a stock of various Important Works to loan out to area book clubs. One of my coworkers in the brief time I worked at SPL mentioned that they were going to read it next. I asked her if she'd read any of the previous Lord Peter books, and she said no. While I don't think it's necessary to have read everything that's gone before to appreciate it, I can't imagine the book is enhanced by having to plunge straight in without any history of who Peter and Harriet are and why should we care.

One thing with Gaudy Night is that it's really not a mystery, to me. The anonymous letters etc. are a non-starter for me as a crisis, because being me here in the 21st century, I'm just "ignore the twit already. Can anyone really take someone like this seriously?" I don't see a threat, I see an expensive annoyance.

The book primarily strikes me as story of women in what is considered at the time an "unnatural" environment. 70 years later, the crisis there is minimal to me as well. If someone was wanting to be introduced to Sayers, I would give them "Murder Must Advertise".