Dorothy L Sayers Popular Books

Dorothy L Sayers Biography & Facts

Dorothy Leigh Sayers ( SAIRZ; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime novelist, playwright, translator and critic. Born in Oxford, Sayers was brought up in rural East Anglia and educated at Godolphin School in Salisbury and Somerville College, Oxford, graduating with first class honours in medieval French. She worked as an advertising copywriter between 1922 and 1929 before success as an author brought her financial independence. Her first novel, Whose Body?, was published in 1923. Between then and 1939 she wrote ten more novels featuring the upper-class amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. In 1930, in Strong Poison, she introduced a leading female character, Harriet Vane, the object of Wimsey's love. Harriet appears sporadically in future novels, resisting Lord Peter's proposals of marriage until Gaudy Night in 1935, six novels later. Sayers moved the genre of detective fiction away from pure puzzles lacking characterisation or depth, and became recognised as one of the four "Queens of Crime" of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction of the 1920s and 1930s, along with Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh. She was a founder member of the Detection Club, and worked with many of its members in producing novels and radio serials collaboratively, such as the novel The Floating Admiral in 1931. From the mid‐1930s Sayers wrote plays, mostly on religious themes; they were performed in English cathedrals and broadcast by the BBC. Her radio dramatisation of the life of Jesus, The Man Born to Be King (1941–42), initially provoked controversy but was quickly recognised as an important work. From the early 1940s her main preoccupation was translating the three books of Dante's Divine Comedy into colloquial English. She died unexpectedly at her home in Essex, aged 64, before completing the third book. Life and career Early years Sayers was born on 13 June 1893 at the Old Choir House in Brewer Street, Oxford; she was the only child of the Rev Henry Sayers and his wife Helen "Nell" Mary, née Leigh. Henry Sayers, born at Tittleshall, Norfolk, was the son of the Rev Robert Sayers, from County Tipperary, Ireland. At the time of Sayers's birth her father was headmaster of Christ Church Cathedral School and chaplain of Christ Church, one of the colleges of the University of Oxford. Her mother, born in Shirley, Hampshire, was a daughter of a solicitor descended from landed gentry on the Isle of Wight. Sayers was proud of the Leigh connection and later considered calling herself "D. Leigh Sayers" in professional matters, before settling for "Dorothy L. Sayers"—insisting on the inclusion of the middle initial. When Sayers was four years old her father accepted the post of rector of Bluntisham-cum-Earith in the Fen Country of East Anglia. The appointment carried a better stipend than the Christ Church posts and the large rectory had considerably more room than the family's house in Oxford, but the move cut them off from the city's lively social scene. This affected the rector and his wife differently: he was scholarly and self-effacing; she, like many of the Leigh family—including her great-uncle Percival Leigh, a contributor to the humorous magazine Punch—was outgoing and gregarious and she missed the stimulation of Oxford society.In the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), Catherine Kenney writes that the lack of siblings and neighbouring children of her own age or class made Sayers's childhood fairly solitary, although her parents were loving and attentive. Sayers formed one lasting friendship in these years: Ivy Shrimpton, eight years her senior, her first cousin as Nell's niece. Shrimpton, raised in California as an infant but educated in an Anglican convent school in Oxford, made extended visits to the Bluntisham rectory. Kenney writes that the two formed a lifelong friendship through "a youthful sharing of books, imagination, and confidences". Otherwise, Kenney comments, Sayers, "like many future authors ... lived largely a life of books and stories". She could read by the age of four, and made full use of her father's extensive library as she grew up. Schooling Sayers was educated chiefly at home. Her father began teaching her Latin before she was seven, and she had lessons from governesses in other subjects, including French and German. In January 1909, when she was fifteen, her parents sent her to Godolphin School, a boarding school in Salisbury. Her biographer Barbara Reynolds writes that Sayers took a lively part in the life of the school, acting in plays, some of which she wrote and produced herself, singing (sometimes solo), playing the violin and the viola in the school orchestra and forming highly charged friendships.Despite some excellent teachers, Sayers was not happy at the school. Joining at the age of fifteen, rather than the school's normal starting age of eight, she was seen as an outsider by some of the other girls, and not all the staff approved of her independence of mind. As an Anglican with strong high-church views, she was repelled by the form of Christianity practised at Godolphin, described by her biographer James Brabazon as "a low-church pietism, drab and mealy-mouthed", which came close to putting her off religion completely.During an outbreak of measles at the school in 1911 Sayers nearly died. Her mother was allowed to stay at the school, where she nursed her daughter, who recovered in time to study and sit for a Gilchrist Scholarship, which she was awarded in March 1912. Among the purposes of these scholarships was to sponsor women to study at university colleges. Sayers's scholarship, worth £50 a year for three years, enabled her to study modern languages at Somerville College, Oxford. After her experiences with the religious regime at Godolphin, Sayers chose Somerville, a non-denominational college, instead of an Anglican college. Oxford The all-women college of Somerville suited well, according to Kenney, because of its practice of cultivating its students to take prominent roles in the arts and public life. She enjoyed her time there, and, she later said, acquired a scholarly method and habit of mind which served her throughout her life. She was a distinguished student, and, in Kenney's view, Sayers's novels and essays reflect her liberal education at Oxford. Among the lifelong friends she made at Somerville was Muriel St Clare Byrne, who later played an important part in Sayers's career and became her literary executor. Sayers was co-founder, with Amphilis Middlemore and Charis Ursula Barnett, of the Mutual Admiration Society, a literary society where female students would read and critique each other's work. Sayers gave the group its name, remarking, "if we didn't give ourselves that title, the rest of College would". The society was a forerunner of the Inklings, the informal literary discussion group at Oxford; Sayers never belonged to the latter—an all-male group of writers—but became friendly with C. S. Lew.... Discover the Dorothy L Sayers popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Dorothy L Sayers books.

Best Seller Dorothy L Sayers Books of 2024

  • On the Run synopsis, comments

    On the Run

    John D. MacDonald

    Sid Shanley couldn't stay in one place very long. He had to keep on the run, changing towns, changing jobs, changing women. He worked out the perfect setup no attachments, no trai...

  • The Crossroads synopsis, comments

    The Crossroads

    John D. MacDonald

    More than half a century ago, Papa Drovek opened his small grocery store at the junction of two country roads. As he bought more and more land, the roads became highways, and now t...

  • One More Sunday synopsis, comments

    One More Sunday

    John D. MacDonald

    Welcome to the Eternal Church of the Believer, where devout workers operate stateoftheart computer equipment to process the thousands of dollars that pour in daily and where hundre...

  • Stormy Petrel synopsis, comments

    Stormy Petrel

    Mary Stewart

    A gripping, nailbiting adventure set in Scotland, from the original queen of romantic suspense Total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors' Harriet Evans When Rose Fe...

  • My Brother Michael synopsis, comments

    My Brother Michael

    Mary Stewart

    The original queen of the pageturner Mary Stewart leads her readers on a journey of murder and deceit through the dusty roads of midcentury Greece in this tale that fans of Agatha ...

  • The Price of Murder synopsis, comments

    The Price of Murder

    John D. MacDonald

    On the surface, they seem like three very different people: Danny Bronson, a cunning excon struggling to go straight; his brother, Lee, a former Gridiron star turned college profes...

  • The Ivy Tree synopsis, comments

    The Ivy Tree

    Mary Stewart

    Mary Stewart, one of the great British storytellers of the 20th century, transports her readers to rural Northumberland for this tale of romance, ambition, and deceit a perfect fi...

  • The Gabriel Hounds synopsis, comments

    The Gabriel Hounds

    Mary Stewart

    'A comfortable chair and a Mary Stewart: total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors.' Harriet EvansLegend has it that when the Gabriel Hounds run howling over the cr...

  • Seven synopsis, comments

    Seven

    John D. MacDonald

    A choice collection of seven short stories by one of America's foremost storytellers and the author of the bestselling Travis McGee series.Featuring 'Dear Old Friend', 'The Annex',...

  • The Turning Tide synopsis, comments

    The Turning Tide

    Catriona McPherson

    It is the breezy Scottish summer of 1936, Lady Dandy Gilver has been called, with trusted colleague Alec Osbourne, to solve the strange case of the Crammond Ferrywoman on the Firth...

  • Dorothy L. Sayers The Lord Peter Wimsey 15 Books complete. synopsis, comments

    Dorothy L. Sayers The Lord Peter Wimsey 15 Books complete.

    Dorothy L. Sayers

    Dorothy L. Sayers The Lord Peter Wimsey 15 Books complete. Whose Body?, Clouds of Witness, Unnatural Death, Lord Peter Views the Body, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Stron...

  • The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries synopsis, comments

    The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries

    Otto Penzler

    The Most Complete Collection of Impossible Crime Stories Ever Assembled, with puzzling mysteries by Stephen King, Dashiell Hammett, Lawrence Block, Agatha Christie, Georges Si...

  • The Neon Jungle synopsis, comments

    The Neon Jungle

    John D. MacDonald

    The Varaki family run the local grocery store, but tragedy hits the family hard. The sudden death of the matriarch of the clan is followed by the favourite son's death in Korea. Th...

  • Death on a Shetland Longship synopsis, comments

    Death on a Shetland Longship

    Marsali Taylor

    The first book in Marsali Taylor's thrilling Shetland Sailing Mysteries series. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Val McDermid, Faith Martin, J.R. Ellis, LJ R...

  • Mansfield Park synopsis, comments

    Mansfield Park

    Jane Austen

    'Full of the energies of discord sibling rivalry, greed, ambition, illicit sexual passion and vanity' Margaret DrabbleJane Austen's profound, ambiguous third novel is the story of...

  • The End of the Night synopsis, comments

    The End of the Night

    John D. MacDonald

    Three men and a beautiful girl on a crosscountry terror spree a coast to coast rampage of stealing, kidnapping, rape and killing.Who were they? Where did they come from? Why did t...

  • The Lady Vanishes synopsis, comments

    The Lady Vanishes

    Ethel Lina White

    The exciting original of the Hitchcock film classic.Iris Carr was young, wealthy, attractive and bored. Despairing of her society friends, tired of skiing with the crowd, she deci...

  • The Drowner synopsis, comments

    The Drowner

    John D. MacDonald

    Lucille Hanson had rid herself of the wrong man her rich husband who lived casually and loved carelessly. Then she found another man she hoped would be right. She was putting toge...

  • Hurricane synopsis, comments

    Hurricane

    John D. MacDonald

    A hurricane of terrifying intensity is looming over Florida. Along a state highway, a handful of foolhardy souls trying to outrun the storm are forced to seek shelter in an abandon...

  • Death Trap synopsis, comments

    Death Trap

    John D. MacDonald

    In life, Jane Ann never had much use for a halo, but in her violent death she finally earned one. When they found a suspect, everyone relaxed except Hugh MacReedy.Maybe he should h...

  • Nine Coaches Waiting synopsis, comments

    Nine Coaches Waiting

    Mary Stewart

    A thrilling, twisty tale of a dangerous romance set in the heart of midcentury Savoy, from the author of Madam, Will You Talk. 'Mary Stewart is magic' New York Times Linda Martin u...

  • Phaedrus synopsis, comments

    Phaedrus

    Plato

    Phaedrus is widely recognized as one of Plato's most profound and beautiful works. It takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus and its ostensible subject is love,...

  • Thunder on the Right synopsis, comments

    Thunder on the Right

    Mary Stewart

    From the original queen of the pageturner and author of Madam, Will You Talk? comes a thrilling tale set in a France as beautiful as it is deadly, perfect for fans of Agatha Chris...

  • A Key to the Suite synopsis, comments

    A Key to the Suite

    John D. MacDonald

    Corporate hatchetman Hubbard is on his way to an industry convention to carry out a termination a fancy way of saying he's about to toss a man and his family out in the street. Bu...

  • Dorothy and Jack synopsis, comments

    Dorothy and Jack

    Gina Dalfonzo

    What happens when we push past the surface and allow real, grounded, mutually challenging, and edifying friendships to develop? We need only look at the littleknown friendship betw...

  • Cry Hard, Cry Fast synopsis, comments

    Cry Hard, Cry Fast

    John D. MacDonald

    A gunman on the run, a seventeenyearold girl on a family vacation, a jaded working girl, a guiltstricken widower, an abandoned mistress. All heading fast down a route to sudden dea...

  • The Brass Cupcake synopsis, comments

    The Brass Cupcake

    John D. MacDonald

    In Flower City, a sleepy resort town on Florida's Gulf Coast, wealthy Elizabeth Stegman is murdered in a jewel heist gone bad her missing jewels insured for £750,000.It falls to h...

  • Touch Not the Cat synopsis, comments

    Touch Not the Cat

    Mary Stewart

    'A comfortable chair and a Mary Stewart: total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors.' Harriet EvansAshley Court: the tumbledown ancestral home of the Ashley family, ...

  • A Trace of Poison synopsis, comments

    A Trace of Poison

    Colleen Cambridge

    “Balances Downton Abbey–style period charm with a tight plot that twists and turns right until the end… a plot that would satisfy Poirot.” Library Journal “Dame Agatha would be pro...

  • The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers synopsis, comments

    The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers

    Dorothy L. Sayers & Carole Vanderhoof

    In this anthology, renowned murder mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers tackles faith, doubt, human nature, and the most dramatic story ever told.For almost a century, a series of laby...

  • A Man of Affairs synopsis, comments

    A Man of Affairs

    John D. MacDonald

    Sam Glidden owed all his success to the opportunities he'd received from Thomas McGann, president of the Harrison Corporation. But now McGann was dead, and Mike Dean, a wildly flam...

  • Murder for the Bride synopsis, comments

    Murder for the Bride

    John D. MacDonald

    Dillon Bryant, a successful engineer, is off on assignment after finishing his honeymoon. But news from home comes that his new bride, Laura, a beautiful woman whom he had met only...

  • The Moon-Spinners synopsis, comments

    The Moon-Spinners

    Mary Stewart

    Transport yourself to the idyllic hills of midcentury Crete in this tale of peril and intrigue, from the original queen of romantic suspense and author of Madam, Will You Talk? 'Ma...

  • The Only Girl in the Game synopsis, comments

    The Only Girl in the Game

    John D. MacDonald

    Her employers are the high priests of Las Vegas and she is their handmaiden. Her job is to lead the lambs to the sacrifice, to keep them happy at the tables, where her partners sla...

  • Cancel All Our Vows synopsis, comments

    Cancel All Our Vows

    John D. MacDonald

    Fletcher Wyant and his wife Jane had been married for fifteen years. They had built the perfect marriage two wonderful kids, a warm beautiful home, and their own private neverendi...

  • Thornyhold synopsis, comments

    Thornyhold

    Mary Stewart

    'A comfortable chair and a Mary Stewart: total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors.' Harriet EvansThe rambling house called Thornyhold is like something out of a fa...

  • Wildfire at Midnight synopsis, comments

    Wildfire at Midnight

    Mary Stewart

    The tense, twisty murder mystery which will have you on the edge of your seat, from the author of Madam, Will You Talk? /font size> 'Mary Stewart is magic' New York Times Follow...

  • Soft Touch synopsis, comments

    Soft Touch

    John D. MacDonald

    Jerry Jamison wants out: out of a sloppy marriage, a dull job and the empty suburban rat race. Once Jerry had a beautiful bride and a good salary at her old man's successful busine...

  • The Last One Left synopsis, comments

    The Last One Left

    John D. MacDonald

    When a yacht explodes in the Bahamas, apparently killing six people, Sam Boyleston, an attorney from Texas and the brother of one of the victims, is compelled to investigate the ci...

  • Area of Suspicion synopsis, comments

    Area of Suspicion

    John D. MacDonald

    Four years ago Gevan Dean found his fiancée Niki Webb in his brother Ken's arms and fled his hometown for a peaceful life in the Florida sun. But now Ken is dead murdered by a thi...

  • The Deceivers synopsis, comments

    The Deceivers

    John D. MacDonald

    Her name was Cindy, and she was his neighbour's wife the woman next door in the kind of suburbia that didn't make headlines. These were real people, nice people like Cindy and Car...

  • Please Write for Details synopsis, comments

    Please Write for Details

    John D. MacDonald

    American bachelor Miles Drummond, living in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and running out of money, halfheartedly places an ad in a few US newspapers announcing a summer art workshop. Much t...