Gaudy Night
 US paperback edition cover | |
| Author | Dorothy L. Sayers |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Lord Peter Wimsey |
| Genre | Detective, Mystery, Novel |
| Publisher | Gollancz |
Publication date | 1935 |
| Publication place |  United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Preceded by | The Nine Tailors |
| Followed by | Busman's Honeymoon |
Gaudy Night is a 1935 Lord Peter Wimsey detective story by Dorothy L. Sayers. It is the third of the Wimsey novels to feature Harriet Vane.
Plot summary
Template:Spoiler Having been acquitted of one murder in Strong Poison, and been instrumental in the solving of another in Have His Carcase, mystery writer Harriet Vane arrives for the reunion (or gaudy) at her alma mater, the fictitious all-female Shrewsbury College, set at the Oxford. Here she encounters a tangle of poison pen notes, obscene graffiti, and dangerous pranks that she unravels with the help of Lord Peter Wimsey.
As the case develops, Harriet begins to admit to herself that she loves Wimsey, who has been proposing to her ever since they first met (in prison, as she faced the gallows as a suspect in the murder of her former lover). Throughout the story, Harriet examines her ambivalent feelings about love and marriage, along with her attraction to academia as an intellectual (and emotional) refuge. Her personal dilemma becomes entangled with darkly hinted suspicions and prejudices raised by the crimes at the college, which may have been committed by a frustrated woman academic. In an extraordinarily touching scene at the end of the book, Harriet Vane finally accepts Lord Peter Wimsey's proposal of marriage. (Their engagement, marriage and honeymoon (interrupted by yet another murder mystery) is depicted in Busman's Honeymoon.)
Characters in "Gaudy Night"
- Lord Peter Wimsey – protagonist, an aristocratic amateur detective
- Harriet Vane – protagonist, a mystery writer
Major themes
Although no murder occurs in "Gaudy Night", it is not without suspense and psychological thrills. the narative is interwoven with a love story and an examination of women's struggles to enlarge their roles and achieve some independence within the social climate of 1930s England.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
It was adapted for television in 1987 as part of a series starring Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter and Harriet Walter as Harriet Vane.
In 2005 an adaptation of the novel was released on CD by the BBC Radio Collection to finally complete the run of Wimsey adaptations begun with Whose Body? in 1973; the role of Harriet was played by Joanna David, and Wimsey, as ever, by Ian Carmichael.
The plot of Gaudy Night was adapted to become the two-part Out of the Past episode (#155 & #156) of the American television mystery series Diagnosis Murder starring Dick van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan. The episode first aired on 11 May 2000, with John Schneider as the villain.