I’ve only read one DLS novel - The Nine Tailors - which my dad recommended and I read years ago. Written in 1934 it’s of its time and the society depicted has to be accepted and enjoyed as such (ours will be equally harshly judged by future generations I’m sure ). The mystery is well constructed and intricate, and you won’t guess the murderer  The bleak, flat fenland, mid-winter setting is ominously atmospheric, effectively a character itself. And how many murder mysteries have you read that are based around that ancient, quintessentially English and supposedly harmless activity of bellringing? 
 

22 hours ago, Zombie said:

I’ve only read one DLS novel - The Nine Tailors - which my dad recommended and I read years ago. Written in 1934 it’s of its time and the society depicted has to be accepted and enjoyed as such (ours will be equally harshly judged by future generations I’m sure ). The mystery is well constructed and intricate, and you won’t guess the murderer  The bleak, flat fenland, mid-winter setting is ominously atmospheric, effectively a character itself. And how many murder mysteries have you read that are based around that ancient, quintessentially English and supposedly harmless activity of bellringing? 
 

 

I've read The Nine Tailors and it is certainly her best novel but I find so many problems with her books. I always found the biggest problem at the heart of her novels was Wimsey himself. Sayers was obviously very enamoured, if not in love, with him, but I've always found him such a weak character. He's stereotype of "aren't the aristocracy wonderful!"

I just found her plots and characterisation so lacking. So often there was no mystery to who the murder was and so often their motivation was unrealistic, even pitiful. Her descriptive powers were one of the best of most Golden Age writers but for me it is plot and characters that make a book readable.

So many people still say that Sayers is the best Golden Age writer and I cannot see why.

My favourite crime writers do remain PD James, Ruth Rendell and Joseph Hanson, and I owe a debt to Agatha Christie for teaching me to plot. I know not everyone will like the same writers, if we did this world would be a horrible dystopia, but I just find Sayers so lacking.

well there’s a reason Agatha Christie’s the best-selling novelist of all time 

But even Christie plots are often unconvincing, for example the contrived motivation in The Sittaford Mystery, and filled with stock characters. Still, she had a winning formula that has endured and no-one else has matched while DLS heads towards the ranks of the forgotten

On 2/20/2022 at 2:41 PM, Zombie said:

well there’s a reason Agatha Christie’s the best-selling novelist of all time 

But even Christie plots are often unconvincing, for example the contrived motivation in The Sittaford Mystery, and filled with stock characters. Still, she had a winning formula that has endured and no-one else has matched while DLS heads towards the ranks of the forgotten

 

I wouldn't say Christie had a formula, though she had a lot of tricks she used. Her books are game between her and her reader, can the reader guess the murder before she reveals them (I learnt so much about plotting from her). Though The Sittaford Mystery is by no means is her best, it isn't as bad as The Mirror Cracked From Side to Side. It had a good premise but the execution of it was so poor, Miss Maple was kept away from all the action.

Sayers doesn’t seem to being forgotten, not when all her books are still in print, not just e-books, and so many Golden Age fans still rave about her.