category header

Dorothy L. Sayers

  PDF Print
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy L. Sayers

This Author Dorothy L. Sayers - has books at our site

Murder Must Advertise
The Nine Tailors
Hangman's Holiday
The Five Red Herrings
In the Teeth of the Evidence : And Other Mysteries
The Unpleasantness at Bellona Club
Have His Carcase
Strong Poison
Gaudy Night
Busman's Honeymoon
Clouds of Witness
Whose Body?
Unnatural Death
Thrones, Dominations

Dorothy Leigh Sayers, 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957, was a playwright, scholar, and acclaimed author of mysteries, best known for her books starring the English aristocrat and amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey.

Born in Oxford, England, Sayers, whose father was a reverend, grew up in the Bluntisham rectory and won a scholarship to Oxford University where she studied modern languages and worked at the publishing house Blackwell's, which published her first book of poetry in 1916.

Years later, working as an advertising copywriter, Sayers began work on Whose Body?, a mystery novel featuring dapper detective Lord Peter Wimsey. Over the next two decades, Sayers published ten more Wimsey novels and several short stories, crafting a character whose complexity was unusual for the mystery novels of the time.

In 1936, Sayers brought Lord Peter Wimsey to the stage in a production of Busman's Honeymoon, a story which she would publish as a novel the following year. The play was so successful that she gave up mystery writing to focus on the stage, producing a series of religious works culminating in The Man Born to Be King (1941) a radio drama about the life of Jesus.

More on Dorothy Sayers

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”

W. Somerset Maugham, Books and You

W. Somerset Maugham, Books and You

“The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.”

Roald Dahl, Matilda

Roald Dahl, Matilda

“People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned.”

Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow

“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.”

Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

Sorry, this website uses features that your browser doesn’t support. Upgrade to a newer version of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge and you’ll be all set.