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by Sandra Parshall
Agatha Christie gave us the world’s most famous female sleuth, the village spinster Miss Marple, who knitted and gardened and solved crimes by observation and carefully placed questions. But Dorothy L. Sayers gave us Harriet Vane, the sharp-tongued, fiercely intelligent, and stubbornly independent mystery author who kept Lord Peter Wimsey dangling through several books before she accepted his proposal.Harriet, who first appeared in Strong Poison (1930), lived openly with her lover – and was accused of killing him. The daughter of a country doctor, orphaned at an early age, she graduated with honors from Oxford University and went on to support herself by writing. In short, Harriet was not a typical woman of her time, and that has made her an enduring favorite with readers. You could plunk her down in a 21st century mystery and she wouldn’t be out of place.
Harriet appeared in only four Lord Peter Wimsey novels –Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, Busman’s Honeymoon – and in a short story, Talboys, included in a collection. Jill Paton Walsh completed Sayers’s unfinished novel, Thrones, Dominations, and wrote two others, but to purists the only Harriet Vane books that count are those Sayers published.
This month the newly launched HarperCollins imprint, Bourbon Street Books, has reissued the four Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries in which Harriet appears in beautiful new trade paperback editions. I received a set from the publisher to give away to a lucky reader. Leave a comment about Harriet to enter a drawing for all four books. What does Harriet Vane mean to you? Why do you love and admire her? Why has she remained a popular character for more than 80 years? If you haven’t read the books, what intrigues you about Harriet and makes you want to learn more?
By the way, in May 2011, Victoria Janssen wrote a wonderful article about Harriet and Lord Peter’s relationship for the Criminal Element blog. If you missed it, and you’re a Harriet fan, I suggest you read it promptly here.
23 comments:
I have not read any of these but Harriet sounds intriguing to me just because if she was a writer and could make it in the 1930's she has to be a talented, different type of female. Thanks for introduction of new charachters and novels at least to me!
I love Harriet Vane. I grieved when I read the last book because I knew Dorothy Sayers wouldn't be writing any more. I like how she kept Peter at arm's length for a while, and how determined she was.
I love Harriet because she was a truly 'modern' woman, long before it was fashionable. She rejected marriage as an escape or as a solution.
How can you not love Harriet? She's intelligent, honest, and a very modern kind of feminist, who is open to love AND cares about her women friends. BTW, I loved the most recent Jill Paton Walsh book, which took a big risk with the arc of Lord Peter and Harriet's story and got it just right.
I haven't read any of these, but thank you for introducing me to Harriet!
Frankly, I've never thought Peter Wimsey was good enough for Harriet.
I have'nt read these books, either. Frankly, the author is new to me. I suppose because I'm not much on picking up old books and older authors. But have to say these sound very intriguing.
Please note that because I'm going to Bouchercon I may not notify the winner until Sunday.
I adore Harriet and, to some extent, patterned my own fiercely intelligent and independent Elizabeth Goodweather on her. The moment on the river where Harriet at last admits to herself that she's in love with Peter is one of my favorites. I used the same rather drawn out pursuit between Elizabeth and Phillip, but being creatures of their time, the pursuit didn't last quite so long...
I re-read some of these books recently and came away liking Peter less and Harriet more. Peter forces himself into situations (especially early in the series) for far less than noble motivations. Harriet has the mysteries forced upon her and responds with a maturity and depth that Peter is sadly lacking.
Oh, Harriet. I loved how she held to her principles, even when her neck was literally at risk, and would not accept Peter's proposal because she feared it was made out of pity and did not yet love him. She would not marry him until she was satisfied that the marriage was both one of equals and based on love. Long live Harriet Vane!
I have always held Dorothy Sayers' series up as the perfect mystery series. So logical, no TSTL characters, so well written. I've re-read my copies until they've broken in half in order to immerse myself in that rich but ballanced world she created. Harriet was the pinnacle of that creation, passionate but restrained, intellectual but feeling, an ideal yet so thoroughly human. Sayers' mastery in telling Harriet's story gave the series a depth, a reality, and a humanity missing in so many other mystery series. So sad not to have more of Sayers' immagination.
Llyn K.
I haven't read any of these but I really, really want to! Thank you for the giveaway!
I haven't started reading Dorothy Sayers yet, but I am collecting her works. I look forward to getting to know Harriet Vane as well. I think it might be my summer project next year. The history of woman writers is of interest to me, and I enjoy the books of so many new women authors that it's hard to do it all! :)
I have not read any books with Harriet, but I'm all for story lines with strong women characters - especially those who really went against the grain for their time period. Sounds like this character was just one of those ladies!
Why do I love Harriet? I can sum it up in three words, which says so very, very much about her, about him, and about the two of them together: "Placetne, magistra?" "Placet."
--Mario
I love Harriet Vane because she is so unabashedly herself: intelligent, educated, enlightened, liberated, and creative. I think of her as the quintessential Oxford woman graduate of her time, and probably the person Dorothy L. Sayers would have liked to be.
Laurie, I believe Sayers described Harriet just that way: the woman she would have liked to be.
I've only ever read Gaudy Night but the first three were made into a BBC series (based on Gaudy Night I'd say very true to the books) that I can recommend for anyone who wants to check it out. But I didn't realize there was a fourth book, not made for the series, that I'm going to have to go read now! Thanks for the post.
I adore all of Dorothy Sayers' books--Gaudy Night is my favorite. As Harriet and Peter start "moving together" instead of battling each other, they become increasingly interesting characters. I also love the characterization of Harriet in the Jill Paton Walsh/Dorothy Sayers book A Presumption of Death.
I started reading Sayers' books when i was about 12. that's an early age to read her, and i'm still reading her 40 years later. Dorothy Sayers wrote intelligent mysteries that were intriguing, compelling, and poignant. I found myself with Harriet Vane rooting for her, to live her life as she felt was best for her. I was conflicted, I have to admit, since I have such a crush on Lord Peter Wimsey. Oh my gosh. 50 years of adoration!
anne harris
mysandycat@aol.com
I always loved Lord Peter and Bunter, but the stories became even better with Harriet. What is not to love? A truly independent, free thinker of her time. I even look forward to all Jill Paton Walsh's books too.
The local chapter of Sisters here in Portland OR is the Harriet Vane Chapter.
Patg
Am I too late to leave a comment? I need to read up on the "classic" mysteries. This sleuth sounds like my cup of British tea!
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