Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1935

If you happened to be raised on these books, then Gaudy Night had a good chance of meaning a lot to you because it's a feminist novel sneaked into the end of a series about a man. (And also because it's a swoonily immersive romance of the kind that makes a big impression when you're a kid.)

I'm curious to check it out. Is it necessary to read any of the earlier books first?

I'm not sure. I mean, yes, it definitely picks up a lot of stuff from earlier books and tries to resolve it, so you'd probably get more out of reading it as part of the series. But I'm not sure it's worth that much investment on your part. The series as a whole is uneven, and it gets more ambitious as it goes on. One of the interesting things about Gaudy Night is Sayers's (mostly successful) attempt to graft a heavy weight of character development and motivation onto the very slim stalk with which the series started.

So I think you can go straight to Gaudy Night, but if you like mysteries and would like a fun and well-written (though also pretentious and snobbish) series to read in lockdown, these are the books I'd recommend:

Whose Body - Good, light, slightly stylized intro to the series. Lord Peter at his most Bertie Wooster-ish, with some interesting stuff about PTSD.
Clouds of Witness - Okay country-house mystery, not my favorite but fine.
Strong Poison - Introduces Harriet, the main character of Gaudy Night. Tonally all over the place - can't decide if it's drama or comedy - but quite readable all the same.
Have His Carcase - Lord Peter and Harriet investigate a crime together. The archest and most bitchy book in the series but not bad.
Murder Must Advertise - Part mystery novel, part satire about the advertising business. Wildly improbable and pretentious, but pretty good!
The Nine Tailors - All about the bell-ringing in a church in the fens. You either find this one atmospheric and stately or flat and over-researched; I go back and forth. The most ambitious of the books aside from Gaudy Night.
Gaudy Night - Harriet goes back to her old college to help them investigate episodes of vandalism and harassment.

I've read some great descriptions of Gaudy Night, usually ranked among Sayers' best, would like to read all those you list, but may not happen---as daunted by all the big rep unread mystery writers as science fiction (and everything else). (And I'm a dude, at least/most lowercase.)

xp Thanks. I might start at the beginning and see how it goes.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The only one of these I've read is House In Paris, which I read last year and enjoyed. I'm always a sucker for a good frame story structure.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1936