The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers
aPublished: 1934 | Series: Lord Peter Wimsey 10
A car accident strands Lord Peter Wimsey and his manservant Bunter in the Lincolnshire fens on New Year's Eve. Taken in by the vicar of nearby village Fenchurch St Paul, Lord Peter ends up assisting with a record-breaking bell-ringing attempt, and then over the next twelve months is drawn into two intertwined village mysteries: a theft and the murder of an unknown corpse that turns up unexpectedly in the graveyard...
About Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) is best known as the author of twelve detective novels, most of which feature her aristocratic and literary-minded sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. She was a co-founder of the Detection Club, an important critic during the golden age of detective fiction, and a major champion of ambitious crime fiction. After her last crime novel was published in 1937, she dedicated herself to writing plays, religious broadcasting, and translation, including a major new version of Dante's Divine Comedy.
The Nine Tailors has featured many times on the podcast over the years. Its festive setting is discussed in the Crime at Christmas episode and the snowy thaw that produces the novel's climax is mentioned in Let It Snow. The book's relation to Sayers' biography is covered in three episodes: Dorothy's Secret, Dorothy L. Sayers Solves Her Mystery and The Challenge of Dorothy L. Sayers. The central vicar character comes up in Clerical Crimes. I read the book as part of my Century of Whodunnits. And the bellringing plot is mentioned in Instrument of Death.
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