Detecting Wimsey: Papers on Dorothy L. Sayers's Detective Fiction
By Nancy-Lou Patterson. Valleyhome Books, 2017.
Edited by Emily E. Auger and Janet Brennan Croft
First printing 2017. Second printing 2020 with minor corrections courtesy of Joe Christopher. The pronoun has been corrected to clarify Fleming's death date of 1950 (197), the publication dates for the first books of poetry published by Sayers (1916) and C.S. Lewis (1919) have been clarified (232); and The Attenbury Emeralds (2010) has been added to the list of books by Walsh (257).
ISBN Hardcover 978-1-987919-11-0; Softcover 978-1-987919-12-7; EPub 978-1-987919-13-4. Support authors and buy direct from Lulu or Kobo. Watch for Lulu's free shipping and other discount coupons.
"This is a good book, over all. Patterson’s dependence on critical theory in some (not all) of the essays can lead her in odd but usually interesting directions. [...] it is a welcome thing to bring Patterson’s understandings of Sayers’s fiction into a handy collection. [...] and this will be a basic collection for full critical appreciation of Sayers’s mysteries."
——Excerpt from Review by Joe Christopher in Mythlore 36.2 (Spring/Summer 2018): 154-57. Download full review from Mythlore.
Notice of Publication in the University of Waterloo Daily Bulletin (Tuesday, February 26, 2019)
Table of Contents
Abbreviations for Dorothy L. Sayers's Fiction
Introduction: Nancy-Lou Patterson's Wimsical Scholarship by Janet Brennan Croft
Editorial Notes
Transformations and Transgressions (with illustrations by Nancy-Lou Patterson)
1. "All Nerves and Nose": Lord Peter Wimsey as Wounded Healer in the Novels of Dorothy L. Sayers
2. "Changing, Fearfully Changing": Polarization and Transformation in Dorothy L. Sayers's Strong Poison
3. "Bloody Farce": Irony, Farce, and Mortality in Dorothy L. Sayers's Have His Carcase
4. "A Comedy of Masks": Lord Peter as Harlequin in Dorothy L. Sayers's Murder Must Advertise (with illustrations by Nancy-Lou Patterson)
5. "A Ring of Good Bells": Providence and Judgment in Dorothy L. Sayers's The Nine Tailors
6. "Beneath That Ancient Roof": The House as Symbol in Dorothy L. Sayers's Busman's Honeymoon (with illustrations by Nancy-Lou Patterson)
7. "Eve's Sharp Apple": Five Transgressing Women in the Novels of Dorothy L. Sayers
8. "The Perilous Synthesis": Sacred and Profane Love in Dorothy L. Sayers's Thrones, Dominations
Reflections (with illustration by Nancy-Lou Patterson)
9. Even the Parrot Knows Better Than to Eat the Peel: Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) Writes for Children
10. "A Bloomsbury Blue-Stocking": Dorothy L. Sayers's Bloomsbury Years in Their Spatial and Temporal Context
11. Images of Judaism and Anti-Semitism in the Novels of Dorothy L. Sayers
12. "Cat o' Mary": The Spirituality of Dorothy L. Sayers
13. Why We Honor the Centenary of Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957)
Bibliography
Appendix: A Supplemental List of Works By and About Dorothy L. Sayers by Janet Brennan Croft
Index
"Dorothy L. Sayers" Illustration by Nancy-Lou Patterson (1993)
ISBN Hardcover 978-1-987919-11-0; Softcover 978-1-987919-12-7; EPub 978-1-987919-13-4. Support authors and buy direct from Lulu or Kobo. Watch for Lulu's free shipping and other discount coupons.
- Purchase hardcover, exclusively available from Lulu Books
- Purchase softcover from Lulu Books
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"This is a good book, over all. Patterson’s dependence on critical theory in some (not all) of the essays can lead her in odd but usually interesting directions. [...] it is a welcome thing to bring Patterson’s understandings of Sayers’s fiction into a handy collection. [...] and this will be a basic collection for full critical appreciation of Sayers’s mysteries."
——Excerpt from Review by Joe Christopher in Mythlore 36.2 (Spring/Summer 2018): 154-57. Download full review from Mythlore.
Notice of Publication in the University of Waterloo Daily Bulletin (Tuesday, February 26, 2019)
Table of Contents
Abbreviations for Dorothy L. Sayers's Fiction
Introduction: Nancy-Lou Patterson's Wimsical Scholarship by Janet Brennan Croft
Editorial Notes
Transformations and Transgressions (with illustrations by Nancy-Lou Patterson)
1. "All Nerves and Nose": Lord Peter Wimsey as Wounded Healer in the Novels of Dorothy L. Sayers
2. "Changing, Fearfully Changing": Polarization and Transformation in Dorothy L. Sayers's Strong Poison
3. "Bloody Farce": Irony, Farce, and Mortality in Dorothy L. Sayers's Have His Carcase
4. "A Comedy of Masks": Lord Peter as Harlequin in Dorothy L. Sayers's Murder Must Advertise (with illustrations by Nancy-Lou Patterson)
5. "A Ring of Good Bells": Providence and Judgment in Dorothy L. Sayers's The Nine Tailors
6. "Beneath That Ancient Roof": The House as Symbol in Dorothy L. Sayers's Busman's Honeymoon (with illustrations by Nancy-Lou Patterson)
7. "Eve's Sharp Apple": Five Transgressing Women in the Novels of Dorothy L. Sayers
8. "The Perilous Synthesis": Sacred and Profane Love in Dorothy L. Sayers's Thrones, Dominations
Reflections (with illustration by Nancy-Lou Patterson)
9. Even the Parrot Knows Better Than to Eat the Peel: Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) Writes for Children
10. "A Bloomsbury Blue-Stocking": Dorothy L. Sayers's Bloomsbury Years in Their Spatial and Temporal Context
11. Images of Judaism and Anti-Semitism in the Novels of Dorothy L. Sayers
12. "Cat o' Mary": The Spirituality of Dorothy L. Sayers
13. Why We Honor the Centenary of Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957)
Bibliography
Appendix: A Supplemental List of Works By and About Dorothy L. Sayers by Janet Brennan Croft
Index
"Dorothy L. Sayers" Illustration by Nancy-Lou Patterson (1993)