Feminists who are Lord Peter fans......

And I've just finished watching Gaudy Night.

"Will you marry me?" "You dear idiot" is not a patch on "Placetne, magistra?" "Placet" and I wish they'd managed to fit St George in but otherwise, loved it.

I think I'll skip the Ian Carmichaels.

Catkind, I've just finished watching it. And yes I did .

Empress, I think you will like HHC. From the point of view of giving Harriet space and letting her walk away, I love the handling in the adaptation even better than the book

I watched Strong Poison at the weekend. Have His Carcase is next.

It's so refreshing - even nowadays - that Harriet can just walk away at the end instead of being grabbed & forced to sink into Peter's arms.

Ah, don't make the mistake I made and start rereading the book while watching the programme! I've swapped to the audio book read by Ian Carmichael on YouTube now instead. I do like the actor who plays Harriet though, she's very good in the role.

Oh glad to hear it's good Flavia. I have that one bookmarked.

I've just finished episode 1 of Gaudy Night on YouTube, I am enjoying it very much.

I wasn't sure about Peter, Harriet or Bunter at the start but now I've got Harriet and am warming to Peter. I do hate it when directors don't time travel and mind read to see the images in my head before casting

I loved the Edward Petherbridge adaptations, he and Harriet Walter were amazing. Ian Carmichael dressed in the Harlequin outfit was practically laughable. And he didn't look anything like Wimsey in the books, surely?

I much prefer DLS over other mystery writers from that era (from any era really). There's so much more to the stories than the investigation, so much subtext and social detail, meaning they can be read over and over. She treats her readers as intelligent adults, and she's one of the only writers from whom I actually learn new words.

But in a weird aside to the pronunciation discussions, the characters pronounce "grimethorpe" as "grimthorpe". Why? It's the name of a Yorkshire village, and the book is set in Yorkshire and grimethorpe is always said with a long first syllable there 🙄

Gosh, I am on the final part of Clouds of Witness on YouTube and Mrs Grimthorpe being transported off to stay with the dowager duchess when she arrives in London.

What enlightened thinking! I am super impressed at the absolute lack of blame to the woman, and just complete kindness shown.

DLS didn't bring up her own son, did she? I supect her views on parenting were almost entirely theoretical, and she may have had a different approach if she'd had more direct experience.

Peter had been smacked by his own parents. Socking people one, physically grabbing them (and of course making them turn white and risk breaking an arm), getting shot in the arm or breaking a collarbone all feature rather heavily in the books.

Plus, it was mid-war again by this point, if I've worked out the dates. I doubt DLS saw a parental 'whipping' as much to get worked up about.

(As an aside - in 1945, my father was caned by the Head on his first day of school, aged 4. I'm not saying that's a good thing.)

The only modern book character I feel is anything like Harriet Vane is Isobel in the Alexander McCall Smith The Sunday philosophy club series.

It's one of the few female characters that also massively think about things, analyse motives and conversations, and refers to books, poets, quotations and ideals in everyday life. Can anyone think of any more?

I actually don't like much of McCall Smith's other works. That weird one about the house was just unreadable. But I like the character of Isobel very much for her parallels with Harriet.

Tallboys was written by DLS, and yes I haven't been able to re read it again either. It's included in a short story collection I have of DLS, some of them very interesting indeed. One about cats disappearing I remember. Another about a visiting salesman.

The beating of the son in Tallboys was jarring as I felt it wasn't in keeping with the modern way of parenting Peter and Harriet had. There was a character in the book who was aghast and portrayed very negatively 😔

@BertrandRussell I may try the audio instead then. I have lots of the older audios, even if I also have the books.

I don’t find the way the JPW books are written nearly as engaging as DSL. I haven’t read any of the later short stories. Was looking forward to them but not if they involve beating. Which was probably more normal then but I can’t see urbane Peter going for that.

Very few people are truly free in their minds to be free of their times, so I've been happily able to let all the classism and snobbery slide. Helps not to be English/British. ;) That short story though about Peter and Harriet beating their eldest son because he really doesn't mind and is quite proud of being strong enough for a hiding - THAT one is tough to swallow. That knocked DLS down of the piedestal. (I choose not to re-read it.)

@Somerville Jill PW did go to Oxford inspired by Dorothy L Sayers. It's clear she was passionate about them, which did make her the best choice to write the follow ups.

I don't know if she found her own Wimsey though.

Just imagine you'd been at all-girls Catholic schools, worked hard to get into Oxford, and even chosen your college based on literary heroes (not Somerville, BTW), and then looked around expecting Wimsey-like boyfriends...

Is "The Late Scholar" any good? It's the only one of the Jill PW books I haven't read... I am not sure why I didn't read it as soon as it came out. I own all the others in paperbacks. I don't like kindle much.

It's sitting in my amazon basket at the moment.

Or I could order it for 50p from the library, but it'll be a hardback and a pain to read. Plus, I have the others and it would complete the set I guess.

Blimey that's it isn't it. Teenage years reading Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Edmund Crispin didn't then set me up to see much in spotty youths with little or no conversation who, in general just wanted to do some necking.
Life has indeed been a bit of a let down.

Real life has been such a letdown

How true. I never actually fancied Peter - he is too clearly DLS' personal fantasy, plus I have always felt he'd be annoying IRL (see also Mr Darcy). But the idea of finding someone as perfect for you as Peter is for Dorothy Harriet is wonderful and - much as I adore Mr XXfactor - rarely achieved outside the pages of a book.

Teenage boys were a real let-down after I read Strong Poison at about 14

Thanks Northern, that's interesting.

Marking place till I have time to contribute something! I love the Wimsey/Vane books.

In Murder Must Advertise he says (in the guise of Bredon) that most people rhyme it with teeth, but he thinks it more picturesque rhymed with breath. Whether he was telling the truth or not is another matter, as he was being Bad Harlequin Bredon at that point