Tag Archives: Dorothy L. Sayers

May 15, 2023

Mystery Monday 5/15/23

If you search for [queens of crime] you’ll turn up four names: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham. They’re all leading lights from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

I’ve known about and read Christie and Sayers since grade and high school, respectively. I’d seen Ngaio Marsh’s name many times over the years but don’t recall ever seeing Allingham’s. Recently I’ve worked through Marsh’s oeuvre. Now I’m exploring Allingham’s.

I’m also working through another queen: Ellery Queen.

5 Comments | tags: Agatha Christie, Albert Campion, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ellery Queen, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh | posted in Books, Mystery Monday

December 28, 2020

2020 Mystery Wrap-up

By Wyrd Smythe

In light of yesterday’s post, I was initially a bit confused. Is this, because it’s a wrap-up, the last Mystery Monday post of 2020 or, per yesterday, the first one of 2021? I say we wait until after the popping of the champagne corks, so this is the last one of the past year.

No question that this is a wrap-up of an active reading year when it comes to (murder) mysteries. I’ve enjoyed the genre from a very early age (the enjoyment was handed down by my dad). In this atrocious year, they’ve provided a welcome escape and respite.

The year also marks my return to library lending, albeit electronically.

14 Comments | tags: Agatha Christie, Archie Goodwin, Dorothy L. Sayers, Hercule Poirot, Lord Peter Wimsey, murder mysteries, Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout, Rizzoli & Isles, Robert Parker, Tess Gerritsen | posted in Books, Mystery Monday

December 30, 2019

The Real Sherlock Holmes

By Wyrd Smythe

How real is Sherlock Holmes, and what is the nature of his reality? On the one hand, Holmes is a fictional character from writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but on the other there is a Canon of 56 short stories and four novels defining that character. It’s hard to deny at least some reality to something so well defined.

Others have extended the concept of Holmes far beyond the original in books, movies, TV shows, and more. The original texts are in the public domain, so there is considerable freedom to explore the idea of a crime-solving duo comprised of a brainy detective plus a faithful sidekick.

As a result Holmes has a well-defined center and very fuzzy boundaries!

20 Comments | tags: A Christmas Carol, Dorothy L. Sayers, Dr. Greg House, House M.D., John Watson, Lord Peter Wimsey, ontological anti-realism, ontology, reality, Rex Stout, Sherlock Holmes | posted in Books, Mystery Monday

October 3, 2019

The Playfair Cipher

By Wyrd Smythe

Code master Wheatstone

Among my second tier interests are murder mysteries, detective stories, and cryptography. The first typically includes the second, but there are many detective stories that don’t involve murder. Two of my favorite detectives, Spenser (by Robert B. Parker) and V.I. Warshawski (by Sara Paretsky), often have cases not involving murder.

The third interest I listed, cryptography, doesn’t usually coincide with the first two, but it did play a role in a recent locked-room murder mystery involving the delightful amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey (by Dorothy L. Sayers). While I’ve always enjoyed secret codes, I’d never heard of the cipher Sayers used — the Playfair cipher.

It dates back to 1854, and is kind of cool, so I thought I’d share it.

5 Comments | tags: cipher, code, decipher, detective books, Dorothy L. Sayers, Lord Peter Wimsey, mystery books, secret codes, substitution cipher | posted in Basics, Books