Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers, published first in 1935, is part of her Lord Peter Wimsey series. However, while Wimsey is involved in this story, the main emphasis is on Harriet Vane. Wimsey doesn't have a major presence in the book until past the halfway point.
In a previous book, Wimsey had helped the falsely accused Vane to prove her innocence in the murder of her former lover. Her trial and her unconventional choices (such as living with her lover) caused quite a bit of notoriety for her, but she is finally coming somewhat to terms with it. She is invited back to her Oxford college reunion (known as the Gaudy), and then becomes one of the victims in a series of nasty pranks at her former college.
She is convinced to try to solve the mystery of who is playing these mean-spirited games before the college--and women's education--gets some unwanted bad publicity. She determines to do her best, but eventually the pranks escalate from mean-spirited to threatening and at that point she calls on Wimsey for his assistance.
The book is imbued with the flavor of Oxford life in the 1930's, and brings the feel of that period to life. The book also follows the struggle of Vane as she tries to deal with her feelings from the trial and the ensuing notoriety, and her feelings about Wimsey.
I enjoyed much of this book, although it seemed to move along a little slowly sometimes. I was also disappointed that she felt she had to call upon Wimsey to solve this, although I'm aware that this was written in the 1930s and to be expected.
This book fulfills requirement #20 Murder is Academic category of the Vintage Mystery Challenge 2013
This also fulfills a requirement in the 2013 A to Z challenge. Title--G and Author--S
read January 29-Feb 10, 2013
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