The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers

[meganbmoore]

When he gets stranded in a Fenland village on New Years Eve, Wimsey is drafted to help ring a nine-hour peal of bells for the local church because a local bell-ringer named Thoday is ill. (Enterprising locals!) While he’s there, a local woman dies, and Wimsey learns that the family-the Thorpes-had had a houseguest who was robbed of valuable emeralds years ago, one of the criminals being their own butler. Months later, the woman’s husband dies, and when her grave is opened for her burial, a corpse is found on top of her coffin. The corpse is missing both hands, and the face had been battered beyond recognition. The title refers to be church bells, and takes on a more complicated meaning throughout the book.

Contacted by the locals who have since leaned of his “hobby,” Wimsey returns to the village to investigate. Soon, there are secret codes, secret identities, old rivalries, mistaken identities, and long kept secrets. I think, though, that I’ve been spoiled by other Wimsy mysteries. The others have some combination of Bunter, Wimsey’s family, Harriet, Wimsey’s mental state, or Sayers tackling social issues and exploring ideas of her time. Except for Bunter, all of that is pretty much missing here. Still a solid mystery, but it doesn’t quite have them charm of some other Wimsey books.

It also-through no fault of its own-suffers from a case of using a trope that was probably very original at the time, but has become overused in the 70 years since.

That is, as soon as it was mentioned that Deacon’s body was found some time after his death, and that he was identified by his clothing, it was obvious that he would either be the victim, or the killer. Or at the very least, not dead and returning to complicate matters.

Good, but not my favorite of the series. Interestingly, I remember glancing at the wikipedia page for Murder Must Advertise after finishing it and seeing that Sayers supposedly didn’t like Murder Must Advertise, and only wrote it because she wouldn’t have The Nine Tailors ready in time. Naturally, of the two, I prefer Murder Must Advertise.

There is to be no spoiling or even coy hinting of Gaudy Night or Busman’s Honeymoon without the spoiler code. I’ve already picked up enough through fandom osmosis. Spoiler code if you want to say anything about them, either for me to look at later, or to each other: <span style="color: #333333;background-color: #333333">Spoilers here.</span>

Comments

[moiraj.livejournal.com]

I much prefer Murder Must Advertise, too. I found The Nine Tailors too dry.

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

I love Murder Must Advertise, but I admit it's mostly because of the scenes of office life.

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

I adore Murder Must Advertise, and reread it much more often, but I love Nine Tailors for the atmospherics. It's so moody and damp and understated.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Count me in as another who enjoys TNT but prefers MMA. It's really my second-favorite of the Sayers, coming in a close second to Gaudy Night.

[melengro.livejournal.com]

Murder Must Advertise, The Nine Tailors, and Gaudy Night are pretty much the combined pinnacle of the series, to me. Mainly because I love both Harriet and Hilary, and because MMA is basically ~*~THIRTIES DILBERT~*~ and it's just amazing.

[troisroyaumes]

I liked both a lot, though I also preferred Murder Must Advertise.

[keilexandra]

Hmm. I have a review of this in my queue to write up, and it should be a interesting compare/contrast. My first experience with Sayers, read in pieces over the course of about 2 years(!), which may have contributed to my not "getting" the book until the final revelation on the second-last page. It didn't feel worth the payoff.