Gaudy Night

Yet another brilliant storey, so many ways this could go. Nice to finally see his love interest bloom.

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Dorothy L. Sayers at University

This is a wonderful example of the work of Dorothy L Sayers with her Hero Lord Peter side lined by Harriet who seeks a nasty prankster at her old college at Oxford. Not only do we find several excellent red herrings but also a chance to realize how far we have progress in the education opportunities for women. There is also a good illustrations of the problems that can arise in hot house intensity of higher education, also the danger of out growing youthful friendships. All set against the tensions in the lead up to the Second World war. A must for all Dorothy L Sayers fans with the performance bring the words to life.

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Miss Sayers at her best - shame the narration wasn't that great

I have waited a long time for this book to be released I audio for at. In my humble opinion this is Miss Sayers at her very best. By why oh why didn't the get Edward Petherbridge for the narration. This is why I have marked down the performance.

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15 people found this helpful

My favourite Dorothy spoilt by narration

I love this book but almost didn't finish it because of the narration. I would almost say that the narrator doesn't understand much of what she is reading, as she continually stresses less important words in sentences; and mispronunciations abound. And she narrates all the Wimsey/Vane books! Does no-one at the publishers listen to the books before releasing them?

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14 people found this helpful

A good mystery and a terrible narrator

This is one of Sayers' strongest books on Harriet Vane's perspective, and provide a satisfying step in her relationship with Peter Wimsey. The setting is ideal for a cosy mystery, with a finite set of participants, and the plot moves along at an excellent pace. From the writing side, the only thing letting it down is some fairly awful attitudes to class - I don't recall this book having the antisemitism or racism of some others in the series, though I might be blurring them together.

The narrator remains a disaster, though, mispronouncing character and place names, and at one point referring to a character as "Lord St. Peter", which...no. I hope someone commissions an unabridged narration of the series with basic research and a reader who paces sentences as if they're in English. If I wasn't craving full versions of the books to 're-read' on long commutes, the narration would prevent me from buying any more.

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2 people found this helpful

The narrator does not do a good job

This story is absolutely wonderful.

All the way through I kept trying to figure out the exact nature of the narrator's shortcomings:

1. She has a nice voice
2. She doesn't have the ability to differentiate her voices according to character, sometimes she tries it and applies the voice too late, mostly she doesn't (Martin Jarvis is one of the best in this regard and often improves one's enjoyment of the story).
3. The way that the words are strung together sounds like my kindle when I select the voice option (what you get is a computer selecting the words from a database and stringing them together without the necessary understanding to give the correct intonation and emotion).

It is a real tragedy because it appears that this narrator is currently the only option in the audible stable for the Lord Peter Wimsey books.

However, this story is wonderful and scholarly, I am not a scholar and supplemented my understanding by researching for example Latin phrases on the Internet - it gives more depth and tenderness to the story.... Sublime, truly sublime..............shame about the narrator.

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11 people found this helpful

Ruined by performance

This is one of my favourite books which I have read many times since I was a teenager. However my enjoyment is completely spoiled by the very strange reading. Robotic, erratic stressing of words, just dreadful.

2021 Edit. It is still impossible to buy unabridged recordings of Sayer’s books that aren’t read by this dreadful narrator, even though wonderful recordings of them being read by Ian Carmichael exist. A great disservice to the author and Audible customers.

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2 people found this helpful

They finally get together

Good story and well read with the ending that everyone wants Cannot wait for the next story to be available as an audio book

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Gaudy Night

9/10 Great detective story even without a body. Very well written and an intelligent story with believable characters also a few twists and red herrings.

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Sayers needed a ruthless editor

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

The jerky, spitting style of the reader spoils the book

What did you like best about this story?

The Wimsey Vane romance resolution, The detective work is fun and original

Would you be willing to try another one of Jane McDowell’s performances?

No. Couldn't stand the jerky style. Totally overdoes the attempt to 'spit out' upper crust speak.

Was Gaudy Night worth the listening time?

Yes. But i wish it had been a different reader or in a dramatised form.

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1 person found this helpful