Welcome to Litsy!

My first time reading Sayers. A solid mystery with all the classic elements. #AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

What a gorgeous book 📕 started slow but was worth sticking it out. Fully realized tertiary characters, excellent literary references, and a puzzle with plenty of clues so you could suss it out.

This was a brutal holiday and I needed a good read. Thank goodness for these guys, even if they often want me to stop reading at the really good bits.

I couldn't limit myself to just three favorites! There were a few books in the list I hadn't read, but I'd read others by the authors (I didn't count them, nor did I count movies).

Thanks for the tag, @dabbe ! #TLT #ThreeListThursday

Sayers has a tendency to have her characters (usually Lord Peter) make a point with a very large number of words. Usually, I like this, but in this novel, it feels tedious. This novel has a seemingly complex mystery with a relatively simple solution that's revealed fairly excruciatingly right before the novel abruptly ends. I wonder what was going on in Sayers's life when she wrote this one because it seems like she wasn't really focused on it.

I've had an emotional week (nothing too awful, just feeling overwhelmed due to a malfunction with my empathy filter), which was punctuated this afternoon by a cathartic crying jag triggered by seeing a racoon family that hadn't made it safely across the road. How murder mysteries became comfort reading for me, I have no idea, but here we are. Hopefully, I can find better emotional balance soon. Until then, hooray for escapism!

In some ways I was hesitant to read this, partly because Gaudy Night was SO GOOD and I was worried this wouldn‘t measure up, and partly because this is the last book and I don‘t want the series to be over. I needn‘t have worried about it not measuring up. Sayers manages to weave together and balance the Harriet & Peter bits with the mystery bits perfectly. And the ending hit me hard—instead of solving the crime and wrapping it up nice and pat⤵️

“All my life I have been wandering in the dark—but now I have found your heart—and am satisfied.”
“And what do all the great words come to in the end, but that?—I love you—I am at rest with you—I have come home.”

💜

There are certain books that simply must be read with a mug of tea. Even if it was 81F today.

I admit, the mystery in this one was a little tough for me to follow at times. This isn't a bad thing, though, as it's due to the intricacy with which Sayers writes her plots. Plus, the mystery was less important to me in this one than the relationships between the characters, especially since I read a later book in the series and know where some of them are headed. And I just love Miss Climpson!

Photo of a delicious (mild) poison.

Apt photo to go with the tagged book (although I guess jellyfish would be more "strong venom" than "strong poison"). Still sneaking in a few minutes of reading each evening once the adventures are done for the day.