Tuesday 3 August 2010

Travelling and Dorothy L. Sayers


I’ll be travelling for a few days, but I’ve scheduled blog posts for each day of my absence, so there will be plenty of varied reading matter for regular visitors to ‘Do You Write Under Your Own Name?’ However, it may be difficult for me to access a pc while I’m away, so please forgive me if I take longer than usual to post or reply to any comments.

It’s been a year since I’ve had a real holiday and I have to say that I’m looking forward to this one, even though no doubt – as usual – it will prove all too brief! Today would have been my mother’s birthday; for many years, she came along for the summer holiday, so that we could celebrate with her in style. This is the first time she hasn’t been around, but I’ll be thinking of her. And thinking, also, of the mystery novels in which she and I shared enjoyment for many years.

She was a great Dorothy L. Sayers fan, and so I became one too. Her favourite was Gaudy Night, but mine is a near-tie between The Nine Tailors and Murder Must Advertise. I would also put in a word for The Documents in the Case, a very interesting experiment in mystery writing, if not a complete success. Neither of us cared for Five Red Herrings, a rather plodding mystery, but at least the Galloway setting is well evoked. And I'm honoured to say that I've just been invited to give the 19th Dorothy L. Sayers Lecture next year, as part of the Essex Book Festival, by the Dorothy L. Sayers Society. Not sure what to speak about yet, but plenty of time to prepare!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Martin - I hope you enjoy your holiday. And thanks for mentioning the great Dorothy Sayers. As I'm sure you know, I'm quite an admirer of her work as well.

Dorte H said...

What a nice story about your mother teaching you to like Dorothy Sayers. My mother hardly ever reads a book, but my father´s mother loved reading in bed at night. Her husband didn´t like that - probably saw it as some kind of waste - but she was a widow for 30 years and made the best of it by reading for hours, sometimes until early morning. She gave me my very first crime novel, Sayers´ Clouds of Witness, when I was a teenager. That book will always be special for me.

Enjoy your well-deserved holiday, and I hope you have some great pictures and stories to share with us later.

Unknown said...

I hope you have a wonderful holiday and your mother was so smart to turn you on to Dorothy L. Sayers, she's a wonderful writers. Enjoy!
CD

Dean James said...

Ah, Martin, your two favorite Sayers novels are my two also. I love The Nine Tailors for its wonderfully atmospheric setting, and I love Murder Must Advertise for its plot, which to me is one of her best.

BV Lawson said...

Enjoy your much-deserved breather, Martin! I always enjoy your thoughtful postings (and know from personal experience how time-consuming they can be). I'm sorry about the loss of your mother, but share with you an appreciation for what mothers can do to introduce their children to a lifetime of reading. My own librarian mother brought home many books for me to read, including mystery novels, and I was quickly addicted. Dorothy L is one of her favorites, too.

vegetableduck said...

The Five Red Herrings isn't plodding if you like railway timetables! Sadly, they seem just a smidgen out of fashion these days.

I must have picked up my interest in mysteries from my mother, who bought the first I ever read: some Agatha Christie paperbacks at a Sanborn's in Mexico City in the 1970s (After the Funeral, And Then There Were None, Murder Is Easy).