The Nine Tailors
by Dorothy L. Sayers
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dorothy L. SayersEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Print
Published: 1966-09-28
ISBN: 0156658992
Number of pages: 420
Publisher: Mariner Books
Product features:
- The Nine Tailors: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery by Dorothy L. Sayers
- A Harvest/HBJ Book, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers
- Copyright 1962. Original Copyright 1934 by Dorothy L. Sayers.
- A BBC miniseries is based on Dorothy L. Sayers character: Lord Peter Wimsey
- ISBN-10: 0156658992, ISBN-13: 978-0156658997
Book Reviews of The Nine Tailors
Book Review: "I really don't need rest. I would far rather ring bells"
Summary: 5 Stars
Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) earned a lasting respect for her translations, poetry and Christian writing, but it was her detective novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey that won her the lasting affection of so many readers. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie and Margery Allingham are known as the "Queens of Crime" for their domination of crime writing in the 1920s and '30s.
The Nine Tailors was published in 1934 and opens on New Year's Eve. Lord Peter Wimsey runs his car into a ditch in the village of Fenchurch St. Paul, in England's low-lying East Anglia fen country. Rescued and given shelter for the night by the rector, Wimsey is astonished to find that the church is a magnificent old edifice on Norman foundations with a "full ring" of eight bells in the tower. To the detriment of his sleeping prospects, the ringers are planning a nine-hour ring starting at midnight. Readers who know Wimsey will not be surprised that when one of the ringers falls to the influenza, our sleuth is able to step in and take the rope.
Critics of this book cite the extremely detailed descriptions of change-ringing, or campanology, the very English, very mathematical progressive ringing of large cast bells. You may love it or you may hate it, but the bell ringing is integral to this picture-perfect novel of English country life; it would be a mistake to disregard the role of the bells. The eight bells in the tower at Fenchurch St. Paul have names and voices, personalities even. The tenor bell known as Tailor Paul is typically rung nine times to announce a death in the village; the traditional Nine Tailors of the title.
Some months later there is a death in the village and when the grave is opened for the burial, it's already occupied. Lord Peter is back on the scene to investigate. The mysteries of the body in the grave and a stolen emerald necklace have their origins in the past and therefore lack some urgency, but the book progresses to a startling and appropriate ending.
The moody countryside and expertly drawn characters lift this book above its genre. The Nine Tailors is a literate period novel that captures English rural life between the wars. Of the eleven Wimsey novels it's the most readable as a stand-alone, and it showcases the characterization and style that are the best part of this series. This is a good book to start with if you want to acquaint yourself with the Wimsey stories; as long as you don't hate the change-ringing.
Linda Bulger, 2008
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