Dorothy Sayers created Lord Wimsey

It is the birthday of English detective writer Dorothy L. Sayers (1893), best known for introducing the literature world to Lord Peter Wimsey (1923), in her first novel, Whose Body. Sayers became president of the Detection Club, a 1930s group of British mystery writers, as she began writing full time. The theater mesmerized her. She wrote The Zeal of Thy House (1937), and six more plays by 1951. BBC requested that she write for broadcasting for their children’s hour, Sayers wrote The Man Born to be King (1941-1942). She also translated Dante’s The Divine Comedy into English. Sayers will always be remembered most for her devotion to theology, literature, and a love for the stage.

Happy birthday, Dorothy L. Sayers

It is the birthday of English mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers (1893), who created the bon vivant amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey. The multi-talented sleuth was first featured in Whose Body (1923) and stars in a dozen novels and numerous short stories. Wimsey is an authority on incunabula (even wrote a book about it—Notes on the Collecting of Incunabula), on wine, classical music, and luxury cars (he owns a 12-cylinder, 1927 Daimler Corsica coupe convertible.) He calls all his cars Mrs. Merdle, after a Charles Dickens character who hated fuss. Literary references abound thought the Wimsey novels, to the delight of fans. Sayers also wrote poetry, religious essays, and plays. She considered her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy to be her best work.