Dorothy Sayers' Oxford

Elvis fans have Graceland, Michael Jackson fans have Neverland, Shakespeare fans have Stratford-upon-Avon. I am a Dorothy Sayers fan. I have Oxford.

With that said, I thought it would be a crime to spend a year in Oxford without visiting some of Dorothy Sayer's old haunts and some of the places featured in her third Wimsey-Vane novel, Gaudy Night. 

Dorothy Sayers was born at the Head Master's House in Oxford.

Dorothy Sayers is one of my favorite authors of all time. Along with Agatha Christie, she is certainly my favorite mystery writer. Sayers was born across from Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford in 1893. A very intelligent and witty student, she earned a scholarship to Somerville College in Oxford in 1912. She studied medieval literature and modern languages at a time when women were not allowed to receive degrees from Oxford. Sayers was one of the first women to receive her MA when women were finally granted degrees in 1920. 

Sayers lived at 17 Longwall Street before the War.

After the War, Sayers rented the room right under this peaked roof at Bath Place.

With a wonderful gift for words, she was a prolific author who wrote essays, plays, novel, short stories, and poems. She even completed the monumental task of translating Dante's Divine Comedy.

Perhaps what she is best known for though is her beloved novels and short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, the quintessential gentleman detective.

I have a confession: If I could marry any fictional character from literature, it would be Lord Peter Wimsey.

He is sophisticated but not too snobbish; charming but not insincere; witty but not obnoxiously so. Also, he has carried out one of the most delightful and most persistent courtships I have ever had the enjoyment to read about. He falls in love with an intelligent, independent-minded mystery writer named Harriet Vane, who is probably the only woman in the world who could resist Lord Peter Wimsey for so long. Peter and Harriet, who appear in four novels and two short stories together, have some of the best banter ever written.

Modeled after the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, this is the bridge on New College Lane,   under which Peter proposes to Harriet in Gaudy Night.

If you are in search of a fun and satisfying reading list this summer, check out the Lord Peter Wimsey- Harriet Vane novels: Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night (which is set in Oxford), and Busman's Honeymoon. I would recommend reading them in that order, so you get the whole picture.