The Author of the Month for January is...Dorothy Sayers!

As you may have noticed, I'm running out of ideas for the Author of the Month. At first I tried only to name authors who have written more than one of my favorite books, but that list has grown very thin. So now I'm resorting to an author by whom (alas!) I have only read one book. However, based on that book, I think she was an excellent writer, and I plan on reading many more of her works in the future.

Dorothy L. Sayers was born on June 13, 1893 in Oxford, England (all the greatest writers seem to have ended up there at one point or another), to Rev. Henry Sayers, a minister in the Church of England. She won a scholarship to Somerville College (at Oxford again), and graduated with First Class Honors in modern languages. She published a collection of poems in 1916, the year after she graduated, and her first mystery novel, Whose Body?, appeared in 1923. Throughout her life she wrote many novels - mostly mysteries - as well as plays and essays. Towards the end of her life, she also translated Dante's Divine Comedy (I'll be reading her translation for school this year), though she died before finishing it. A friend translated the rest and published it in 1962.

Dorothy Sayers once said, "The only Christian work is good work, well done." She seems to have lived out that saying, from what I have heard of her. She was certainly a great writer as well as a strong Christian. One of the books I had to read this year for history/literature was The Nine Tailors, one of her detective stories starring the character Lord Peter Wimsey. It was, by far, the best mystery I've ever read.

Up until I was about nine or ten, I hardly read anything but mysteries. All the ones I read then were silly, of course, but more recently I've read some of the famous detective stories by Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Even those books, though, left me unsatisfied. There always seemed to be something missing. But The Nine Tailors left me completely satisfied. I think that's because there's more to it than just a suspenseful mystery. Amid all the puzzles and investigations, Sayers takes time to really develop her characters and setting. I feel much more of an attachment to the characters in The Nine Tailors than those in any other mystery I've read. The story's background is hard to forget, too - a small village in the marshy lands of East Anglia, and an old church with nine bells hanging in the steeple. Besides all this, there are many subtle biblical themes woven into the story, which add a lot of meaning and depth that is missing from most detective books.

Overall, The Nine Tailors is not just a good mystery, but a good story, with plenty of humor, suspense, and unforgettable characters. It has quickly moved onto my list of favorites. I should warn you that there is more swearing in it than one would expect from a Christian author, but there's nothing else objectionable. I would encourage anyone who loves a good mystery to check this one out at your local library or bookstore. I myself will be looking around for more books by Dorothy Sayers.