Dorothy and Agatha: A Mystery Novel [Hardcover]

Gaylord Larsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1990

The prime suspect in a murder case, Dorothy Sayers calls upon her friends from the Detective Club--namely A. A. Milne, Agatha Christie, and others--to help her clear her name. Reprint.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This literary fantasy uniting crime writers Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers as sleuths has promising moments, but is, overall, disappointing. When the corpse of an unidentified man is found in Sayers's English village home, where she is preparing for the 1937 production of her religious play, The Zeal in Thy House , Christie agrees to investigate. Christie discovers a secret Sayers had been trying desperately to hide, and despite some mutual antipathy, the novelists join forces. With their only clue the unusual nature of the gun used in the killing, the duo, pursued by a crass and persistent female American journalist, uncovers a tie to a gassing incident during WW I which had also involved Sayers's husband, the now alcoholic MacDonald Fleming. Another death and two near-fatalities occur before the killer is unmasked and Sayers extricated from her difficulties. Larsen's ( Crossing the Pyrenees ) pedestrian and often infelicitous prose further hampers this generally pallid novel, which does no service to the doyennes of the British mystery.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- When a body is discovered in the home of Dorothy Sayers, the Detective Club of famous British writers wants to solve the murder to eliminate the bad publicity that might follow. When they almost make matters worse, Agatha Christie takes over, identifies each clue, tracks it down, and solves the case. The background of the story shows the strong influence of World War I on the lives of the Britons--even as late as the time of the rise of Adolf Hitler. This entertaining novel brings Agatha and Dorothy to life and gives insight into their personalities even if in a fictional situation. The caricatures of these prim and proper ladies having tea (with pinkies curled) over a bleeding body will attract the attention of YAs.
- Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (December 30, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052524865X
• ISBN-13: 978-0525248651
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,209,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not great and not terrible, October 9, 2000

By 

Gray (midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dorothy and Agatha (Daw science fiction) (Paperback)

A corpse is found in Dorothy Sayers home and Dorothy becomes the prime suspect. Agatha Christie comes to the rescue, and the two most famous mystery writers of the mid-Twentieth Century set out to solve a mystery. If you are already familiar with events in the lives of Agatha and Dorothy, this book will not reveal anything about their lives that you don't already know. The book is worth reading if you are (as I am) a lover of the works of Agatha and Dorothy. But don't expect the plot or the writing to equal the efforts of the real Agatha Christy and Dorothy Sayers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ick., February 23, 2006

By 

Paula Berman (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dorothy and Agatha: A Mystery Novel (Hardcover)

First of all, the writing is execrable - a classic illustraion of why writers are told to "show, not tell".

But what makes this book really awful is that, while the writer seems to have at least a nodding acquaintance with Christie's work. I will eat my copy if the author has read any but the earliest and slightest works of Sayers. She (He?) gets the plot of Gaudy Night so wrong as to contradict the main point of the book, turns the Wimsey motto into something not only wrong but nonsensical. The author has done a decent amount of research otherwise, but the lack of understanding of the books and thus of the authors is going to grate on anyone who's familiar with them.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two great writers, one pretty good mystery, September 17, 2003

By 

CMBohn "cmb" (Orem, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dorothy and Agatha: A Mystery Novel (Hardcover)

Dorothy Sayers comes home from a meeting to find a dead man in her house. When a letter supposedly from the dead man to his "Dorothy darling" is discovered in his pocket, she become the chief suspect. But this is not a good time for a corpse. She's right in the middle of writing a religious play and fears the publicity would kill any career she might hope to have in serious religous writing.

So when the Detective Club next meets, her friends all decide to help the police by discovering the identity of the dead man, so the police can find who really killed the man and leave their friend alone. But it doesn't work like that. The evidence all points to a possible connection between the dead man and the writer that even her friends can't deny.

The other writers all give up after Dorothy finds out what they're up to. Only Agatha Christie hangs on, and before long, the two women are in a desperate race to save the lives of the next victims. But as the deaths mount up and the police ask more questions, the two greatest mystery writers of the age are almost outwitted by a determined killer.

I enjoyed this book. I didn't really know much about the life of Dorothy Sayers and I enjoyed finding out more about who she really was. I love Agatha Christie and I liked reading about her. Another thing I loved was reading about their fellow members of the Detection Club. It made me want to read more of their books.

My main complaint is that the identity of the murderer become obvious too early. I couldn't believe that either of the women took that long to figure it out. And the police aren't really that dumb either. It wasn't that believable. But it was fun. If you're a fan of either writer, you will probably enjoy the book, but it's certainly no substitute for the real thing.