A review by meggymoocow
Busman's Honeymoon, by Dorothy L. Sayers

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

An absolute tour de force by Sayers here - after Gaudy Night, probably her best. Lost 0.25 for me due to some dated language and descriptions, but otherwise excellent. As in Gaudy Night, Harriet Vane makes an excellent POV character, as a middle-class woman dropped into the romantic ridiculousness of Wimsey’s life in the landed gentry. The murder mystery moves along at a reasonable pace, but it feels like a narrative device to explore the more nuanced elements of the work: the English class system, PTSD in interwar Britain, and so on. The relationship between Harriet and Peter is undeniably mushy at times, but it’s nice to see romance represented in characters beyond their 20s. The last few chapters take a slightly incongruous, but very welcome, turn into exploring what it means to love someone who is struggling with their mental health. Once again, Sayers seems to deal with themes far more modern than one would expect. Christie who?