This is not the first of Dorothy Sayers' many charming mystery novels featuring the incomparable Peter Wimsey, but it is the first to feature Harriet Vane. The Peter Wimsey mysteries are just about the best that this genre has to offer--smart, complex and witty. The four books of the series that involve Harriet Vane, the scholarly mystery writer who Peter sets his heart on marrying, rise above even this high standard.

The addition of Miss Vane, who is like Sayers herself in many ways, elevates these four books from the status of pleasing thought puzzles to that of pleasing thought puzzles with real emotional resonance. You cannot help but feel for this couple and breathlessly await the next turn of their extended courtship, but let me reassure mystery fans: Sayers manages to pull this off while not sacrificing a single detail of her fascinating, perfectly plotted detective stories.