History Creator / DorothyLSayers

** ''Literature/The DocumentsInTheCase'' (with Robert Eustace) (1930) -- An [[ScrapbookStory epistolary novel]].

** ''The Documents in the Case'' (with Robert Eustace) (1930) -- An [[ScrapbookStory epistolary novel]].

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: ''The Documents in the Case'' describes a block of salt as casting a greenish light [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_test when put in flame]]. The emission spectrum of sodium is orange-yellow. This is much more obvious in the present day, since sodium lamps are widely used in street lighting.

* MirrorChemistry: The proof of murder in ''The Documents in the Case'' relies on stereochemistry.

* UnreliableNarrator: Some of the letters in ''The Documents in the Case'' are written by them.

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) was an English writer, best known for her [[MysteryFiction detective fiction]], particularly the novels and stories featuring AmateurSleuth Literature/LordPeterWimsey. Her crime fiction also included many more short stories (of which eleven featured another amateur sleuth, the contrastingly lower-class Literature/MontagueEgg) and the novel ''The Documents in the Case'', co-written with Robert Eustace. After the death of her greatly admired Creator/GKChesterton, she would herself become president of The Detection Club, an association of authors united to maintain the highest standards in the genre.

* RitualMagic: In ''The Devil To Pay'', Sayers' take on the {{Faust}} legend, Mephistopheles is conjured by rituals that Sayers found in actual [[TheRenaissance Renaissance]] [[TomeOfEldritchLore grimoires]].

She was also a playwright, whose works frequently examined moral and theological questions. They include ''The Devil to Pay'', a retelling of the {{Faust}} legend; and the 12-play cycle ''Radio/TheManBornToBeKing'', a dramatization of the life of {{Jesus}} commissioned by BBC Radio. Sayers felt that religious drama was frequently undramatic, populated by flat characters who mouthed archaic dialogue while going through the overfamiliar motions, and strove to avoid this in her play cycle, presenting the characters as real people who speak in contemporary language and are motivated by everyday (and occasionally trivial) concerns. The approach was inevitably controversial, but widely regarded as a success.

** ''Radio/TheManBornToBeKing'' (1941) -- A series of 12 radio-plays recounting the life of [[{{Jesus}} Christ]]

* TheWickedStage: In ''Strong Poison'', a major element of the BackStory is Rosanna Wrayburn, aka "Cremorna Garden", who ran away to go on stage and fully lived up the reputation of actresses.

** The LordPeterWimsey series

'''Dorothy L. Sayers''' (1893-1957) was an English writer, best known for her [[MysteryFiction detective fiction]], particularly the novels and stories featuring AmateurSleuth Literature/LordPeterWimsey. Her crime fiction also included many more short stories (of which eleven featured another amateur sleuth, the contrastingly lower-class Literature/MontagueEgg) and the novel ''The Documents in the Case'', co-written with Robert Eustace. After the death of her greatly admired Creator/GKChesterton, she would herself become president of The Detection Club, an association of authors united to maintain the highest standards in the genre.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Prevented her completion of her translation of the ''Paradiso''.

** ExecutiveMeddling, such as nearly happened in the case of her radio-play, ''Radio/TheManBornToBeKing''. When the BBC Children's Hour insisted on its right to control its content, she sent them a letter, stuffed with the tiny torn-up pieces of her contract.

* ScienceMarchesOn: Zigzagged with the science in ''The Documents in the Case''. The book relies on muscarine being optically active. At the time this was condemned as a scientific error, but it was later found to be correct. On the other hand it is now known that the Fly Agaric mushroom contains hardly any muscarine; its hallucinogenic/poisonous effects come from other compounds.

In later life, Sayers began work on a translation of Dante's DivineComedy. She had completed ''Inferno'' and ''Purgatorio'', and was working on ''Paradiso'' when she died; the work was completed by her colleague and later biographer, Dr. Barbara Reynolds, and published posthumously. (Dr. Reynolds has also edited four volumes of selected letters by Sayers.)

* CulturalTranslation: In her translation of the DivineComedy

'''Dorothy L. Sayers''' (1893-1957) was an English writer, best known for her [[MysteryFiction detective fiction]], particularly the novels and stories featuring AmateurSleuth LordPeterWimsey. Her crime fiction also included many more short stories (of which eleven featured another amateur sleuth, the contrastingly lower-class Literature/MontagueEgg) and the novel ''The Documents in the Case'', co-written with Robert Eustace. After the death of her greatly admired Creator/GKChesterton, she would herself become president of The Detection Club, an association of authors united to maintain the highest standards in the genre.

She was also a playwright, whose works frequently examined moral and theological questions. They include ''The Devil to Pay'', a retelling of the {{Faust}} legend; and the 12-play cycle ''The Man Born to be King'', a dramatization of the life of {{Jesus}} commissioned by BBC Radio. Sayers felt that religious drama was frequently undramatic, populated by flat characters who mouthed archaic dialogue while going through the overfamiliar motions, and strove to avoid this in her play cycle, presenting the characters as real people who speak in contemporary language and are motivated by everyday (and occasionally trivial) concerns. The approach was inevitably controversial, but widely regarded as a success.

** ''The Man Born To Be King'' (1941) -- A series of 12 radio-plays recounting the life of [[{{Jesus}} Christ]]

* AgentScully: The Second Pharisee in the last episode of ''The Man Born To Be King'', who's convinced there's some perfectly natural explanation for all the unexplained phenomena at Jesus' tomb.

** ExecutiveMeddling, such as nearly happened in the case of her radio-play, ''The Man Born To Be King''. When the BBC Children's Hour insisted on its right to control its content, she sent them a letter, stuffed with the tiny torn-up pieces of her contract.

* CorruptChurch: The Priest in ''The Devil to Pay''; Caiaphas in ''The Man Born To Be King'' and ''The Just Vengeance''

* DoctorsOrders: In ''The Man Born To Be King'', Herod's doctor speaks quite firmly with him.
* {{God}}: Owing to the anti-blasphemy laws that formerly obtained in the United Kingdom, it was illegal to bring God as a character onto the stage; Sayers got around this by presenting Him either in radio-drama (as in ''The Man Born To Be King'') or under another name (''e.g.'', as "The Judge" in ''The Devil to Pay'' or as the "''Persona Dei''" in ''The Just Vengeance'').
* DoWrongRight: In ''The Man Born To Be King'', Shadrach is as eager to get a conviction as the rest of the Pharisees. He still annoys them immensely, by pointing out that if they want a watertight case, their attempts to take shortcuts of dubious legality are just going to be a waste of time. (And that it isn't -- "strictly speaking" -- legal for [[PoliceBrutality the police to hit the accused in the face]]).
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Nicodemus in ''The Man Born To Be King''. The revelation in question being that Jesus' claim to be the Son of God had been [[BackFromTheDead entirely justified]].

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: William of Sens in ''The Zeal of Thy House''; Herod the Great and others in ''The Man Born to be King''; George Fox and Dr. Creator/SamuelJohnson in ''The Just Vengeance''. (The Pope and Emperor in ''The Devil to Pay'' are carefully unnamed; research had shown Sayers that the contemporary pope was one of the Borgias!)
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Caiaphas's justification for having Jesus executed in ''The Man Born To Be King'': one day, he knows, the Zealots will revolt, leading to a brutal Roman clampdown on what's left of Jewish independence. Caiaphas has Jesus judicially murdered in case he becomes a figurehead for such a rebellion -- though he knows he's only delaying the inevitable.
--> I have killed this Jesus, who would have made more faction, but for one pretender crucified, fifty will arise.

* RitualMagic: In ''The Devil To Pay'', Sayers' take on the {{Faust}} legend, Mephistopheles is conjured by rituals that Sayers found in actual [[TheRenaissance Renaissance]] [[TomeOfEldritchLore grimoires]]. Moreover, she contrasts the simplicity of {{Jesus}}'s miracles with the complicated spells of sorcerers in ''The Man Born to Be King''.

* SmugSnake: Shadrach, in ''The Man Born To Be King''.

* AgentScully: The Second Pharisee in the last episode, who's convinced there's some perfectly natural explanation for all the unexplained phenomena at Jesus' tomb.

* ViewersAreMorons: The BBC Children's Hour wanted her to make ''The Man Born To Be King'' more accessible to their listeners, so its producers asked her to dumb down the script. She refused. Violently.

** ''The Documents in the Case'' (with Robert Eustace) (1930) -- An [[ScrapbookStory epistolatory novel]].

She is a member of the group of female detective novelists known to readers as "The Big Four"; the other three are NgaioMarsh (who gleefully spread the "dried-up old prune in love with her creation" rumours), MargeryAllingham, and Creator/AgathaChristie. Most critics consider her the best writer of the four.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Caiaphas's justification for having Jesus executed in ''The Man Born To Be King''.

One of the strangest theories to arise from Sayers's work concerns the character Harriet Vane, the love interest of Lord Peter Wimsey. A popular literary theory of the time called the "personal fallacy" or ""[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biographical_fallacy biographical fallacy]]" held that all fiction was SelfInsertFic, and that any character bearing even a passing resemblance to the author must be a full GodModeSue. Sayers was one of the strongest voices condemning this theory, most notably in the preface to her 1941 religious commentary ''[[http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/dlsayers/mindofmaker/mind.c.htm The Mind of the Maker]]''.

One of the strangest theories to arise from Sayers's work concerns the character Harriet Vane, the love interest of Lord Peter Wimsey. A popular literary theory of the time called the "personal fallacy" held that all fiction was SelfInsertFic, and that any character bearing even a passing resemblance to the author must be a full GodModeSue. Sayers was one of the strongest voices condemning this theory, most notably in the preface to her 1941 religious commentary ''[[http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/dlsayers/mindofmaker/mind.c.htm The Mind of the Maker]]''.

** Leaving the L out of Sayers' name. (It stood for "Leigh", her mother's maiden name, by the way.) According to her letters, it was because she was confused with a popular 1920's burlesque queen named Dorothy ''Sayer'', whose press-clippings were occasionally sent to Sayers in error. She also thought leaving the "L" out induced people to pronounce her name as an "ugly spondee," "Say-Ers," instead of her preferred monosyllabic "Sairs."

** Leaving the L out of Sayers' name. (It stood for "Leigh", her mother's maiden name, by the way.)
*** This ''may'' be because Dorothy ''Sayer'' was a popular 1920s London burlesque queen. With Sayers, though, you can never tell.
*** According to Sayers' letters, it was indeed because she was confused with the other lady, whose press-clippings were occasionally erroneously sent to her, and also because she thought leaving the "L" out induced people to pronounce her name as an "ugly spondee", "Say-Ers," instead of her preferred monosyllabic "Sairs."

** She was also scornful of the idea that Harriet Vane (or Lord Peter, for that matter) was an AuthorAvatar, for reasons mentioned above.
*** Though she admitted she got a certain amount of vicarious pleasure in describing Lord Peter's luxurious lifestyle while she was still in the starving artist stage of her career as a novelist.

Sayers was also a SherlockHolmes fan, and a noted player of the Great Game of Holmesian "scholarship". Her contributions include a famous argument for the proposition that Doctor Watson's middle name was "Hamish", and an essay that combined actual historical evidence with the few clues in the Canon to deduce not only where and when Holmes attended university, but where he stayed and which classes he took.