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Harriet Vane decides to go back to Oxford for a reunion of sorts, even though she was on trial for murder and feels unable to face those she knew. Things turn out alright, and because she is a murder mystery writer, when strange things start to happen on campus they call her for help. They want to keep it quiet and under wraps so that the only all women's college isn't closed. But things get stranger and stranger, and Harriet eventually calls in the man who kept her from going to the gallows.

Because of various facts, a number of students are ruled out. So there are a number of tensions that arise, with people getting mad at one another and suspecting one another. Harriet is able to find a few people who have alibis (because she was with them during an event), and so is able to care for the college better. It has to be someone who is fairly well-educated, because Latin is used, and good spelling. Peter Wimsey eventually comes to save the day, and they solve the problem easily, before it comes to a horrible end. It turns out to be a woman whose husband was ruined by one of the teachers, who is trying to get revenge against the woman who ruining his life. Harriet meets Lord Saint-George, who is a nephew of Lord Peter Wimsey. He is quite amusing, knowing that he is handsome and that he can get just about anything he wants. He and Harriet become friends, and some interesting things happen between them. One of which is that Harriet and Peter have to start talking again .. and eventually, she decides that you can relate to someone both emotionally and intellectually. Well-written and intriguing, with plenty to ponder. Re-readable!

Title:	Gaudy Night
Author:	Dorothy Sayers
Date published:	1936
Genre:	Mystery
Number of pages:	501
Notes:	borrowed from mom

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This is the first volume of the acclaimed Y: The Last Man series, and it is engaging right from the start. Some unknown disease (or something) kills off all the males on the planet (not just humans but every species), and it happens all over the world at the same time. The only male survivors are Yorick, an out-of-work street magician and escape artist, and his pet monkey Ampersand. Vaughan presents a compelling picture of what the world might be like and how people might respond to an abrupt change like this. Some women form a new gang of Amazons, insisting that the world is better off without men; others mourn the incredible losses of all the talented musicians, scientists, and other great men that were taken away all at once. Even the political aspects are compelling: Congress is left with mostly Democratic politicians and the wives of the dead politicians demand their share of the power. The title of the series works beautifully on so many levels-- Y for Yorick, the last man on Earth, but also for the Y chromosome, as well as a play on the question, "Why?" since no one knows the cause of this disaster (although Vaughan offers a couple of possibilities in some of the different storylines).

The artwork is great, and so many little details-- in the art and in the story-- are delightful. Yorick's father is a literature professor who named his children after characters in Shakespeare (Yorick's sister is named Hero). The opening of this volume grabs you immediately because it shows the catastrophic event and then jumps back a little bit and gives you some of the different events in the storylines that lead up to the moment when all the males on the planet drop dead. This technique is very effective for this part of the story, but it began to seem a little overused when I saw it in the other sections of the story, at the beginning of some of the other issues in this volume, where it really wasn't needed to tell the story effectively.

Overall, very interesting and engaging. I will be looking to read more of this series.

Title:	Y: The Last Man - Unmanned
Author:	Brian K. Vaughan
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Graphic Novel
Series:	Y: The Last Man
Number of pages:	128
Notes:	gift from Jane (from my wish list)

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