Gaudy Night

Gaudy Night is a detective novel that centers on Harriet Vane, a mystery writer who returns to Oxford for a class reunion where a series of anonymous letters and other obscene messages are received by various college employees. Vane assists with the case, and eventually brings in Detective Lord Peter Wimsey. As a profile of Oxford and of a romantic relationship between Vane and Wimsey, the book is decent enough; as a detective mystery it is an implausible failure.