Sayers, Dorothy L(eigh) (1893–1957)

English writer of detective fiction, playwright, and translator. Her books, which feature the detective Lord Peter Wimsey and the heroine Harriet Vane, include classics of the detective fiction genre such as Strong Poison (1930), Murder Must Advertise (1933), The Nine Tailors (1934), and Gaudy Night (1935).

Sayers was born and educated in Oxford, and worked as a copywriter for an advertising agency for some years. Her series of detective novels about Lord Peter Wimsey began with Whose Body? (1923); others include Busman's Honeymoon (1937).

Her first play was The Zeal of Thy House (1937), followed by The Devil to Pay (1939). Her religious radio play The Man Born to Be King was broadcast in 1941–42. She was also the author of several volumes of essays, including Unpopular Opinions (1946) and Creed and Chaos (1947). Her translations of the medieval Italian poet Dante's Inferno and of the Purgatorio were published in 1949 and 1955 respectively.