Finding the Female Sidekick in the Lord Peter Wimsey Novels

Abstract

Beresford-Sheridan explores Dorothy L. Sayers’s interest in women’s rights in the interwar years through the lens of the sidekick as it appears in the Lord Peter Wimsey novels. She argues that Sayers works to expand the sidekick’s role by depicting so-called ‘superfluous women’ performing as sidekicks, particularly Miss Climpson and Harriet Vane. The chapter ultimately contends that the sidekick role is fluid and that characters are not confined to it, and showcases this in action through a discussion of both Climpson and Vane’s oscillation between detective and sidekick as they work to establish their own personal and professional relationships with both Wimsey and with wider society. It also demonstrates how the spinster, Miss Climpson, paves the way for Harriet Vane’s inclusion as (firstly) a love interest and (ultimately) an equal partner to Wimsey, which highlights Sayers’s vision for equality in the personal and professional sphere among the sexes.