ABSTRACT
In her biographical study of Wilkie Collins, Dorothy L. Sayers focuses extensively on characterization. Most discussions of characterization in Sayers's detective novels focus on Lord Peter and/or Harriet Vane. Given the significance of The Nine Tailors to Peter's development as a character, this chapter explores how the particular balance that Sayers creates for him in this novel builds on models established by Collins. It focuses on how Sayers uses strategies similar to Collins's to develop several of her other characters; for both Collins and Sayers craft characters who, while flowing out of the necessities of the detective plot, also work to enhance the complexity of the novels' themes. The chapter illustrates how Sayers deepens the significance of this question by creating a number of characters who struggle to answer it for themselves. Through their different perspectives, Sayers ultimately compels her readers to reflect on how we think about guilt or innocence in relation to an omniscient and omnipotent God.
