{{Short description|Fictional character created by Dorothy L. Sayers}} Miss '''Katharine Alexandra Climpson''' ('''Alexandra Katharine Climpson''' in ''Unnatural Death''; also called "'''Kitty'''") is a minor character in the [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] stories by [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]. She appears in two novels: ''[[Unnatural Death (novel)|Unnatural Death]]'' (1927) and ''[[Strong Poison]]'' (1930), and is mentioned in ''[[Gaudy Night]]'' (1935) and ''[[Busman's Honeymoon]]'' (1937).
== Plot summary == Climpson is a [[spinster]] who assists Wimsey by doing inquiry and undercover work: Wimsey says she "asks questions which a young man could not put without a blush." In ''Unnatural Death'' Climpson is described as "a thin, middle-aged woman, with a sharp, sallow face and very vivacious manner".
In ''Strong Poison'' Climpson now runs an employment agency for women, nicknamed "The Cattery."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Conley|first=Alzire Stephanie|url=https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/14422|title=Role of minor characters in Dorothy L. Sayers' fiction between the world wars|publisher=[[Iowa State University]]|year=1996|pages=32–7|language=En|type=MA thesis}}</ref> She is a member of a jury in [[Harriet Vane]]'s trial for murder, and holds out against a guilty verdict, creating a [[hung jury]]. She is described as having a "militant [[High church|High-Church]] conscience of remarkable staying power." In spite of her conscience, she pretends to be a [[Mediumship|medium]] and holds a [[séance]] in order to obtain information.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Jessica |title=Anglican Women Novelists: From Charlotte Brontë to P.D. James |date=2019 |pages=99–100 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lp6aDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 |accessdate=23 April 2020 |chapter=Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1857): God and the Detective|isbn=9780567665867 }}</ref>
In ''Unnatural Death'', another character describes Miss Climpson's religion in these terms: <blockquote>You might find her up at the church. She often drops in there to say her prayers like. Not a respectful way to approach a place of worship to my mind...Popping in and out on a week-day, the same as if it was a friend's house. And coming home from Communion as cheerful as anything and ready to laugh and make jokes.</blockquote>
== Reception and analysis == According to Catherine Kenney, "Miss Climpson is one of the brighter and more believable examples of the female sleuth."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kenney |first1=Catherine |title=The Remarkable Case of Dorothy L. Sayers |date=1991 |publisher=[[Kent State University Press]] |page=130 |isbn=9780873384100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9DiArv98MQC&pg=PA130 |access-date=20 February 2021}}</ref> Other scholars have described her as a character whose modern, earnest and public devotion to [[Anglicanism]] drives her morality, a characterization unique in Sayers' novels.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sprague|first=Rosamond Kent|date=October 1983|title=Detection & Orthodoxy: On Dorothy L. Sayers|url=https://www.newoxfordreview.org/documents/detection-orthodoxy/|journal=[[New Oxford Review]]}}</ref> As a spinster who must seek work, Climpson can also be read as representative of certain socioeconomic challenges of [[interwar Britain]], where women were still expected to marry for economic stability; however, Climpson is not belittled or depicted as pathetic, but instead as a resourceful and perceptive woman who has educated herself to keep up with changing socioeconomic realities, while remaining old-fashioned in some respects.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Scowcroft|first=Philip|date=1988|title=Homosexuality in the detective fiction of Dorothy L. Sayers|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45305540|journal=Sidelights on Sayers|volume=27|pages=16–18|jstor=45305540 |issn=0969-188X}}</ref>
Miss Climpson appears in print two years before [[Agatha Christie|Agatha Christie's]] famed spinster detective [[Miss Marple]], leading some scholars to see Sayers' character as an inspiration.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Conroy|first=Sarah Booth|date=1993-06-12|title=Essay|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/06/12/essay/3a11ce0f-68e5-449f-8ed0-49634906f9e1/|access-date=2021-11-08|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Lord Peter Wimsey}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Climpson, Katharine}} [[Category:Characters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction]] [[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1927]] [[Category:Dorothy L. Sayers characters]] [[Category:Female characters in literature]] [[Category:Lord Peter Wimsey characters]]