That's an excellent point. Pretty much true of any writing...If you're awesome enough, you can break any rule. (I was just reading a book review on Slate, and the reviewer was saying basically, the writing is lousy, the plot is mediocre, but man the heroine is awesome and I love her')

Oh and you should totally read some of Sayers' mysteries. They're 'whodunnit' mysteries, and so the actual mystery bit is usually kind of ludicrous, but my god could that woman write a character.