Murder Must Advertise
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| Murder Must Advertise | |
 :Early paperback edition cover |
|
| Author | Dorothy L. Sayers |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Lord Peter Wimsey |
| Genre(s) | Mystery Novel |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz |
| Publication date | 1933 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 352 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | Have His Carcase |
| Followed by | The Nine Tailors |
Murder Must Advertise is a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, published in 1933.
Most of the action takes place in an advertising agency, a setting with which Sayers was very familiar.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
Lord Peter Wimsey takes up employment as a copywriter for an advertising agency in order to discover more about the recent mysterious death of one of the employees. In the process he discovers much of the convoluted private lives of the other employees, not to mention getting a feel of what it is to actually work for a living. Eventually he traces the connection to a drug-smuggling operation, which he proceeds to infiltrate and uncover. Wimsey makes the connection between the drug-smugglers and the employee who has become their tool and has responded to a blackmail threat with murder.
[edit] Plot summary
Under the pseudonym of "Death Bredon" (actually his middle names), Wimsey accepts an offer from the owners of Pym's Publicity, Ltd., a very conservative firm, to investigate a mystery and avert a scandal. Copywriter Victor Dean has died in a fall down the spiral iron office staircase, but left a half-finished letter to the management hinting that something potentially scandalous is going on at Pym's.
Wimsey takes over Dean's office and learns his trade whilst pursuing his investigations. He discovers a talent for copywriting and promotion, and produces a campaign which will become one of the firm's most successful. He also discovers that the "scandal" involves a major drugs ring, the subject of an investigation by his friend Inspector Parker, which is making ingenious use of a regular newspaper advert supplied by Pym's. A copywriter, Tallboy, is disclosing the initial letter of each week's advert to the gang in advance of publication. The gang use this letter to determine the pub where they will distribute drugs to their dealers that week, and the dealers use the advert to find their way there - there is no incriminating contact between the parties. Tallboy was sucked in innocently by his need for money, but is now fatally implicated, and was being blackmailed by Dean. Dean's death was murder disguised as accident: he was shot by a desperate Tallboy with a catapult as he descended the dangerous staircase.
Wimsey plays several roles: by day he is Bredon, a distant and disreputable Wimsey cousin forced to work for a living; by night he is himself. He also plays a mysterious masked harlequin, Bredon's alter-ego, to penetrate the London drug scene, and in this guise courts the dissolute socialite girlfriend of the gang leader to gain information. As he gets closer to the truth there are several murders and Wimsey's own safety is threatened, but in the end it is Tallboy who is left facing ruin and disgrace as the net closes in. He goes to Wimsey, who offers him a way to save his honour and shield his family from disgrace, and Tallboy leaves his flat in the full knowledge that gang members are waiting outside to stage an "accident" which will result in his death.
[edit] Literary significance and criticism
"A superb example of Sayers' ability to set a group of people going. The advertising agency is inimitable, and hence better than the De Momerie crowd that goes with it. The murder is ingenious and Wimsey is just right ..."[1]
Sayers herself disliked the novel, which she wrote quickly in order to fulfil her publisher's contract, and was unsure whether it would ring true with the reading public."[2]. Her biographer Barbara Reynolds quotes a letter she wrote to publisher Victor Gollancz on 14 September 1932:
The new book is nearly done. I hate it because it isn't the one I wanted to write, but I had to shove it in because I couldn't get the technical dope on The Nine Tailors in time. Still, you never know what people will fancy, do you? It...deals with the dope-traffic, which is fashionable at the moment, but I don't feel that this part is very convincing, as I can't say "I know dope". Not one of my best efforts.
—Dorothy L Sayers quoted by Barbara Reynolds, Dorothy L Sayers: Her Life and Soul, op.cit
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Murder Must Advertise was adapted for television in 1973 as part of a series starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter.
[edit] References
- ^ Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. A Catalogue of Crime. New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. ISBN 0-06-015796-8
- ^ Barbara Reynolds. Dorothy L Sayers: Her Life and Soul. Hodder & Stoughton. 1993. ISBN 0-340-58151-4 p 238
