I Read Books: Murder Must Advertise
Lord Peter Wimsey goes undercover as his disreputable cousin Death Bredon at Pym’s Publicity, an advertising firm. He replaces Victor Dean who died after falling down an iron spiral staircase. Pym, the owner, discovered a strange letter amongst Dean’s effects suggesting that there was something terribly wrong at the firm. Bad publicity is terrible for publicity firms so he wants it dealt with. Wimsey begins to suspect that Dean’s death is not an accident.
It links into drug smuggling and the world of the ‘Bright Young Things’ the smart set who party and cause havoc and (obviously) take drugs. Sayers worked at an advertising firm for several years and this part rings hilariously true. Entertainingly the world outside the strangeness of advertising slogans and campaigns seems less real; obviously the parties of the Bright Young Things are divorced from reality and even the occasional moments when Wimsey meets with his family are less vivid here.
Read This: For a sprawling murder-mystery-dope-smuggling-conspiracy novel set in an endlessly amusing advertising firm
Don’t Read This: If office politics, even played for deadly stakes, is not of any interest
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