Murder Must Advertise (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Dorothy L. Sayers (Author) "And by the," said Mr. Hankin, arresting Miss Rossiter as she rose to go,"there is a new copy-writer coming today..." (more)
Key Phrases: iron staircase, Miss Rossiter, Miss Meteyard, Miss Parton (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
When advertising executive Victor Dean dies from a fall down the stairs at Pym's Publicity, Lord Peter Wimsey is asked to investigate. It seems that, before he died, Dean had begun a letter to Mr. Pym suggesting some very unethical dealings at the posh London ad agency. Wimsey goes undercover and discovers that Dean was part of the fast crowd at Pym's, a group taken to partying and doing drugs. Wimsey and his brother-in-law, Chief-Inspector Parker, rush to discover who is running London's cocaine trade and how Pym's fits into the picture--all before Wimsey's cover is blown.

Product Description
When ad man Victor Dean falls down the stairs in the offices of Pym's Publicity, a respectable London advertising agency, it looks like an accident.Then Lord Peter Wimsey is called in, and he soon discovers there's more to copywriting than meets the eye. A bit of cocaine, a hint of blackmail, and some wanton women can be read between the lines. And then there is the brutal succession of murders -- 5 of them -- each one a fixed fee for advertising a deadly secret.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch (April 20, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061043559
• ISBN-13: 978-0061043550
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #35,915 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 9 in The Lord Peter Wimsey Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Sayers, a great intro to the Peter Wimsey books, July 3, 1999

By A Customer

This is the best Wimsey book not featuring sometime-fellow-sleuth Harriet Vane which Sayers ever wrote. Not terribly serious, but great entertainment. I've read this book 6 times because it's just so much fun. Written in 1933, IMHO Sayers' prime, Wimsey is far more human and less of a caricature than in the early books, but much less goopy than in her latest books. The dialogue is a treat, even minor characters are exquisitely drawn, and the in-jokes at the advertising biz (Sayers worked as a copywriter herself for a while) are utterly hilarious. Plus, there's a puzzling, neatly-solved mystery. And even though I don't play cricket and don't understand the game, I adored the pivotal cricket game scene: Sayers at her best. My only complaint is the total absence of the delightful Bunter. THis is definitely the book to read first if you'r e interested in Sayers. Then read the Strong Poison-Have His Carcase-Gaudy Night trilogy. These are, IMHO, her four best books, and of the four, Murder Must Advertise is definitely the most charming and light-hearted.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo! Knock-out Mystery!, December 1, 1999

By A Customer

I must preface this review by confessing a bias - I'm a huge fan of Dorothy Sayers and consider it a tragedy that she did not write more detective fiction. This is definitely one of the strongest entries in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, both for mystery and entertainment value. An interesting tactic used by Sayers is to point in the direction of the culprit about three-fourths of the way through the book and then lead the reader through the detection process that actually leads to his/her unmasking. We saw this used in "Unnatural Death", also in "Whose Body?" Surprisingly, the resulting lack of suspense at the end does not deter from the mystery at all as it is fascinating to see the patient unraveling of clues and pulling together of threads that lead to evidence against a killer. It is also a better reflection of what usually happens in reality, as opposed to a lot of detective fiction where the most unlikely person did it! While we all find whodunits interesting, the reality is that the police and private eyes are usually smart enough to figure out the most likely candidate fairly early and thus narrow their investigations. In this book, the fun is added to by the setting in an ad agency. Sayers had worked in an ad agency at some point in her career and you can see that she really knows her stuff. The interplay between the various characters is very funny and surprisingly not dated in feel, considering the book was written 70 odd years ago! I found the cricket match scene to be the most fascinating part as well the sense the reader gets that with every page, the hangman's noose is slowly closing around the killer. Richly detailed and very descriptive, this is a book you'll want to go back and re-read many times - there will always be something fresh to see!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Two Sides of Lord Peter Wimsey, February 16, 2004

By	C. T. Mikesell (near Eugene, Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Murder Must Advertise (Paperback)

Lord Peter has the rare and highly enjoyable (for himself and the reader) opportunity to play a dual role in this book: himself and his "cousin," Death Bredon. This plot device would be perfected decades later when Peter Brady simultaneously kept dates with two girls, but Ms. Sayers acquits herself admirably in this novel.

An author who frequently made her novels deliver more than just a solid whodunit, Sayers gives the reader a fly-on-the-wall view of an advertising agency in this book. Having worked on the production side of several publications I can verify that her descriptions are spot on. Sayers also includes a couple editorial asides (in the guise of internal soliloquies) about rampant consumerism and middle-class aspirations to luxury and first class footwear. They're as true today as they were in 1930's (and probably the 17- and 1830's as well). And if you hated the idea of The Beatles' music being used to hawk cars, you can imagine how consumers of a previous age felt to see the works of Shakespeare or Tennyson used to promote nerve powder. This is all to say that this novel's verisimilitude has weathered the years exceedingly well.

The central mystery - who slew Victor Dean - gets lost occasionally in the goings-on at the ad agency, but Wimsey, er Bredon, er whoever, is always at work, picking up the odd clue here and there as he goes. Even when the depth of the crime grows - to multiple murders and drug trafficking - Sayers keeps bringing it back to Dean's murder. By the end of the cricket match I found myself floored that I almost understood the game, but also by the way Sayers expertly wove in two crucial revelations about the mystery.

I was satisfied with the story's conclusion. At first the ending seemed cold-blooded and -hearted, but upon reflection I realized that the resolution was well forshadowed - if Wimsey's middle name were Steve it'd be another matter, perhaps. Although we'd spent most of the book with the impish, playful side of Lord Peter, there's another side to his character which values honor most and is not above going beyond the law to preserve it.

If you're not a Dorothy Sayers fan you should probably get to know her detective in an earlier work like Strong Poison first. Then, once you're comfortable with his character, give this novel a read. If you are a Sayers fan, why aren't you reading this book already? 9 out of 10 readers agree, this is a five-star mystery.