Book Review: Murder Must Advertise

Dorothy L. Sayers herself may have disliked Murder Must Advertise and written the book to meet a publication deadline, but make no mistake. The eighth in the series featuring aristocratic detective Lord Peter Wimsey is a delightful multi-genre exercise that's as much as about Wimsey going undercover at an advertising agency in order to investigate the seemingly accidental death of Victor Dean as it's about the pervasiveness of advertising. The circumstances surrounding Dean's death are decidedly sketchy, but his unfinished letter to the agency's owner had implied the workplace was being used for something seedy and doubtless criminal. Enter Wimsey, who not only takes up the position of a copywriter at the firm, but also dons the disguise of a mysterious Harlequin to tease out the truth and piece the whodunit together. A former copywriter herself, Sayers sets up a fun puzzle — including an entire vividly written chapter devoted to the game of cricket — that brings out the element of psychological manipulation and falseness conspicuous in advertising ("advertise or go under"), wondering through the character of Wimsey a whole new world that ceased to run on ads. If only!