Murder Must Advertise: Dorothy L. Sayers

Murder Must Advertise is the eighth novel in the Peter Wimsey series. In this book, Victor Dean, a copywriter in an advertising firm, fell to his death on a spiral staircase made of iron. Although many employees had considered the staircase dangerous, there have been allegations that the death was not accidental. Lord Peter Wimsey has now taken over Dean's job, under another name, and is working undercover to determine if his death was a result of foul play.

I have always considered this my favorite mystery by Dorothy L. Sayers, so I was glad to find that the story lived up to my memories of it. Some of Sayers' books were a disappointment to me on a second read.

I like mysteries with an office setting, especially older mysteries like this one. I have enjoyed at least two others: Minute for Murder (1947) by Nicholas Blake, set in the Visual Propaganda Division in the Ministry of Morale, and Smallbone Deceased (1950) by Michael Gilbert, set in the law firm of Horniman, Birley and Craine. This one is mainly set in the offices of Pym's Publicity.

The author does have a lot to say, via her characters, about the evils of advertising. Per her obituary in the New York Times, Sayers' "first job was that of copy writer in a leading London advertising agency." And that was the main attraction of this book for me.

In a recent review, I commented on my dislike of stories about detectives working undercover, but in this case the undercover plot was fun. Wimsey could have been in some danger when consorting with drug dealers, but this was more an adventure story than a thriller. It surprised me that a novel set in the early 1930s has a good deal of the plot related to drug dealing. Somehow I always see this as a more recent problem.

I did especially like that the story allowed Peter to spend time with his sister Mary and her husband Chief Inspector Parker, a pair that I have always enjoyed. And as a ploy to maintain his cover, Peter also drops in on a party given by his older brother Gerald, the Duke of Denver, and irritates Gerald's snobbish wife, Helen.

I thought this book was well written and a good puzzle, although the puzzle element of a mystery is not the most important part to me. Possibly a bit too long. Some readers complain about the lengthy discussions of public schools vs state education and cricket, yet I did not think these departures went on too long to be interesting. And, at least in the case of the chapter on the cricket game, it does relate to the plot. Even though this was a reread, I was still surprised at the ending and the way it was handled.

See other views at:
Clothes in Books
crossexaminingcrime
The View from the Blue House
A Crime is Afoot
Reactions to Reading
Simon's Book Blog


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Publisher:   Perennial Library, 1986. Orig. pub. 1933.
Length:      323 pages
Format:      Paperback
Series:       Peter Wimsey, #8
Setting:      UK
Genre:       Mystery
Source:      I purchased my copies.

The Likeness: Tana French

The Likeness (2008) is the sequel to Tana French’s debut novel, In the Woods. That book featured two detectives in the Murder Squad in Dublin, Ireland, Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox. In The Likeness, Cassie is now working in Domestic Violence at police headquarters, but a unique opportunity arises for her to go undercover. A woman bearing the identification of Lexie Madison is found dead; the woman cannot be Lexie Madison because that was an invented identity that Cassie used when she worked in the Undercover division. The woman is Cassie's double, and Cassie agrees to take her place at her residence, where she lived with four other undergraduates. A complex premise and one that at times was hard to accept.

I like the structure of the Dublin Murder Squad series. Rob Ryan and Cassie are the two main characters in the first novel. Only Cassie is featured in The Likeness (book 2), and she is working primarily with Frank Mackey of Undercover. In the next book, another detective from book 2 is featured. And so on. In The Likeness, there are references back to the previous case, but knowledge of that book is not necessary to enjoy this one.

I read this book almost a year ago, but I still remember how much I liked it. I felt like the story strained my disbelief a bit, but it was so suspenseful and well-written that I was pulled into it. I liked the characters, and that is helpful in this type of book where you spend so much time with them.

The Likeness does have elements I usually dislike. I don't care for really long books. In the edition I read, this one is 466 pages. Long but not atrociously long. I do think it could have been pared down a little, but I enjoyed every page of it.

I have never cared for stories about undercover assignments, even on TV or in films. They are too stressful for me and too many things can go wrong. This one had the extra added stress that Cassie was pretending to be someone that her housemates had been living with for months, whom they interacted with everyday. Yet I still enjoyed the story ...

What I do like about the two books I have read so far in this series is that the character exploration is just as important as solving the mystery. Yes, I cared who did it, but that isn't what kept me reading. I liked all the characters so well, even though they were young, immature, and had their faults, that I did not want any of them to be the culprit.

Cassie narrates this story which makes it even more personal and emotional. Here is a quote:

I don't tell people this, it's nobody's business, but the job is the nearest thing I've got to a religion. The detective's god is the truth, and you don't get much higher or much more ruthless than that. The sacrifice, at least in Murder and Undercover —  and those were always the ones I wanted, why go chasing diluted versions when you could have the breathtaking full-on thing? — is anything or everything you’ve got, your time, your dreams, your marriage, your sanity, your life. Those are the oldest and most capricious gods of the lot, and if they accept you into their service they take not what you want to offer but what they choose.

Good quote from the review at The New Yorker:

Most crime fiction is diverting; French’s is consuming. A bit of the spell it casts can be attributed to the genre’s usual devices—the tempting conundrum, the red herrings, the slices of low and high life—but French is also hunting bigger game. In her books, the search for the killer becomes entangled with a search for self. In most crime fiction, the central mystery is: Who is the murderer? In French’s novels, it’s: Who is the detective?

See other views by Moira at Clothes in Books and John Grant at Goodreads.


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Publisher: Penguin Books, 2009 (orig. publ. 2008)
Length:  466 pages
Format:  Trade paperback
Series:   Dublin Murder Squad, #2
Setting:  Dublin, Ireland
Genre:   Mystery

Hit Man: Lawrence Block

Hit Man is not a novel but a series of connected stories about an assassin named Keller. He lives in an apartment in New York City and leads a (mostly) normal life, except that the way he supports himself is by killing people. It was a very enjoyable read but it is an adjustment to get used to a killer being the main focus, without any retribution in the end.

I have read several books about hitmen in the last year: Hit Man and Hit List by Block, The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay, and The Butcher's Boy by Thomas Perry. As far as the subject matter, a man who kills for a living, this one was a more challenging read in some ways because it is so matter of fact. In all ways, Keller seems like a really nice guy. Normal except that he doesn't have a standard job. He isn't nasty, mean or a thug, although he is somewhat of a loner.

These stories do take the reader on the road with Keller to his assignments, but they do not focus very much on the actual act itself. The stories are still more about Keller, the people he runs into, his experiences. Keller is a likable person and it isn't that he is trying to fool others into liking him. He just doesn't have any issues with taking money to kill a person and once he has the contract, his main goal is to get the job done, within the specifications of the contract. So he may be nice in his everyday life, but he has picked a profession that is not nice at all.

In some ways I compare this to spies and their assignments. In spy fiction, often the spy is called upon to kill an innocent person just because it is better for the agency he works for, and thus, supposedly, better for the country he works for. The immorality of spies and their methods is not taken for granted, but often forgiven for the greater good. I am not sure that there is much difference between hitmen and spies who are willing to kill for the job.

Lawrence Block is a very gifted writer to convince us that Keller is worth reading about, when each story takes us back, even if only briefly, to the planning and execution of a crime. Dot is the only other character in this book who has a continuing role. Keller gets his assignments from a man in White Plains, and Dot is the go-between. We don't get close to Dot but they have some interesting conversations.

I like the view of New York that we get in these stories. Keller lives in New York City, but visits many other parts of the US. Most (all?) of Lawrence Block's series are set in New York, and he has edited two of books of short stories set in New York (Manhattan Noir and Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics). But I also like Keller's comments on the places he visits. In the first story, his assignment is in Oregon, a small town near to Portland; in the second one it is in Colorado, near to Denver.

Towards the end of this book, one of the stories ("Keller in Retirement") deals with Keller's new found passion – stamp collecting. I learned a lot about stamp collecting from this story, and I assume the information is accurate since the author is also a stamp collector. This hobby continues to be mentioned in stories about Keller.

I cannot forget to mention the humor. The stories are not laugh-out-loud funny, but are filled with low-key humor. Even though I am sure I will continue to find it a challenge to read about a killer for hire, these books are pleasant and fun.

In the Acknowledgments at the beginning of the book, Block says...

Grateful acknowledgment is also due to those publications in which some of Keller's adventures appeared in a slightly different form: Murder on the Run, a collection of stories by members of the Adams Round Table; Murder Is My Business, an anthology edited by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; and, of course, Playboy.

It is amazing to me that Block could pull together those stories and make them into a book that holds together so well, and provides a broad picture of Keller and the stage he is at in his life and career.

I would not recommend this book and the later books in the series to everyone, but I will say that if you haven't read anything by Lawrence Block, you should try one of his books. There is the very humorous Burglar series and the serious and dark Matt Scudder series, and more, to choose from.

Also see...

• Moira focuses on one of the stories at Clothes in Books
• Review at Col's Criminal Library

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Publisher:  Avon Twilight, 1999 (orig. publ. 1998).
Length:      309 pages
Format:      Paperback
Series:       Keller, #1
Setting:      USA, New York City and various states
Genre:       Linked short stories
Source:      I purchased my copy.

The European Reading Challenge 2018

In the European Reading Challenge hosted by Rose City Reader, participants tour Europe through books. The books can be read anytime between January 1, 2018 to January 31, 2019.

The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country.

I am joining at the FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE): Read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries. (And aiming for more. Maybe ten?)

Here is the list of countries:
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

I plan to read mainly crime fiction set in the European countries. I have participated in this challenge before but not in recent years. So far this year I have already read books set in Poland, Russia, Germany, Portugal, and the UK of course, but I have not reviewed most of them.

The Black Seraphim: Michael Gilbert

A description from the back of my paperback ediition:

James Scotland, a young pathologist, has come to Melchester on a much-needed vacation. But amid the cathedral town's quiet medieval atmosphere, he finds a hornet's nest of church politics, town and country rivalries. . . and murder. When one of the community's most influential figures dies suddenly (and very publicly), Scotland uncovers some curious alliances among church, state, and big business. Modern forensic pathology, the age-old mysteries of the church, and a bit of unexpected romance all play a part as Scotland unravels the unsettling truth about Melchester.

This is the fourth novel by Michael Gilbert that I have read, and it is my favorite so far. The other novels I read were from earlier in his writing career. However, I have read his first book of Calder and Behrens stories, Game Without Rules, and that series of stories would also be in contention for favorite. There are eleven stories in that book, and they are all about two spies, Mr Calder and Mr Behrens.

The Black Seraphim and Close Quarters, Gilbert's first novel, have the same setting, the Melchester Cathedral close. Otherwise, there is no connection between the two, and this one was published 36 years after Close Quarters. When reading Close Quarters I was at a loss as to the relationships of the residents of the Cathedral. I had heard of vicars, but knew nothing of deans and archdeacons and canons and vergers. An Episcopalian friend of mind explained  the liturgical ranks, and now it is clearer to me, at least clear enough to read the story without being totally at a loss.

Which is a good thing because a major issue in the Melchester community has caused a rift between the archdeacon and the dean, and this book seems to be more about a political community and business relationships than a religious community.

One of the quotes on the back of my edition says "there is no turning back for the reader who begins The Black Seraphim." That was so true for me. Once I got into the story, I had a hard time putting the book down.

I liked the protagonist, James Scotland. He is inquisitive, intelligent and a pathologist, so it makes sense that he can tell when something is not right about a death.  Amanda, the Dean's daughter is also a wonderful character, forthright, honest, with high expectations of others. I liked the romance, not sweet and sentimental at all.

See also this review at Peggy's Porch.


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Publisher:  Penguin, 1985 (orig. publ. 1984).
Length:      216 pages 
Format:      Paperback
Setting:      UK
Genre:       Mystery
Source:      Purchased at Planned Parenthood Sale, 2013..

Reading in February 2018

So far I have read nine books in January and nine books in February; a lot of reading for me. Two of the nine books read in February were not crime fiction, although there is a bit of mystery in one of them.

In the non-crime related group, we have:

Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman (2014)

This is a story about World War II, its aftermath, the Holocaust, displaced persons in camps, and the looting of the belongings of Jewish families.The story begins with a Prologue set in 2013 when Jack Wiseman is dying. He passes a pendant that he took from the Gold Train collection on to his granddaughter, with a request to return it to its rightful owner. What follows is essentially three linked novellas, each a self-contained story, depicting some events related to the pendant. See my review here.

The Blitz:  The British Under Attack by Juliet Gardiner (2010)

It took me over a year to read this. It is a very good book, and a topic I am extremely interested in, but it was harrowing to read about the Blitz, and non-fiction isn't my favorite reading. So I took lots of breaks. A lot of it was first hand accounts of life in Britain during the Blitz, what people had to endure, the difficulty of providing support for those who had lost homes or families, and the devastation to the cities.

This is a very readable book and I would not discourage anyone from reading it, but I see it more as a historical reference in which the author has pulled together a tremendous amount of information about this event in history.

Moving on to my crime fiction reads, this month I read three books in the espionage fiction sub-genre, three vintage mysteries, and a historical mystery. And all of these were from my TBR piles, books that I have owned for at least a year, and in most cases it has been several years.

Death in the Stocks by Georgette Heyer (1935)

Georgette Heyer (1902-1972) is primarily known for her regency romances, but she also wrote 12 mystery novels. Four of them featured Inspector Hemingway, and this is the 2nd novel in that series. I have just recently started reading Heyer's mysteries again, and I am enjoying them quite a bit. See my review here.

The Polish Officer by Alan Furst (1995)

The Polish officer of the title is recruited into the Polish underground after Poland is invaded by Germany in 1939. I was surprised by this book. It was drier than the first two books in the Night Soldiers series, and it felt more like a history than fiction. Many fans of Alan Furst's book consider this their favorite, so I think I am in a minority in my opinion. It doesn't deter me from moving on to the next one in the series, though.

Lumen by Ben Pastor (1999)

Immediately after reading The Polish Officer I started reading Lumen, which is set at the same time in Poland (1939 - 41). The protagonist is a Wehrmacht captain in Intelligence, Martin Bora, stationed in Cracow during the Nazi occupation of Poland. He is tasked with investigating the death of a nun, well known for her prophetic powers. The books were a perfect pair. I learned a lot about Poland during the time period from Alan Furst's book, and it made this one an easier and more interesting read.

The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall (1965)

Quiller is a British secret agent for a covert organization of spies, unacknowledged by the government. This book, originally titled The Berlin Memorandum, was the first in a series of 19 books about Quiller. There is a film adaptation starring George Segal, Alec Guinness, and Max Von Sydow. See my review here.

Murder Begins at Home by Delano Ames (1949)

Another pleasant and intriguing mystery featuring Jane and Dagobert Brown, a crime solving couple. Most of the books in the series are set in the UK, but this one, the second, is set in New Mexico, USA. One of the things I like about this series is that Jane and Dagobert are intellectual equals; Jane's part is not secondary to Dagobert's. See my review here.

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews (2013)

A Russian mole, spies working to turn enemy agents into double agents, a school for using sex in espionage, and lots and lots of violence. Some of my favorite spy fiction is low key and more about the tradecraft and gathering secrets from documents. This one is definitely on the gritty side but also puts the emphasis on tradecraft . Another one that has been adapted to film, now in theaters. A very good book, some very interesting characters, all very well developed. 

Gold Comes in Bricks by A.A. Fair (1940)

A.A. Fair is a pseudonym used by Erle Stanley Gardner for the Bertha Cool and Donald Lam stories. Flamboyant, fast-talking Bertha Cool is the boss; Donald Lam works for her. She spends most of her time telling Donald to change his ways, until he ends up making lots of money for her. This plot involves a very rich man who wants to find out why his daughter is spending too much money. It could be gambling or blackmail.