Every Englishman loves a lord (or so they say) and the hero of Murder Must Advertise is Lord Peter Wimsey.
I must state here, however, that I do not, and have never, loved Lord Peter. In fact, he's often insufferable.
Dorothy L Sayers, though, is one of my great all-time literary heroes, and this book is a masterpiece.
It's set in an advertising agency in the 1930s. There's high-life, murder, drug-dealing, scandal, a wonderful cricket match, and a simply brilliant and hilarious account of office politics.
No doubt it was because agreement on any point was so rare in a quarrelsome world, that the fantastical announcements of advertisers announced it so strongly and so absurdly...In this place...the spiritual atmosphere was clamorous with financial storm, intrigue, dissention, indigestion and marital infedelity. And with worse things - with murder wholesale and retail, of soul and body, murder by weapon and by poison.
And you even get the painstaking Chief Inspector Parker, as well.
Marvellous!
Word To Use Today: clamorous. This is a gorgeous word that should be used much more often. Clamour is an Old French word, and it comes from the Latin clāmāre, to cry out.
I love this book very much too! Hurray for Dorothy L Sayers. I'm also quite fond of LPW and Harriet Vane I must admit.
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