Status Updates From Murder Must Advertise

Younger and older brothers get loud and wake up Wally, who confiscates the book so Ginger will sleep. Wally promises not to read it once he is told why Ginger was up. He falls asleep writing the latest installment of his detective novel in his head.

His friends say that they never went into Mrs. Johnson’s drawer. He believes them. He asks another friend who walks buy. One did see miss Parton take Mrs. Johnson’s purse to the canteen one day at lunch, two days after confiscation. Who witnessed the confiscation? Prout, Hartley, Wedderburn. His brother walkes up and scolds him and teases him about writing poetry. They fight and Joe says it’s private.

Oh, I wonder if he went on a date with Harriet, “the one young woman who showed no signs of yielding to him.” Ginger Joe gets out of bed in the middle of the night. He writes a report late at night because it’s the only time for privacy. He’s writing in an old composition book for English class. He wrote in the style of Sexton Blake and he tried to ignore his spelling. Joe is 14.5 years old. He writes his report.

He called PD to find out what was in the letter. She had forwarded a note from Dian. She did not give Dian his address which was smart. He instructs PD to make him sound mysterious and always on the go. He’s like a yellow-dog dingo, always on the run and hard to catch. Didn’t Diana have hunting dogs? He promises to tell her more when he knows more. After hanging up, he hopes she can keep her head on straight.

He can narrow down the culprits to (1) people he told the catapult story to, (2) the person missing the pencil. or (3) people who asked for his address. LPW imagines their shock at seeing him arrive without harm, without even a black eye. Charlie did not leave a mark on the assailant. Nobody acted surprised at wwing DB that morning. LPW stops conjecturing and leaves so that Charlie can rest.

It came from the manufacturer, Darling’s, or Pym’s. Half a gross were sent out for testing since they have a special propelling mechanism. LPW deduces that DB was the target, not Charlie. The assailant saw him get mail for Box 4 and clocked Charlie. The name on the letter was PD. He wonders if one of the twenty people he talked to about using catapults on the roof at the tea party is the assailant.

LPW narrates an incident from Ginger’s detective book. He tells Parker to suck it up. Parker rules out men who might have done it. The only evidence is a Darling’s pencil which LPW wishes to see. That is when he realizes the letter is gone. One can’t buy these pencils because the stores give them away. Pym manages their ads. The reward system works like Greenbacks. This particular pencil is not in the pipeline.

He walks up stairs in the dark but his spidey senses are on the alert. He is attacked in the dark and the result is a broken left collarbone. He fights back but is knocked to the ground. The fall woke up Lady Mary, who checked on the baby, heard steps heading down, and grabs a revolver. She opens the door to see her husband on the ground. Later, he tells her she should have looked out the window.

He goes home to his flats (his bachelor flat and the one on the floor above him which he rented after he married). Before going up, he grabs the evening mail which arrives at 9:30 PM! When LPW assumed his new identity, he started using the mailbox for the upper floor. Parker gave him the key and he put Bredon on the box. In it, was a dainty missive with feminine writing and gilt-edges. The light bulb did not turn on.

Ch. 6 BD’s bil of Scotland Yard had a boring day at the office doing loads of paperwork and taking a call about mysterious boat operations near Essex. He decides to stay at work and wait for the 1 am call rather than be pulled out of bed.

Ginger runs off. DB goes to his office and then dons gentlemanly clothing that the cleaning lady notices when he walks to the lift. Another comment about decent. Change of identity again back to LPW. There’s a coment that as LPW has no idea who put the lesser lights (neon signs) to rule the night sky.

DB lets Ginger reasonito figure out a theory. DB asks who had access to her drawer and who saw her put the catapult in it. Ginger turns pale once he puts the dots together. He asks Ginger to inquire quietly to find out who knew about the catapult (Ginger says he can pretend the elastic is ruined) and who had no alibi for the murder. He’s asked if he’s Scotland yard. No, but he can put in a good word for his brother.

Ginger wants to be a detective (his brother’s in the police). DB asks the boy to keep his mouth zipped. He gives Ginger a ten-bob note to buy grey powder and an insufflator. I wonder if he is going to dust for fingerprints and that’s exactly what he did! Ginger is psyched. There are no prints. Then he has Ginger pretend to use it and this time DB found prints. Clearly, someone had wiped it. Who got into her drawer?

He confirms details that Mrs. Johnson told him. Ginger states he never used it at work; he shows it to friends. The last time he had it was a month ago. Nobody at work has ever brought a catapult or any device like it. One guy keeps a peashooter at home. He’s never heard of anyone else shooting things at work. DB asks about what Ginger was reading and it is called “The Clue of the Crimson Star.” Red like Ginger.

She wears a garnet and he comments on it. He puts his hand in the drawer to get the catapult and cuts his finger. RED. More alchemy? While Mrs. Johnson gets a bandage, he calls Ginger over from reading his penny dreadful detective novel and asks him to meet after work to do a favor. Ginger thinks it’s passing a note to a young woman. LOL Tallboy shows up with work for the boys to do and DB bolts, not being a boy.

He tells her about his catapult and she warns him for she confiscated Ginger’s catapult a month ago. DB convinces her to give it to him and he will pay for any broken windows. After mandatory fun is over, he follows her to her office and makes a comment about the keys. Her drawer has to be locked because of tamp-money and confiscated items. He comments on her ring while she goes through her drawer.

I am glad to know from the podcast that it is normal to feel information overload at the beginning of a detective novel. Guilty as charged. BD learns that Mr. Binns excels at darts and pulling obscure periodicals but stinks at bridge. Mrs. Johnson, a widow, chides BD for not meeting other people. He admits to misbehaving, worthy of a rap on the knuckles. Ginger broke a window playing “Round the World” with his yo-yo.

He asks Tallboy if he’s good at catapulting since he’s good at tennis. He asks about darts as well. I think he’s drawing out people. He brags about winning at darts and he earned free beer for winning a dart competition. How interesting, he lies at a place where they get paid to lie without crossing legal lines. In this way, he’s collecting names of potential suspects by learning who has good hand-eye coordination.

Harris blames college on extending childhood when a person should be working. Well, there’s that. They bump into death and they find out he’s shooting at sparrows. He gets fresh air that way. He brags to tallboy that he bagged a starling and he invites everyone up. I wonder if he’s trying to see who’s a good shot. He also imitates George Washington, “I cannot tell a lie.” He’s advertising the benefits of the roof.

Ch. VI Miss Rossiter thinks DB is nuts because he plays with catapults on the roof. I wonder if he wants to be seen to lure someone. So, she thinks he’s mad. How very Alice of her! They are having their monthly tea. Wait! A tea party? You don’t say! Smayle uses the excuse of getting her tea to leave. He talks to Harris (so much gossip) who says that everyone in the copy department is mad. Arrested development.

Woo hoo! I just finished listening to the first LitLife episode and I am seeing the descent imagery as well as the upside-down world imagery correctly! I thought the ... stuff was stream of conscience but it was imitating advertising. WOW. That was very clever of Sayers. Lord Peter simply slept.

This seems to be a world of flipped images to me as well as images of death and the influence of the moon. There are a lot of descent imagery and the BYP think they have created a paradise on earth by letting go of all the boundaries and living life as they choose. In reality they have made a hell on earth!

She doesn’t even know DB’s name and that is a good thing. It's very interesting that there is this stream of conscious thing going on here but at least it is readable. Then the narrative switches to Pym’s advertising by bright lights and newspaper presses. These products will make your life better: health, household, mind. LPW went home and slept.

Saint Alec curses like a sailor and treats his pillow like a punching bag as he thinks about BD. His hangover headache only makes things worse. He thinks helping PD with VD is just a ruse. He hates DB and his thoughts are murderous. He quotes Macbeth and there sure waas a lot of moon imagery in that play. Demon Dian is bored, sick of everything, but lusting after BD and hopes she can snag his address from PD.

PD has put aside her notions of PIs being creepy, vulgar men. She likes DB’s voice, hands, athletism. She’s decided to up her cam in dressing up around him. She wishes Alec Willis wasn’t such a prig. He looked silly in his costume, whereas DB looks like he goes from one dinner party to another. She’s very jealous of Dian and what they did last night. Although she hates platinum blonde hair, she may bleach hers.

I wondered about that. He’s using Charlie’s address so as not to be linked to LPW. Charlie lets him know there is a cocaine-smuggling operation on the Essex coast which has been facilitated by abolishing the coast guard (Semper paratus). He invites LPW to join them anytime with that rast car of his. In other news, THREE hearts are being wrung on DB’s account. PD is excusing her partying because of the investigation.

Charlie thinks he's generalizing and jumping to conclusions. Peter gives him the address of where the party was. The house belongs to Major Milligan, and the police have been watching it for some time. Peter's tips have helped the police to collar people, but someone at Pym's almost figured him out. He lied about a cousin who looks like him. Then he tells how he caught Dian by diving into a fish pond. Mary worries.