Status Updates From Murder Must Advertise

This time is easier. I let the banter fly over my head instead of wondering if I was a dunce. It flows like a sitcom. Several things made me laugh and I am wondering if the descent imagery in the form of the iron staircase will mean anything. It is Sayers after all.

Ingleby loses his temper over an account Nutrax. Mr. Tallboy laughs at Bredon’s first name DEATH! Miss Rossiter jokes that his stuff should have universal appeal.

Prout the photographer has been planning his exit for five years but caves when they beg and plead for him to stay. OMG! What a twist on CM “They have set his feet in a large room.” But, Prout complains about it and thinks they need a Mussoline to organize trade conditions. He’s a firebrand. He goes to the copyroom and Miss Rossiter wants his full name and address and demands everything to be in block letters.

Bredon sees Ingleby in the lavatory and he learns that Daniels is a group manager with a bunch of clients. Bredon asked why he was so defensive about insurance and Ingleby thinks it has to be with seniority. He’s been there for so long that he doesn’t like a new guy dissing the place. It’s run like the goverment (no initiative, hustle, or curiosity). A feisty red-headed photographer scrubs his hands with pumice.

The guy talking to him goes down the steps with ease, but Bredon is far more cautions. Of course, they talk about the guy who broke his neck. The acrobat thinks he slipped. He can’t imagine how it happened because it’s well-lit and he’s never had a problem. Bredon if the guy had nails on his shoes. What an odd question. The guy talking is Daniels. Bredon is shocked that the insurance company didn’t fully investigate.

Oops, I’ve been talking about Hankin. Armstrong’s office is near the spiral staircase. Hankin’s at the opposite end of the corridor near the other staircase. He quickly wrote a few paragraphs (a sonnet, eh?) and then went out and studied the staircase and it is near Ingleby’s door. He is looking for the typists’ room and asks for help. He says frightfully a lot. Downstairs are the big igs, printing, and the washroom?

Ingleby is used to holding hands of new copywriters. He believes that encouragement is the way to go. He looks at Bredon’s early efforts and gives advise and background information. The company owners are straight-laced so he also tells what they will not approve of. He believes that the clients get in the way of good advertising because of their fads. Bredon comments there’s more to it than meets the eye.

I wonder if the spiral staircase is descent, which means managers live in Hell, which is appropriate! Ingleby has weighed and measured Bredon and has found him wanting. LOL As soon as everyone leaves, he goes through the dead guy’s desk. He’s got Alice in Wonderland. Is this an upside down world? I looked up guard-book and it is a collection of advertisements. I suspect each account/product had one.

They talk about derby and close calls on the steps. They tell Bredon that the margarine account is unlucky. People discuss how to trim an ad but the owner is picky about what must be included. Plus there is a time deadline. Ingleby shows him the guard-book for the Green Pastures margarine account, what to do (cow picure, price, taste), what not to do (Psalm 23, negroes, don’t knock butter).

Ingleby takes him to his “dog kennel” room and points out the rooms of others on the way. He and Bredon crack jokes about the spiral staircase with knobs to prevent boys from sliding down it. Group managers and conference rooms are downstairs. The fall happened while they were at work and one of the girls describes what happened that day. After the long, gory details, Bredon asks if that happens often. LOL

Bredon is assigned to margarine (which reminds me of the hilarious scene in Kate and Leopold). A quick round of introductions is made. When introduced to a young lady who writes vile limericks, Bredon tells her they shall be friends. They invite him in the Derby sweep and he’s game. Now, I remember somewhere (a movie perhaps or a book) that the Brits will bet just about anything. Hmmmm.

Everyone hears the boss’s footsteps (a bit like my jingling keys at school) and they all quickly hide things they wish not to be seen and tidy up. It’s a bit like someone calls on a family in a Jane Austen movie. The boss is tactful enough to be blind to it. He introduces Mr. Bredon to them all. He is assigned to another college grad and they eye each other like cats meeting for the first time.

I love that one guy reads a Wodehouse novel! The gossip is that he looks like a well-preserved 40, he’s never een in advertising, he’s a Balliol grad. Already they are making poems about him--it’s a competition. It looks like the betting may be in office only and it involves twisted pieces of paper with each of the norse’s name on it. The atmosphere is highly-charged, energetic, full of wit, barb, and banter.

They are suspicious of Bredon because the boss hired him. He’s a blond, too, with horn-rimmed glasses. He looks like Bertie Wooster!!!! “Death, where is thy sting?” This is classic military gallows humor. “Death” is one of Lord Wimsey’s names. Even better. They are all chipping in for a wreath for the funeral. They also have some kind of office pool going but I can’t make out what. Betting on a horse race?

Ch. I There sure are a lot of details to absorb in the first page. The gist is that “Bredon” is the new copywriter to take the place of Dean, the dead copywriter, in his old room. The advertising agency is busy, but based on Ingleby’s comments, it may be a show. Since I don’t remember how Dean died, I don’t know if the comment about falling down the iron staircase is dark humor. They call Bredon the new baby.

The author’s note is delicious. I guess Sayers was afraid a backlash from an industry that she knew well.

SMH. DNF after reading 2/3 of the book. I'm trying to catch up the Lit Life podcast. I can do better. :-D

the blurb informs me there will be five murders, which is quite astounding as so far there's only been one! i sense chaos oncoming in this final half and i look forward to it. i'm not uninclined towards any major aspect of the book but i fear that for me things have just been moving a bit too slowly. especially considering my unfortunate habit of preferring my reading matter swiftly devoured. onwards tomorrow.

not moving fast enough for me i'll be so real!

12 pages in is far too early for an n word jumpscare, dorothy