Tammy’s Reviews > Murder Must Advertise > Status Update

He sees BD handing her a small object. He can’t hear because the waiter asks a questions about his order. He’s frustrated by people who block his view as well as the monstrous portions and the chatty waiter. The couple clears out and he hears Pamela talking about a fancy dress and slipping in. He uses a newspaper as cover but cannot hear more than that. As she and BD leaves, BD pops his head over the paper. LOL

Willis decides to follow them (more gossip for the secretary) so he gets in the cab behind their cab and says, “Follow them.” The only thing he heard while tailing them was that she was surprised to get BD’s letter. There’s a reference to an Edgar Wallace detective novel (Sayers did not care for him). The chase was lacklaster. He takes a table next to theirs but he cannot here them because of the crowd.

Pamela sees people she knows and sees people she does not know: an opportunity for Sayers to describe how characters look. When she and Willis see each other there is a brief glance and immediate coolness. The secretary notes it. DB arrives and tells her she should not have come. Then he says something to Willis. Ouch. He tells her that he works out of her brother’s office and he has things for her. They go to lunch.

Dr. M talks a lot about how in the early 1900s doctors and nurses relied on cocaine to keep up with their hectic workload. They were in major denial about the harm and addictiveness. In 1910, 5,000 Americans died of cocaine abuse. Freud used and prescribed it until one of his patients died. There was a mention of the bright young things in the conversation. That lot guzzled alcohol; some abused drugs.

DB asks about Joe, the red-headed rooftop PE boy that is called Ginger. He asks about cats. Only one. Then sparrows none. The rain pours, and they close up doors and windows since it is cool. They are six floors up. Folks in the conference room are watching people outside. One woman walks in the lobby and asks for DB. She is Pamela Dean on private business. She people watches while waiting. A lost art.

To cover his descent down the pipe, he tosses the coins to strengthen his image of being a fool. Harlequins were known for acrobatics. He is covered in soot, so he has to make up some kind of story. The soot goes well with the descent imagery. He also quotes Wordsworth. One can easily imagine why his family chucked him. Even more foolish, he learned that he could have taken the stairs to find what he dropped. Barking

I'm still a beginner, but Harlequin in the title points to DB's change of identity. To catch the murderer he is acting mad and foolish so that nobody will detect that he is a detective. The Wonderland comment made me think of descent and ascent imagery. He ascends to gain wisdom because he wants to check out something important. He descends down the pipe to get something that mat be a clue based on his hypothesis.

Inglewood is short with the client who asks to see DB. Armstrong has to search for him. The ad has three blanks, and the client thinks the newspaper will reject it as cursing. DB was on the roof. When asked about illustrations, he quotes Anne I think. Then he talks about Lewis Carroll and a drawing of muchness. He also suggests a blank emoji! They think DB is cross. Is that slang for mad?

Due to a visit from a separate puritanical client, all female employees were told NOT to smoke and to show less skin, putting Miss Parton (hahaha) on edge. The agency had to sanitize (IUSS term) all alcohol advertising. Mr. Pym’s partner (Armstrong) has a toothache and one of the typewriters is on the fritz. What could go wrong? The room feels like a sweatbox at Mother B.