Lord Peter Wimsey mystery, and a sweet skewering of the advertising world as well.

This was a delightful romp with Lord Peter Wimsey, a detective who goes undercover into Pym's Publicity to find out what, if anything underhand is going on in that most upstanding and reputable advertising agency that could have caused the death of not just one but 5 individuals.

It's as delightful and cosy a read as others in the series, and this doesn't fail to entertain. ( )

One of the best of the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, as Lord Peter goes undercover at an ad agency to investigate the mystery of why one of the copywriters fell to his death on a spiral iron staircase. Dorothy L. Sayers has a lot of fun with her subject and her setting, one she would have known well from her own career in advertising, as she contrasts this with the empty world of the bright young things. Superb. ( )

My alltime favorite British mystery. What Sayers (who worked in an ad agency) had to say about this form of communication is still right on target today. Witty and fun. ( )

Wimsey undercover; he adopts the name of Death Bredon, the persona of a mildly wealthy man seeking employment, and takes up a position as a copywriter at an advertising firm in order to Investigate Strange Goings On. He manages the second part perfectly well, of course, with a convoluted plot involving cocaine-smugglers, blackmail and murder emerging, but it's the first part that really makes the book. Wimsey turns out to have an unexpected flair for advertising, and his work and the office around him is a delight.

We get a beautifully-executed portrait of the politics of a small firm in the early 1930s, from the directors down to the Cockney messenger boys, with an intricate interplay of personalities. The industry itself is also well-shown - it's quite clear how the advertising system worked - and Wimsey's (and Sayers'!) ruminations on the grandiose pointlessness of it all were cheering. Likewise, the somewhat seedy world of the rich and lazy "bright young things" is brought out in sharp focus, and - a nice touch - deliberately sensationalised the one time we have it seen through the eyes of a quiet, respectable, normal narrator.

From the point of view of the series as a whole, it's interesting to see Peter working for once (he is quite proud of his "four honest quid a week"), and the two very passing references to Harriet Vane buried in the narrative caused me to sit up and laugh.