Tag: podcast episode

Episode 26: The Nine Tailors, part 1

~ Charis Ellison

In which Charis and Sharon are back to begin discussing THE NINE TAILORS. We cover the first section of the book, the strong sense of place and atmosphere, and puzzle over where this book fits into the Wimsey chronology.

The Ngaio Marsh book that Charis found so tediously lacking in corpses was TIED UP IN TINSEL (1972)

As part of our discussion about the various young women in Sayers’ novels we refer back to our special episode with Mo Moulton, in which they joined us to discuss their book THE MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY: HOW DOROTHY L. SAYERS AND HER OXFORD CIRCLE REMADE THE WORLD FOR WOMEN and which you can listen to here.

Episode 25: Murder Must Advertise, part 4

~ Sharon

In which Charis and Sharon wrap up our discussion of MURDER MUST ADVERTISE with an early reveal of the whodunnit and then our longest conversation yet on the howdunnit, various side quests offered up by the double identity plot, cricket, the novel’s sympathy for the murderer, and more!

This episode covers events and revelations from chapter seven through the end of the book and reveals the whodunnit.

Shownotes:

  • We refer back to Charis’ framing of “the mystery of the mystery” and “the mystery of the plot,” which we discuss at more length in episode 22.
  • We bring up James Joyce’s Ulysses in our discussion of the catalogue of capitalistic advertisement.
  • Sharon refers to a proleptic moment in Strong Poison in our discussion of the opening of chapter 11. The full quote is: “Wimsey was accustomed to say, when he was an old man and more talkative even than usual, that the recollection of that Christmas at Duke’s Denver had haunted him in nightmares, every night regularly, for the following twenty years.”
  • Peter’s quotation of “Tears, idle tears” comes from a Tennyson poem.
  • Charis brings up the film Remember the Titans and Sharon brings up the TV show Friday Night Lights in the preamble of our conversation about the cricket.

Episode 23: Murder Must Advertise, part 2

~ Charis Ellison

In which Charis and Sharon continue our conversation on MURDER MUST ADVERTISE, beginning with a discussion of literary Modernism and why Sharon views this as the most Modernist of the Wimsey novels. We also run through the copy department staff and their merits as coworkers, summarize the Great Nutrax Row, get a welcome dose of domestic bliss and a glimpse of marital equality during a visit to the Parkers, and touch briefly on Peter’s antics moonlighting as a masked harlequin.

This episode touches on events and revelations through the eleventh chapter, and does not give away the whodunnit.

Shownotes:

  • Sharon refers back to our second episode on Whose Body, which also discusses literary Modernism. She mentions THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford, and ULYSSES by James Joyce–particularly the episode ‘Aeolus’, which Sharon connects with the end of chapter five in MURDER MUST ADVERTISE. Sharon references THE GREAT WAR AND MODERN MEMORY (Paul Fussell), an influential book of literary criticism. Fussell’s thesis is that the trauma of WWI necessitated the changes in poetic language and narrative representation that gave rise to Modernist forms.
  • In discussing the plethora of minor characters, Sharon refers to Alex Woloch’s THE ONE VS. THE MANY: MINOR CHARACTERS AND THE SPACE OF THE PROTAGONIST IN THE NOVEL
  • Charis paraphrases chapter three of MURDER MUST ADVERTISE, the exact quote being “…if, by the most farfetched stretch of ingenuity, an indecent meaning could be read into a headline, that was the meaning that the great British Public would infallibly read into it…”
  • The lamp that brought the quote to mind:
  • “This is the most Bruce Wayne–” Bruce Wayne is, of course, the billionaire playboy behind the mask of Batman.
  • “What in the Sexton Blake is that, Peter?” Sexton Blake was a popular pulp detective fiction character during the era of Dorothy L. Sayers, and a particular favorite of Peter’s young friend Ginger Joe.

Episode 22: Murder Must Advertise, part 1

~ Charis Ellison

In which Charis and Sharon begin our conversation on MURDER MUST ADVERTISE and introduce the mysterious goings-on at Pym’s Publicity that summon one Death Bredon to investigate. We cover the difference between the “mystery of the mystery” and the “mystery of the text,” Dorothy L. Sayers’ own work at an advertising agency, her views on mass consumption and the tricky ethics of the advertising trade, and more.

This episode touches on events and revelations from the beginning of MURDER MUST ADVERTISE to approximately halfway through the fourth chapter, and does not give away the whodunnit.

Shownotes:

  • The excerpts Sharon pulls from Sayers’ letters to her publisher regarding writing MURDER MUST ADVERTISE and to her parents about her job at Benson’s ad agency come from The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers 1899 to 1936: The Making of a Detective Novelist (edited by Barbara Reynolds). Regarding MMA, the full quote from her letter to Victor Gollancz, her publisher, reads as follows from a letter she sent him in September 1932: “The new book is nearly done. I hate it because it isn’t the one I wanted to write, but I had to shove it in because I couldn’t get the technical dope on The Nine Tailors in time. still, you never know what the public will fancy, do you? It will tell people a little bit about hte technical side of advertising, which most people are inquisitive about, and it deals with the dope-traffic, which is fashionable at the moment, but I don’t feel that this part is very convincing, as I can’t say I ‘know dope.’ Not one of my best efforts. The Nine Tailors will be a labour of love—and probably a flop!”
  • We briefly mention the TV shows Mad Men and Leverage
  • Note that Sharon initially correctly notes the dates Sayers worked at Benson’s ad agency (1922-1931) and then immediately misspeaks twice and says she left in 1929.
  • The essay on “The Other Six Deadly Sins” that Sharon brings up in our conversation about Sayers’ disapproval of mass consumption and advertising as a means to create a public appetite for goods that people do not need was initially delivered in 1941 and then published in her Creed or Chaos? collection in 1949. Sharon cites from the essay as it appears in the more widely available collection Letters to a Diminished Church.
  • We bring up Amanda Mull’s essay “Your Sweaters Are Garbage” (The Atlantic, October 2023) in our conversation about fast fashion. For further reading/listening on this topic, we recommend the Culture Study podcast episode “Why Do Clothes Suck Now” as well as Aja Barber’s book Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism. Charis refers as well to “the Vimes boot theory” which is taken from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels and proudly has its own Wikipedia page.
  • When Sharon mentions Ursula K. LeGuin’s injunction that we must imagine our way out of capitalism, she is referring to LeGuin’s remarks in her acceptance speech for the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters: “We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable — but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.” You can find video of the full speech and transcript here.

Episode 21: HAVE HIS CARCASE, part 4

~ Charis Ellison

In which Charis and Sharon wrap up our discussion (finally!) of HAVE HIS CARCASE. We pick up about halfway through the book with an emotional watershed moment for Peter and Harriet, cover the discovery of the corpse and subsequent hullabaloo, and give away the whodunnit and howdunnit. Also in this episode: some fond ribbing of Theater People, Mrs. Weldon as the series’ Final Girl when it comes to elderly women murdered for their fortunes, our impatience with ciphers, and more!

Shownotes:

  • Many thanks to supporters who’ve joined us on Patreon! We’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes content, creating open posts for patrons to chat with us after each episode drops, and if you sign up at the $20/month Dowager Duchess level, Charis will sing every verse of “On Ilkla Moor Baht’at” to you (or the victim of your choosing).
  • Sharon is never not bringing up The Secret History by Donna Tartt, and this episode is no exception.
  • Sharon also mentions the American competitive cooking show Chopped, in which chefs must create three courses out of secret ingredient boxes.
  • The audiobooks that Charis listens to are the ones narrated by Sir Ian Carmichael.
  • You’ll also get to hear us look up details of Thomas Beddoes’ Death’s Jest Book in real time in this episode.
  • Sharon quotes from Sayers’ letter to her cousin Ivy Shrimpton, collected in The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 1899 to 1936: “I am struggling wiht another book—horribly complicated! But it must be done, under contract, so there’s nothing for it but to wire in and work it out.”
  • Charis would like it to be known that all her comments about Theater People come from a fond place, as she herself is also a Theater Person and can do the Alpha Psi Omega secret handshake to prove it!
  • Thank you to our patrons who’ve joined the Patreon at the $5 and up/month level as of the date we recorded this episode: Rose O., Jan L., Caisee F., Jessie S., Sarah C., Katherine S., and Kindra C. Your support literally makes this work possible!

Episode 20: HAVE HIS CARCASE, part 3

~ Sharon

Surprise! Charis and Sharon return at long last to the shores of Wilvercombe to continue our discussion on HAVE HIS CARCASE. We share life updates for both of us, discuss why this book’s plot is so impossible to talk about, bring up Raymond Chandler’s thoughts on Golden Age detectives, and cover an important emotional watershed for Harriet and Peter. Also: we run through changes in our posting schedule going forward and introduce our Patreon!

This episode tips its hat at the whodunnit of the murder but does not give detailed spoilers about the howdunnit.

Shownotes:

  • Here is the fuller citation of Sayers’ letters to her publisher Victor Gollancz about turning from Five Red Herrings to writing Have His Carcase, as excerpted in The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 1899 to 1936: “[Readers] have also grumbled that Lord Peter a) falls in love b) talks too discursively–here is a book [Five Red Herrings] in which nobody falls in love (unless you count Campbell) and in which practically every sentence is necessary to the plot (except a remark or two on Scottish scenery and language). Much good may it do ’em! Anyway, I will return to a less rigidly intellectual formula in HAVE-HIS-CARCASE which will turn on an alibi and a point of medicine, but will, I trust, contain a certain amount of human interest and a more or less obvious murderer. But I haven’t made up the plot yet…”
  • We discuss the central idea found in Brigitta Hudácskó’s “Ruritania by the Sea-Detection by the Seaside in Dorothy L. Sayers’s Have His Carcase,” which ran in HJEAS: Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies Vol. 27, Issue 1 in 2021. Our thanks to Hudácskó for sending us the article and for our podcast’s first scholarly citation!
  • We discuss at length Raymond Chandler’s 1944 article for The Atlantic Monthly titled “The Simple Art of Murder”
  • We refer to the meme Worst Person You Know Made a Great Point
  • And we also share our mutual love for the 2013 film Pacific Rim

Episode 17: “The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach”

~ Sharon

Surprise! We took an unplanned and unannounced long hiatus from the podcast because [waves hands vaguely at 2020]. Charis and Sharon are now back in the saddle and ready to tackle the rest of HAVE HIS CARCASE. But before we do that, we have a couple special episodes featuring two short stories from the Sayers canon. In this episode, we discuss the story “The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach,” which sees Lord Peter back in Scotland for a gutsy adventure.

Content note: In this episode, we discuss anti-Semitic views and writings contemporary to Sayers’ time.

Download the episode transcript.

Shownotes:

Episode 15: FIVE RED HERRINGS, part 2

~ Charis Ellison

In which Charis and Sharon discuss the second half of THE FIVE RED HERRINGS. We’re joined once again by our friend Angela Hines, who represents the pro-timetables point of view.

We reveal the Thing That Was Missing, briefly round up all the suspects, and re-visit our discussion of the Farren marriage as part of Sayers’ continuing theme of equality and inequality in relationships. We also discuss why Peter seems to get along well with artists, what Charis and Sharon find lacking (fraught emotions!), and what Angela finds in abundance (complex puzzle solving!) before revealing the whodunnit and outlining the final confrontation of the book.

This episode covers the second half of the novel and gives away both the vital clue and the whodunnit.

 

Download the episode 15 transcript.

Shownotes:

  • “…and in the future Bob Ross is gonna show everyone how to do it.” Bob Ross, host of the PBS show The Joy of Painting, frequently demonstrated techniques using a palette knife.

  • The Charlie Day meme references an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and features the character in front of a ‘conspiracy theory wall’ of images and text linked with string.

    • angela meme

  • “You think a depressed person could make this?” is a quote from Parks & Recreation, Season 4, Episode 11: ‘The Comeback Kid’. 

Episode 14: FIVE RED HERRINGS, part 1

~ Sharon

In which Charis and Sharon return from their short hiatus to talk about traaaaaiiiiinnnnssss. That’s right, this is the first of two episodes on THE FIVE RED HERRINGS! Our friend Angela Hines joined us to represent the pro-timetables point of view.

We discuss Sayers’ correspondence about the novel with her publisher, as well as how the book differs from the previous Lord Peter mysteries. We also cover the scene of the murder, discuss a depiction of marriage in THE FIVE RED HERRINGS, and get ourselves tangled up trying to distinguish which Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood version of “The Lady of Shalott” we’re respectively referring to.

This episode covers roughly the first half the novel and does not give away the whodunnit.

Download the episode 14 transcript.

Shownotes:

Episode 13: STRONG POISON, part 4

~ Sharon

In which Charis and Sharon conclude their discussion of STRONG POISON. We follow Miss Climpson as she has an encounter with Spiritualism, Miss Murchison as she snoops, and give away the whodunnit and howdunnit. We also talk about narrative echoes to previous Wimsey mysteries, such as Mrs. Wrayburn in relation to the other elderly women in UNNATURAL DEATH and THE UNPLEASANTNESS AT THE BELLONA CLUB. And we consider the callbacks to the scene in WHOSE BODY? where Peter solves the case.

Download the episode 13 transcript!

Shownotes:

  • We bring up TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG by Connie Willis, which we both love so much, again in our discussion about Miss Climpson’s fake seance.
  • W.B. Yeats’ interest in Occultism is well-documented in his own writing and biographies about him.
  • For more on the Fox Sisters, see this article from The Smithsonian.
  • Charis brings up LEVERAGE, her favorite tv show.
  • “You’ve been Dread Pirate Robertsing it”; Sharon is referring to a pivotal plot revelation in THE PRINCESS BRIDE.
  • We both talk about our distaste for Turkish Delight, despite early reading of THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE convincing us it would be delightful.
  • The anecdote about Anne Shirley expecting diamonds to look like amethysts is from ANNE OF GREEN GABLES.
  • King Cophetua; Harriet’s friends are referring to a ballad in which a king falls in love on first sight with a beggar maid and proposes marriage.