Minna Feibleman Bardon (1900-1974) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. She wrote romance, detective, children’s, and science fiction short stories before writing several books of mystery and romance. She was also a copywriter for the Thompson Advertising Agency, editor of manuscripts for Writers’ Digest, a book reviewer for The Enquirer, and a social worker. The titles of her books are as follows:
- The Case of the Dead Grandmother: Phoenix Press, 1937
- Also published as Murder for Real Black: Knight Digest Paperback, 1947
- The Case of the Advertised Murders: Hillman-Curl, 1939; Coachwhip, 2023
- Murder Does Light Housekeeping: Phoenix Press, 1941; Coachwhip, 2024
- Also published as The Case of the Blood-Stained Dime: Parsee, 1941
- Blood Red Death: Phoenix Press, 1947; Coachwhip, 2023
- His Best Girl: Arcadia House, 1949
- Love On a Tray: Arcadia House, 1949
- The Jewels of Romance: Arcadia House, 1950
- Teach Me to Love: Arcadia House, 1951
- Alphabet of Romance: Arcadia House, 1952
Bardon’s second book, The Case of the Advertised Murders, showcased her knowledge of the marketing industry. Told from the perspective of Nita Manners, copywriter for the advertising department of the E. &B. Paul Department Store somewhere in the Midwest, a series of murders unfolds in the venerable store that decimates the back office staff.
Everyone is preparing for the September Sales, a huge annual event requiring extra display advertising and stockpiling of merchandise to meet the anticipated demand, when Mary Smith, a pretty waif, wanders into the office, near fainting and commanding the attention of every man in the area. Staff rush to feed her and settle her comfortably until the end of the day, when she goes home with one of the senior staff. Smith repays her hostess’s kindness by vanishing in the night with some of her best clothes and her diary.
Smith appears a few days later as a corpse in the advertising office on the seventh floor, bloodily stabbed with a freshly sharpened pair of shears. Detective Inspector Hank Bemis arrives soon to take over the case. He is promptly smitten with Nita and the two spend more time together than they should, chatting cozily in corners and smoking.
Even as the police investigate the scene, Emily Paul, owner of the store with her brother, conceives of a brilliant marketing strategy that capitalizes on the murders. She scandalizes the staff but her plan brings shoppers pouring in, resulting in the store’s most successful September Sale ever. Those who have read Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers will recognize parallels between Emily’s ingenious marketing ploy and Peter’s Whifflets scheme.
The culprit was nicely concealed until the end; I was pleasantly surprised at how well constructed the plot was. Bardon allowed her tendency to romance into the story line, pairing nearly all of the staff off, which was probably realistic for the back office environment of the time. Gossip ran rampant, again similar to Murder Must Advertise. I had hoped for more insight into the fashions but the focus was on the characters, not the clothing. An interesting piece of crime fiction that highlights the operations of a late 1930s U.S. department store.