Russell Podcast: PR and Crime Novels

For the 139th episode of the Journalism History podcast, PR researcher Karen Miller Russell discusses her latest research about public relations in U.S. mystery novels.

Transcript

Karen Miller Russell: I just wanted to know why PR people make such good characters in mystery novels. Like, why are there so many PR characters in, appearing in these novels?

Teri Finneman: Welcome to Journalism History, a podcast that rips out the pages of your history books to reexamine the stories you thought you knew and the ones you were never told.

I’m Teri Finneman, and I research media coverage of women in politics.

Nick Hirshon: And I’m Nick Hirshon, and I research the history of New York sports.

Ken Ward: And I’m Ken Ward, and I research the journalism history of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.

Teri Finneman: And together, we are professional media historians guiding you though our own drafts of history. Transcripts of the show are available at journalism-history.org/podcast. This episode is sponsored by Lehigh University’s Department of Journalism and Communication, inspiring the future makers. (00:59)

Most people who read mystery novels spend the book trying to figure out whodunnit, but for researchers, examining the structure of the writing and the characters used can be just as interesting.

In today’s episode, we discuss the role of public relations characters within the plots of 74 mystery novels published between 1934 and 2017. Karen Miller Miller Russell of the University of Georgia tells us about one of her recent studies, called Crime has a PR Component: Public Relations in U.S. Mystery Novels.

Karen, welcome to the show. It’s interesting to take a look at how pop culture – things like TV, movies, and books – cover the media industry. I know I get really tired of the (laughs) inaccurate portrayals of what being a journalist is, but why did you wanna study portrayals of public relations practitioners in pop culture, in mystery novels in particular?

Karen Miller Russell (01:55): It’s actually a long-standing interest of mine. When I first started teaching, which I’ll admit was in the 1990s, (laughs) I was discussing with my students what happens when you tell people you’re majoring in PR? And a lot of times, they don’t know what that is. So we started discussing, “Well, if you didn’t know what PR is, how would you find out?” And it came up that there’s a lot of representations in pop culture. So I did that first study in 1999. That was a more general survey of PR in books and movies.

The reason I turned to mystery novels this time is actually just that I like reading them, (laughs) so I figured if I was gonna do another study it would be more fun to do something that I’m interested in reading about myself.

Teri Finneman (02:44): Great. So for this study, you examined 74 novels that were distributed in the United States and feature public relations characters. First, you know, kind of a funny question, but how did you find (laughs) time to read 74 books?

Karen Miller Russell: Well (laughs), I read all the time anyway. I usually read two or three books a week outside of what I read for work. So, basically, it’s just that I took a really long time and… In fact, I started working on it, I think in 2013, and it was published in 2023. So that’ll tell you, it took me a long time.

Teri Finneman: Oh, wow. So how did you go about narrowing it down, and even finding all of those books?

Karen Miller Russell (03:26): Well, I was lucky. There’s a database called IJPC, which stands for Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture. It’s run by Joe Saltzman at the University of Southern California. And he has just done nothing but collect books, novels, TV shows, etc. … Any kind of pop culture representation you can think of, about not just journalists, but PR, advertising, etc.

So the way the database works, you can just put in public relations, genre, mystery, and it’s, that’s how it’ll list.

Teri Finneman: That’s great. So, what are some of the examples of the books that you looked at?

Karen Miller Russell (04:07): There were … Well, as you said, 74, so there was pretty much anything you can think of. There was one that was like a, basically a horror novel, and one that was science fiction. They were really weird. But for the – kind of the more mainstream ones, there were some really interesting things that I maybe didn’t expect to find.

So for example, there’s a series by a guy named Edgar Box, that … who is actually Gore Vidal, who was a very famous fiction and nonfiction writer who wrote dozens of books, but he wrote these three under a pseudonym. And so that was kind of interesting, just to get his take on what he thinks PR is. (04:53)

And then there’s a series by M.C. Beaton called Agatha Raisin, which is actually a TV series from England now which is a lot of fun. Agatha retires and moves to the Cotswolds and uses her PR skills to help her community and then on the side starts doing these murder investigations.

And then one other one I’ll mention is called the Julian Quist series, which is written by Hugh Pentecost. And the reason I mention this one is totally different. So, Julian Quist is, in my mind, is like the James Bond (laughs) of PR characters. Not that he’s a spy, but he’s like in a tux, and knows famous people, and goes to big events, and has power, and all that kind of thing. So, it, um… You know, they really ran the range. You could, you could find anything mixed in this database.

Teri Finneman (05:52): What exactly were you analyzing in each of the books?

Karen Miller Russell: So to put it simply, I just wanted to know why PR people make such good characters in mystery novels. Like, why are there so many PR characters in, appearing in these novels, that don’t appear to really have anything to do with PR?

So I was looking at anything that the characters did, or things that other characters said about them, to try to understand why they thought… Or, or why the character was so relevant to having a career in PR and then being in a mystery novel.

Teri Finneman (06:32): It’s really interesting how you break down the various roles that PR characters had throughout the books: victim, sleuth, sidekick, witness, suspect, and criminal. We don’t have time to discuss all of them, but let’s discuss some of them. The largest group of characters were sleuths. Talk about what you found there.

Karen Miller Russell (06:52): Well, this was a little bit of a surprise. So, fully one-third of the books had a character, a PR character, who was a sleuth. And so obviously there’s something going on there that makes that connection between PR and sleuthing, and we can talk about that in more detail in a minute. But I think it, it was especially the case with the series books, where a PR character would solve a mystery, and then they would become known not just for their ability to do PR, but also to solve mysteries, so they could be invited back again and again to continue to solve mysteries.

So, there’s one series… I can’t think of the author’s name, but it’s… Um, one of the characters is a … Midnight Louie, that’s it. Um, and so there are 23 books just in that series. I didn’t try to read them all. Uh, when I got to the point of, of kind of saturation (laughs) of understanding the character and the role of PR, I kinda quit. But there were several series where the PR character really fit this role of sleuth.

Teri Finneman (08:05): Yeah, let’s delve into that a little bit more. What were some of the reasons that PR characters make good sleuths?

Karen Miller Russell: Well, the first, I guess most obvious one is that a lot of times a PR character has to do damage control for their client or their employer. So if something bad happens and it involves the company or the organization, then the PR character’s called in and they’re saying, “This bad thing, this crime happened, and it’s associated with our company. You have to do damage control.”

And so just the fact of, of their position within the organization makes them important as a sleuth. So, in other words, find out what happened, so we can stop anything bad from being associated with our company. Another thing is that their jobs require skills that are relevant to sleuthing. So, in other words, they’re used to asking questions, and they’re good listeners, and they know how to do research. And all of those things make them good sleuths, as well as good PR people.

Teri Finneman (09:17): So, moving along to the suspects aspect. Why were PR characters suitable suspects?

Karen Miller Russell: It’s actually kind of a similar thing. So, they have access to the crime scene, they know the people because of their job. So, for example, there was one where a person was murdered at a flower show, and the PR character had planned the flower show and therefore she had motive… Well, not motive. She had means and opportunity, and they were trying to pin a motive on her, so she had to figure out who the real murderer was in order to protect herself.

Um, they’re also good suspects because a lot of people in the books believe that PR people are known liars, and since they’re known liars, they’re automatically under suspicion, because they might be lying about the crime. So that was a interesting take on a stereotype about PR that made the characters relevant as suspects.

Teri Finneman (10:24): Going off of that, what did you find with PR characters as criminals?

Karen Miller Russell: Well, this was maybe the biggest surprise of all, ’cause I kind of expected there would be a lot… (laughs) Because there are, there’s the stereotype, the negative stereotype about PR people being liars, and manipulators and that sort of thing. And instead, I only found a couple of characters who were the PR person and were the criminal. In those instances what made it work is that because they’re the PR person, they travel around in different circles… They travel around geographically, so it gives them a good cover for being like the criminal mastermind, (laughs) or a murderer, or whatever.

But that was really rare. In fact, there was a quote from one of the characters in, in one of the books, who said, “PR people may kill stories, but they don’t kill people.” So, that kind of explained why they weren’t criminals.

Teri Finneman (11:24): I love that. Let’s talk about another interesting line in your study “The novels reveal that crime has a PR component.” Explain what you mean by that.

Karen Miller Russell: It’s actually a quote from another character in a book. So the point is that when a crime happens, very often it has ramifications for the people in organizations around it. So if someone’s murdered in a company, or if a person’s client is accused of financial embezzlement or something like that, it doesn’t just affect the person, it also affects the organization.

So, when a crime happens, there is a PR component. It’s not just we have to solve the crime, it’s also that we have to protect the company or organization. Not necessarily a company, it could be a nonprofit, or a political person, or whatever. Um, and so because of that, people, characters in the book are aware that public relations is relevant to the crime, and that automatically drags the PR character in to help solve the crime, even if they’re not known to be an investigator before it happens.

Teri Finneman (12:48): Yeah, so you’re studying the … I mean, everything you’ve talked about just now you’re noting that the relationship with clients and employers made public relations characters actually a really good fit within the mystery genre. Overall, what were the main takeaways of your study?

Karen Miller Russell: Well you know, the first thing I did was kind of look at how characters fit into each of the roles that you mentioned, like criminal and witness, but then I had to figure out what does it all mean as a group? And so I looked at all of these themes that came out separately and combined them, and I came to understand that PR people have access to information and PR people have relationships with powerful people – meaning typically their client or their employer – and so they have information and they have relationships that are relevant to solving the crime. (13:48):

And on the one hand, of course they wanna help solve the crime, but, on the other hand, they have loyalty to their client and they have assured their client that their relationships are confidential. So, they have to balance their need to solve the crime with their loyalty to the client.

So in a few mysteries, the client actually is the criminal, and they go too far, and the PR character finally says, “I can’t support this…” And they actually go start working with the police to solve the crime, even though it means it’s gonna hurt their employer.

And so, that kind of balance … Well, actually there’s one mystery that was called “Balancing Act,” and it specifically centered on this idea of the PR person working to represent the community and her employer at the same time. And so that is one of the major themes that comes out when you sit down and (laughs) read 74 mystery novels that feature PR characters. (15:05):

And so, what I concluded is that the novels show a deep mistrust of powerful institutions and people. And I don’t think that’s a surprise to anybody. I think we all know that trust in major institutions has declined over the years. But it also revealed a really sincere hope that some of the people, including the public relations people, will act in the public interest and will work to protect the public even when it damages their employer.

Teri Finneman (15:37): So earlier in the show, I asked you about some of the books that you looked at, so which ones were your favorite? Were they those, or did you have some other favorites that you would recommend?

Karen Miller Russell: Well, I did like the series characters the best, and those were the ones I talked about earlier… Um, just because they delve into the character so much more deeply, and it’s a lot easier to understanding how they – how the author perceives PR and how they want to present it in their books when you have a lot of books to read about instead of just one standalone.

So, I did like the series the best. I think actually the one I liked the very most was by an author called Pari Noskin Taichert. I’m probably pronouncing it wrong, but she wrote three books. She was a PR woman for 20 years, and she wrote three books about a PR woman named Sasha Solomon. And I thought her books were really interesting, in terms of having a deep understanding of PR and being able to relate that to the character.

Teri Finneman (16:44): And our final question of the show, is why does journalism history matter?

Karen Miller Russell: Well, I mean, studying history, it always strikes me, has a lot in common with being a detective. So, you’re piecing together a story, you only have some of the clues, you’re trying to figure out what happened. And for me, that’s just fun, whether it’s a – whether you’re doing historical research or reading a mystery novel.

Um, but it’s not just fun. I think that reading historical research is an important part of understanding what’s happening today. So, as an example, I did research on the development of public relations at AT&T and what was taking place at the end of the 19th century, and I could see clear reflections in what’s happening in the 21st century based on what was happening all the way back then. So I think learning what happened in the past helps you understand what’s happening now, and that context is just a irreplaceable way of understanding what’s happening.

(18:02): Some people say there’s only six or seven plots in all of fiction, and in many ways I think the same stories repeat in media history as well. So there’s so much to learn from the past, just like I believe there’s so much to learn from understanding pop culture.

Teri Finneman (18:20): Absolutely. Well, thanks so much for joining us today. We’ll be sure to link your article in our transcript so that our listeners can see the full list of books that you examined.

Karen Miller Russell (18:30): Great. Thank you.

Teri Finneman (18:32): Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to subscribe to our podcast. You can also follow us on Twitter @JHistoryJournal. Until next time, I’m your host Teri Finneman, signing off with the words of Edward R. Murrow, “Good night and good luck.”

Featured Image: The Clovis Incident by Pari Noskin Taichert