Startled Finance with memo describing Director: that's a little novel (2,4,3,3)
I believe the answer is:
of mice and men
'little novel' is the definition.
'of mice and men' can be an answer for 'novel' (I've seen this before). I am not sure about the 'little' bit.
'startled finance with memo describing director' is the wordplay.
'startled' is an anagram indicator.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'describing' means one lot of letters goes inside another (describe can mean to form the outline of).
'director' becomes 'd' (abbreviation eg in film reviews).
'finance'+'memo'='financememo'
'financememo' anagrammed gives 'ofmiceanmen'.
'ofmiceanmen' placed around 'd' is 'OF MICE AND MEN'.
'that's a' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for of mice and men that I've seen before include "story by Steinbeck" , "Dealing with people with computer devices" , "J. Steinbeck novel" , "John Steinbeck novel" , "American novel" .)