Matricide at St. Martha's: A Robert Amiss/Baronness Jack Troutback Mystery: 5 (Robert Amiss/Baroness Jack Troutbeck Mysteries) - Softcover

Edwards, Ruth Dudley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1890208922 ISBN 13: 9781890208929

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2002

Synopsis

"The clever plot takes second place to the ebullience of the writing and spot-on inventiveness of the satire."--The Times

St. Martha's College, Cambridge, had been staggering along on a shoestring for decades. Then alumna Alice Toon leaves her old school a huge fortune. The dons immediately fall to fighting over the spoils. The Virgins, led by Dame Maud Theodosia Buckbarrow, believe the bequests should be spent on scholarships. The Dykes--fewer in number but better street fighters--want to raise a center of Gender and Ethnic Studies. The Old Women (mostly men) dream of fine vintages to be laid down in a decent new wine cellar. Impasse!

They've reckoned without the Bursar, Jack Troutbeck. She elects to infiltrate this maelstrom of politics with her own agent, Robert Amiss, a former civil servant with a talent for sorting things out. No sooner does he arrive on the scene where the Virgins are getting the upper hand than Dame Maud is murdered, leading into what Mike Ripley of The Daily Telegraph described as: "An acidly funny romp... Superbly bitchy on the none-too-fragrant groves of academe."

About this title

About the Author

Ruth Dudley Edwards is a historian and journalist as well as a mystery writer. The targets of her satirical crime novels include the gentlemen's clubs, Cambridge University, the House of Lords, journalism and literary prizes. The British Crime Writers' Association short-listed Corridors of Death for the John Creasy Award for best first novel, and Clubbed to Death and Ten Lords A-Leaping for their Last Laugh Award. She won the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award for Murdering Americans in 2008 and in 2010 the CWA Non-fiction Gold Dagger for Aftermath: the Omagh bombings and the families' pursuit of justice. Her twelfth mystery, Killing the Emperors, is a black comedy about conceptual art.

Edition details

• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1890208922
• ISBN 13: 9781890208929
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 260