Carnage on the Committee (Robert Amiss Mysteries) [Large Print] [Paperback]

Ruth Dudley Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2004 | Series: Robert Amiss Mysteries

As the judges of a literary prize chip away at the author list,
someone else is chipping away at them....
When the chairperson of the prestigious Knapper-Warburton Literary Prize dies in suspicious circumstances, Robert Amiss (the token sane member of the judging panel) wastes no time in summoning Baroness "Jack" Troutbeck to step into the chair.
Speculation that a killer may be targeting the judges worries the baroness not in the slightest - it's the prospect of immersing herself in modern literature that fills her with dread. But noblesse must oblige, even when it means joining the ranks of the superciliati sitting in judgement of the literati.
With the baroness at the helm, the judges resume the task of whittling away at the short-list. But the killer, too, has resumed work and is whittling away at the judges one by one.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her 10th comic Robert Amiss mystery, Dudley Edwards (The Anglo-Irish Murders) mercilessly skewers the book publishing world. The poisoning death of a peer, who served as the chairperson for the eccentric selection committee for a new British literary prize to outshine the Booker, causes a crisis. Panel member Amiss, an aspiring mystery novelist, recruits his friend, Baroness Jack Troutbeck, to fill the breach. The baroness, a politically incorrect bisexual who might remind some readers of John Dickson Carr's legendary Sir Henry Merrivale, quickly moves to impose her view that literature should be judged on its literary merits, steamrollering over her outraged colleagues who award points to entries based on the author's ethnic, economic and political backgrounds. As one judge after another meets an untimely end, the police place the remaining panel members under guard. Edwards is unabashedly cynical about publishing and the methods authors use to get ahead. The byplay between the baroness and her rivals is often amusing, though less acidly memorable than Robert Barnard's dialogue in works like Death of an Old Goat, which satirized academic politics. Those interested in solving the puzzle should be forewarned that there's no rational basis for anyone to deduce the identity of the killer, who ultimately mails a confession to the police.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Like other venerable British institutions Ruth Dudley Edwards has gutted in previous mysteries, the literary cognoscenti ("the superciliati," she calls them) hold no terror for this ribald satirist. In CARNAGE ON THE COMMITTEE (Poisoned Pen, $24.95), she unleashes the hounds on prestigious, money-bearing awards like the Booker and the Whitbread, creating a fictional model rife with corruption and cronyism.
Edwards's attack dog is the formidable Baroness Troutbeck ("Jack" to her chums), mistress of St. Martha's, Cambridge University, a rudely outspoken tyrant whose mission is to restore common sense and Tory retro-values to a civilization self-destructing from political correctness.
As a favor to Robert Amiss, her more diplomatic sidekick in these rollicking adventures, Jack agrees to take over when Lady Hermione Babcock, 'la grande fromage' of the Knapper-Warburton Literary Prize, is poisoned at a committee meeting. While Jack isn't shy about biting off the heads of colleagues who spout 'highbrow piffle and egalitarian rhetoric' for their own opportunistic aims, she is reduced to incoherent rage by the novels on her reading list. Given the execrable taste of this committee, it's only fair that Jack should give a free pass to the murderer who is picking them off one by one. -- Marilyn Stasio, NY Times (11.7.2004)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 395 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590581555
• ISBN-13: 978-1590581551
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,974,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious Sendup of Literary Prize Committees, June 6, 2005

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Carnage on the Committee (Robert Amiss Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Although the Knapper-Warburton Committee, some of whom get bumped off, is charged with awarding a Booker-like prize and we are intrigued to find out whodunit, the real plot here is the skewering of the self-regarding posturing of figures in the academic and literary worlds. We have the Queer Studies, gender-concerned, politically correct, Derridean deconstructionist and self-invented stereotypes which might become burdensome if not for the poisonously witty pen of Dudley Wright whose lampooning is both deft and good-humored. Lady Jack Troutbeck, who insists on being called 'Madam Chairwoman' to the gasps of some of her committee members, is a real creation, one I'd love to meet in real life, although I might find myself cringing if she were to decide to puncture my own personal balloon of pretentiousness.

Anyone who has ever sat on an academic or prize committee will find much that is deplorably recognizable here. The madness is all leavened by the 'bloody good guys,' as Lady Jack calls them, who bring some sanity to the proceedings.

Thumbs up!

Scott Morrison

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get the Audio Version!, August 27, 2005

By 

Sires "I enjoy mysteries, historical and proc... (Chesapeake, OH, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carnage on the Committee (Robert Amiss Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Read by Bill Wallis, the characters that enliven Carnage on the Committee come to life with a bright glint of gold and ne'er a hint of dross.

The book is funny and bawdy. It is not the sort of mystery described by Amiss as one that could be given to an aunt to read and not be cut out of the will. Edwards flails about on all sides and makes a number of well aimed hits. Academics, Publishers and Prize Committees beware.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars way out amusing amateur sleuth, October 31, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Carnage on the Committee (Robert Amiss Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Lady Hermione Babcock was the chair of the newly created already highly regarded Knapper-Warburton Literary Prize, but when she dies, a fast replacement is needed as the committee meets next week to work the long-list. Baroness "Jack" Troutbeck is asked to replace the deceased. Jack accepts the position even though she learns that her predecessor was poisoned.

Jack works the members like a virtuoso, but someone else is also working the members as another death, this time by drowning occurs. While the police insist it is an accident or suicide, Jack knows better. As the chairperson, she feels she has two jobs on her plate. First and foremost finesse her committee into choosing her candidate without these morons knowing she pulled a Houdini on them. She also feels she is responsible to uncover the identity of the killer as other attempts on judges have occurred.

CARNAGE ON THE COMMITTEE is a way out amusing amateur sleuth tale that uses obviously exaggerated stereotypes (including a mouthy parrot) that takes the plot over the brink, but never loses sight of the who-done-it nor the committee work. Keeping the wild hilarious tale focused is done by delightful Jack, a teriffic protagonist whose manipulation of the committee and others in her circle (even the killer) is brilliant. Ruth Dudley Edwards provides a fine tale that reader swill enjoy due to a maestro performance by a star deserving more appearances.

Harriet Klausner