The English School of Murder [Hardcover]

Ruth Dudley Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1990

Can anyone British teach English as a foreign language? It's murder....
"Adroit, inspiring, and written with a rare lightness of touch,"
--The London Times Literary Supplement
"Believable plotting, a memorable cast of characters, and three--count 'em--three beguiling sleuths in a warm, gently raunchy, crisp, and literate caper."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Amiss is bumblingly appealing and howlingly funny."
--The Chicago Sun Times
He's also a civil servant down on his luck and out of a job--and thus ripe for a post as a police spy at the Knightsbridge School. Robert's cover will be to teach English as a foreign language. His mission soon becomes, well, murder....
"Quirky, highly intelligent, and thoroughly entertaining...."
--The Washington Post Book World

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Amiss is bumblingly appealing and howlingly funny.” -- The Chicago Sun Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

After being a Cambridge postgraduate, a teacher, a marketing executive and a civil servant, Ruth Dudley Edwards became a full-time writer. A journalist, broadcaster, historian and prize-winning biographer who lives in London, her recent non-fiction includes books about The Economist, the Foreign Office, the Orange Order and Fleet Street. The first of her ten satirical mysteries, Corridors of Death, was short-listed for the CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger; two others were nominated for the CWA Last Laugh Award. Her two short stories appeared respectively in The Economist and the Oxford Book of Detective Stories. Targets of her satirical crime novels about the British establishment so far include the civil service, gentlemen's clubs, academia, the House of Lords, the Church of England, publishing, the literati and, above all, political correctness. Visit her website at www.ruthdudleyedwards.com --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 221 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (April 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312043112
• ISBN-13: 978-0312043117
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,949,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Really Good Read, August 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The English School of Murder (Paperback)

The writing is splendid, the story is intriguing (I was kept in the dark as to the miscreant - no small feat). The protagonist is human and likeable, and the cast of characters a motley crowd of eccentrics. I loved this book, laughed my way through it (while puzzling),and truly hated turning the last page.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Characters, September 9, 2005

By 

Paris Granville "ParisG" (Issaquah, WA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The English School of Murder (Paperback)

Anybody who has studied another language abroad will appreciate the humor in at the English School. There are many characters that are enjoyable to despise. Other characters are quite sympathetic. Best of all the writing is concise, original, and humorous. She manages to write complex dialog simply by implying the speaker from their style of speech.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Where is the humor?, June 15, 2010

By 

Fiction Fan "lifelong reader" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The English School of Murder (Paperback)

Maybe it gets lost in translation. This British mystery is long on a kind of pseudo-sophistication and short on genuine wit or humor. The protagonist isn't particularly likable or even memorable. He seemed as amoral as the mystery's criminals, who deal cocaine, act as pimps, and arrange orgies for the amusement of spoiled internationals intent on combining a little education with a lot of vice. The only truly likable character is killed off early in the novel, making the rest of it an unappealing read.