Matricide at st Martha's [Hardcover]

Ruth Dudley Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1995

Awarded a fellowship at St. Martha's College, Cambridge, Robert Amiss finds the campus torn by controversy over how to spend a large bequest, in the midst of which the leader of one faction, Dame Maud Buckbarrow, turns up dead.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This sixth outing for former civil servant and amateur sleuth Robert Amiss finds him installed in a one-year fellowship at threadbare St. Martha's Women's College, Cambridge, thanks to rough, tough Ida "Jack" Troutbeck, the college bursar and an old friend. Arguing over a recent multimillion-dollar bequest, the faculty is divided into three camps, crudely labeled by Jack as "Virgins, Dykes and Old Women." The first, the academics loyal to the presiding Mistress, are under attack by the Dykes, who, led by two women professors, want the money used for a Gender and Ethnic Studies Center. The Old Women are men, including a wimpy embroidery expert and a cleric, desiring nothing more than updated, cushy quarters. High feelings and hot words escalate. The Mistress is murdered, bringing the police, who are under the bumbling direction of a Bible-quoting ignoramus inspector totally at sea in this milieu. A second killing occurs before the inspector, with some quiet guidance from Amiss, makes an almost perfunctory arrest. Detection and suspense take a back seat to Edwards's (Clubbed to Death) acidly witty send-up of feminists, dumb cops and all matters politically correct.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

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

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 222 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st U.S. ed edition (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312131224
• ISBN-13: 978-0312131227
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,002,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humorous And Suspenseful: A Must Read, May 17, 2000

By 

"thewiegone" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Matricide at st Martha's (Hardcover)

This work was originally recommended to me via friends of mine who I trust about literature, so I decided to read Ruth Dudley Edwards' Matricide.

As I read the book, I was initially confused with the characters of Jack and Robert Amiss because this is just one of the many stories Edwards has written using these characters. (Jack is an "elderly fat woman" and Amiss is a man called upon to do a favor for Jack.)

After the initial haze (which is only the first ten pages or so of over two hundred), the book opened up to not only be a suspenseful murder who-dun-it but also a humorous read. The interactions between Jack and Amiss are priceless. In addition, the character of God-loving policeman Romford is thoroughly annoying yet enjoyable.

Simply, the plot revolves St. Martha's, a college in turmoil between three factions (the radical feminists, the "Virgins," and the "Old Women") vying for money from a memorial trust. The war that ensues causes the murder of the Mistress of the college, Dame Maud Buckbarrow and the subsequent investigation by police. The mystery does not stop there as another is murdered which causes Jack and Amiss to desperately plot to find the true killer through academic channels.

For those who enjoy great dialogue between various characters, look no further from this book. Although this is a British work, any American can read this without feeling disorientated with British vernacular. This book is a definite must for mystery fans and is a remarkably quick read. Personally, I have been so impressed with Edwards' style that I plan on reading the entire series of Amiss works. Overall excellent... I think I may have found another favorite writer to add to my ever-growing list...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gret book, poor reprint, May 18, 2007

By 

E. Harrison (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Matricide at St. Martha's (Missing Mysteries) (Paperback)

An extremely clever and funny book. But if you can read it in the earlier edition, do so; the original prologue was a highlight for me and is sadly missing in this reprint - replaced by a prologue from another book. To lose the gorgeous exchange between the Burser and Amiss in favour of an unfunny conversation between Amiss and the uninteresting cipher character, Rachel, is a mistake I hope no-one made deliberately. But anyway, read the book - it's marvellous.