Murder in a Cathedral [Paperback]

Ruth Dudley Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2004

For many years Westonbury Cathedral has been dominated by a clique of High Church gays, so when Norman Cooper, an austere, intolerant, happy-clappy evangelist, is appointed dean, there is shock, outrage and fear.
David Elworthy, the gentle and politically innocent new bishop, is distraught at the prospect of warfare between the factions; contentious issues include the camp lady chapel and the gay memorial under construction in the deanery garden.
Desperate for help, Elworthy cries on the shoulder of his old friend, the redoubtable Baroness Troutbeck, who forces her unofficial troubleshooter, Robert Amiss, to move into the bishop's palace.
Amiss, Troutbeck and the cat Plutarch address themselves in their various ways to the bishop's problems, which very soon include a clerical corpse in the cathedral. Is it suicide? Or is it murder? And who is likely to be next?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Baroness Troutbeck--"Jack" to her friends--is the hard-drinking, hard-living lady of "a certain age" who stars in Ruth Dudley Edward's series of comic mysteries. In Murder in a Cathedral, the seventh installment, Jack persuades her impecunious friend Robert Amiss to take a job with her pal Canon Flubert, inadvertently sending him into a firestorm of ecclesiastical scandal: in a church run by gay priests, witches, and New Age enthusiasts, the appointment of a fundamentalist dean is anathema. When the dean turns up dead, everyone's a suspect. Bad enough that Amiss has to cope with the scandal, but soon he also has the Baroness on his hands in a madcap search for the Cathedral killer. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

The new bishop of Westonbury Cathedral, an institution long dominated by a cadre of High-Church gays, wishes to avoid ugly confrontation when an intolerant new American dean arrives. The bishop confides in Baroness Troutbeck, who sends series sleuth Robert Amiss (e.g., Ten Lords a-Leaping, LJ 7/96) to the rescue?but not in time to prevent murder. An appealing and humorous series.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590581342
• ISBN-13: 978-1590581346
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,657,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, especially for followers of the series, June 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Murder in a Cathedral (Hardcover)

Robert Amiss only lives up to his surname when he heeds the advice of his friend Baroness Jack Troutbeck. After all the misadventures that Jack gets him into he wonders why he still listens to her. This time around, she persuades (perhaps bullies is a more apt description) a near broke Robert to accept a job accompanying her when she visits Westonbury Cathedral. He should have known that the easiest job in the world would turn int o the job from hell if Jack is involved. ..... It seems that the locale, the Westonbury Cathedral, is imbued with a massive controversy that threatens to rip the Church of England in half with its worst feud since Henry's days. The new dean is an American fundamentalist who wants to end all the new age gurus that have entered the church. His ideas split the church into two factions who turn violent and deadly, including killing the new dean. Robert and Jack find themselves flooded with numerous suspects as they try to uncover the identity of the killer. However, in Robert's mind, it is Jack's friendship with everyone in the universe and her opinion on everything under the universe that is driving him away from the church. ..... The Robert Amiss tales are superb satires that laugh at every potential politically correct thing imaginable. However, it must be understood that MURDER IN A CATHEDRAL is not for everyone. Some readers will laugh at the antics of Jack, while others will feel that she is an abrasive SOB. The who-done-it is fun, but whether the reader enjoys Jack's pontificating on everything right and wrong with the C O E (the Church of England not the Corps of Engineers) depends on whether they love a British satire that overwhelms the mystery. ......Harriet Klausner