The outrageous and irrepressible Baroness (Ida 'Jack') Troutbeck, Mistress of St Martha's, has another cultural battle to win against the British Establishment: this time, against the horror of modern art, as demonstrated by the likes of Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. But shortly after she enthusiastically announces this war to her close friends, Baroness Troutbeck is kidnapped. Panic spreads throughout the London art world when they realise nine more victims are missing, including a corrupted art critic and the famed curator Sir Henry Fortune. Could the perpetrator be a traditionalist with a grudge against contemporary art? Or perhaps the violent Russian billionaire Oleg Sarkovsky, an ex-protege the Baroness insulted? As the art world, press and police all gleefully predict who might be next, Baroness Troutbeck's sidekick Robert Amiss and other loyal friends must work with Scotland Yard to find her. But can they reach her in time?Review'No one is writing wittier mystery fiction in Britain today than Ruth Dudley Edwards' Val McDermid 'Adroit, inspiring, and written with a rare lightness of touch' Times Literary Supplement 'I fear it will make you laugh out loud on public transport' Evening Standard 'Marvellously entertaining ... Ruth Dudley Edwards is a crime writer whom we should treasure - sharp, intelligent and gloriously politically incorrect' Mail on Sunday About the AuthorRUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS was born and brought up in Dublin, was a student at University College Dublin, a post-graduate at Cambridge University, and now lives in London. She has previously worked as an academic, teacher, marketing executive and civil servant, and has been a freelance writer since 1979. A historian and prize-winning biographer, Ruth has written seriously and/or frivolously for almost every national newspaper in Ireland and the UK. www.ruthdudleyedwards.co.uk

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."

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….In deplorable taste and wickedly funny, this, the tenth in the Robert Amiss series, will consolidate the author’s reputation for scurrilous humor.From Publishers WeeklyIn 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. ReviewIn deplorable taste and wickedly funny, this, the tenth in the Robert Amiss series, will consolidate the author's reputation for scurrilous humour. Sprightly, saucy and ingenious. -- Sunday TimesDudley Edwards is an equal opportunities satirist. She's rude to every persuasion. -- Daily TelegraphMarvellously entertaining and iconoclastic series of satires on the British establishment. Ruth Dudley Edwards is a crime writer whom we should treasure -sharp, intelligent and gloriously politically incorrect. -- Mail on Sunday

From Publishers WeeklyIn 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. ReviewIn deplorable taste and wickedly funny, this, the tenth in the Robert Amiss series, will consolidate the author's reputation for scurrilous humour. Sprightly, saucy and ingenious. -- Sunday Times Dudley Edwards is an equal opportunities satirist. She's rude to every persuasion. -- Daily Telegraph Marvellously entertaining and iconoclastic series of satires on the British establishment. Ruth Dudley Edwards is a crime writer whom we should treasure -sharp, intelligent and gloriously politically incorrect. -- Mail on Sunday

The House of Lords will never be the same.... Disinclined to watch her language or moderate her manners, "Jack" Troutbeck-assisted by her old friend Robert Amiss-plots vigorously with others to scupper an anti-hunting bill of which she violently disapproves. But she hadn't expected the cam-paign of intimidation mounted by the animal activists and the attempt on the life of one of her allies. And now there are scenes of horrifying carnage amongst the peers....

Foolishly, the British and Irish governments have chosen the tactless and impatient Baroness Troutbeck to chair a conference on Anglo-Irish cultural sensitivities. She instantly press-gangs Robert Amiss, her young friend and reluctant accomplice, into becoming conference organizer. Not only are a truculent Orangeman, intransigent republicans, imitative loyalists, appeasing English and hypocritical Irish among the nightmarish participants whose arrival Amiss views with dread, but driving rain and security problems make things even worse. It is a conference to remember in more ways than one, for when a delegate plummets off the battlements, no one, not even the authorities, can decide whether it was by accident or design, and the warring factions accuse each other of murder.

Praise for Publish and Be Murdered... "If you have yet to make the acquaintance of Baroness Jack Troutbeck, run, don't walk to the nearest bookstore and order yourself a copy of this book." -Dana Stabenow, Edgar-winning author of the Kate Shugak mysteries British satirist Ruth Dudley Edwards has made a habit of skewering her nation's establishment with the misadventures of civil servant Robert Amiss and the keen deductions of his sleuthing partner, the irrepressible and irreverent Baroness "Jack" Troutbeck. Now she takes on the world of magazine publishing, a place where upholding traditions can be fatal. The Wrangler is a revered and financially troubled political mag. Amiss is summoned to sort out the problems that threaten its existence: a hemorrhaging cash flow, the succession plans of its noble patron, a takeover bid from a strong-minded Australian woman, antiquated procedures, preservation of an historic London townhouse as company headquarters...and the inevitable little murder. Long mired in inertia, Amiss must break out of the civil service mentality to save The Wrangler, sort out his own emotional life, and, while he's at it, solve that murder.... Ruth Dudley Edwards was born and brought up in Dublin, studied at University College Dublin and Cambridge University, and now lives in London. A historian and prize-winning biographer, Ruth has written seriously and/or frivolously for almost every national newspaper in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom since 1993 and appears frequently on radio and television in the UK. She has been shortlisted for the John Creasey Award for the best first novel and won the Last Laugh award in 2008 for Murdering Americans. www.ruthdudleyedwards.co.uk