James Milton & Robert Amiss Series by Ruth Dudley Edwards
James Milton & Robert Amiss #5
Matricide at St. Martha's
Ruth Dudley Edwards
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."
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James Milton & Robert Amiss #6
Ten Lords A-Leaping
Ruth Dudley Edwards
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....
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James Milton & Robert Amiss #8
Publish and Be Murdered
Ruth Dudley Edwards
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
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James Milton & Robert Amiss #9
Anglo-Irish Murders
Ruth Dudley Edwards
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.
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James Milton & Robert Amiss #12
Killing the Emperors
Ruth Dudley Edwards
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
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