Synopses & Reviews
Sophisticated intrigue, dry humor, and eccentric characters flow effortlessly from Martha Grimes's rich imagination. Not to mention the atmospheric and storytelling genius that has made her a consistently bestselling author. Her newest novel, Foul Matter, is set in a world she knows all too well and unfolds with a consummate deadly irony.
Author Paul Giverney is between publishers. Despite stratospheric sales of his books and frenzied competition to sign him up, he lives modestly in New York's East Village and nurses a secret ambition of a very different sort. In fact, he has a byzantine plan for accomplishing it: the #1 condition of his proposed contract with the literary giant Mackenzie-Haack. They must drop Ned Isaly, a brilliant but far less successful author, and assign his equally gifted editor to Paul. In the hornets' nest of preening egos and cutthroat career moves this stirs up, ambitious editor Clive Esterhaus covets the glossy megastar Paul for himself. But Isaly's book contract is unbreakable and Clive never dreams how a very different kind of contract will force him-and his ambition-into a very foul matter, indeed.
Review
"The serpentine plot is fun to follow, once Giverney realizes the extent of the mischief he has set in motion. But it's the nasty inside stuff from the Dickensian names for authors and their publishing houses to the barbaric rituals of a power lunch that incites rolling in the aisles." Marilyn Stasio, New York Times
Review
"Red pencils draw real blood in this delightful publishing world crime spoof by Grimes....Insider publishing lingo, a quirky plot, atmospheric settings and Grimes's dry sense of humor make this a delectable bonbon of a book." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Grimes is spot on with her humor, her digs at the publishing industry, and the self-involved authors in the system. Highly recommended." Library Journal