Review:Murder In A Cathedral-Edwards
Harriet Klausner
MURDER IN A CATHEDRAL
Ruth Dudley Edwards
St. Martin's, Jun 1997, $20.95, 222 pp.
ISBN: 0-312-15597-2
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 into 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
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