Foul Matter - Hardcover

Grimes, Martha

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067003259X ISBN 13: 9780670032594

Publisher: Viking Adult, 2003

Synopsis

Successful author Paul Giverney, harboring a secret ambition involving a reassignment of publishers and editors, sets in motion a hornets' nest of ego outbursts and career moves that force an upwardly mobile editor into an unexpectedly difficult position. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author:

Martha Grimes is the bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including eighteen Richard Jury mysteries.

From Booklist:

Grimes, author of the popular Richard Jury mysteries, ventures far afield from Scotland Yard, this time to examine the cutthroat world of contemporary New York book publishing. Book contracts and Mafia hit contracts collide in this caper-satire in which the publishing houses have Dickensian names such as Grunge and DrekSneed. A popular writer suffers from terminal envy--it's not enough to bank millions per book and command the best-seller lists; he wants a big-time literary reputation. The plot hinges on the envious writer's unlikely scheme to get New York's most famous literary editor all to himself by eliminating his main competition, a genuinely talented up-and-comer. Grimes is best here at delivering insider insights about the frantic profit-mongering that dominates publishing. Along the way, too, there is plenty of time for racy editorial details (the title, for example, is the publishing term used to describe authors' manuscripts before editors get their hands on them). Grimes loses her way, unfortunately, in the midst of all the satire. Her characterization--ordinarily a strong point--tends toward the comic-bookish here, and even the comedy starts huffing and puffing with effort about halfway through. Not nearly as surefooted as the Jury novels, then, but a fun read nonetheless, thanks to some grand comic moments (like the editorial meeting with hit men in a prententious New York eatery). Connie Fletcher
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About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Adult
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 067003259X
• ISBN 13: 9780670032594
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384