Murder in a Cathedral

Ruth Dudley Edwards's wickedly funny series taking an irreverent look at the British Establishment continues with this burlesque in a bishopric.


For many years Westonbury Cathedral has been dominated by a clique of High Church gays, so when Norm Cooper, an austere, intolerant, happy-clappy evangelist, is appointed dean, the announcement is met with shock, outrage and fear.


David Elworthy, the gentle and politically innocent new bishop, is distraught at the prospect of warfare between the factions; contentious issues include the camp lady chapel and the gay memorial under construction in the deanery garden. Desperate for help, Elworthy cries on the shoulder of his old friend the redoubtable Baroness Troutbeck, who forces her unofficial troubleshooter, Robert Amiss, to move into the bishop's palace.


Amiss, Troutbeck and the cat Plutarch address themselves in their various ways to the bishop's problems, which very soon include a clerical corpse in the cathedral. Is it suicide? Or is it murder? And who is likely to be next?