Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Killing the Emperors-Ruth Dudley Edwards

Killing the Emperors:


Ruth Dudley Edwards

Poisoned Pen, Oct 2 2012, $24.95

ISBN 9781590586389



Irate Russian business mogul Oleg Sarkovsky knows the London art world betrayed him and he seeks vengeance for his foolish purchases based on expert advice. He begins his vendetta with a string of abductions of those he holds culpable for his mistakes to include kidnapping Baroness Ida “Jack” Troutbeck, Tate galleries director Sir Nicholas Serota, teacher Dr. Hortense Wilde, and artists Anastasia Holliday, Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.



The art world panics out of fear of being the next snatched or worse not being the next victim. While the culprit is silent on his or her demands except for the business of the kidnappings, the realization by the impacted shallow community is that those abducted all defended the conceptual art school. Meanwhile mystery writer Robert Amiss investigates the kidnappings with the goal of rescuing Jack.



The latest Baroness Jack Troutbeck and Robert Amiss Series (see Ten Lords A-Leaping) is a super satire that mocks conceptual art as “rubbish" and its defenders as “nihilistic” con artists. Using real persona alongside fictional characters enhances a fabulous lampooning of the world of art.



Harriet Klausner



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