A SMALL MASTERPIECE

by Tim Heald ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 23, 1982

Simon Bognor at Oxford--in the funniest, liveliest Bognor since Let Sleeping Dogs Lie. The occasion is a 20th college reunion, but Bognor is soon sleuthing when the Master of Apocrypha College drops dead from a poisoned drink at a reunion party. The suspects? The ambitious Vice-Master, who inherits the position. And four of Simon's fellow-reunioners: a professor, a schoolmaster, a diplomat, a politician--each of whom may have a college-days secret (cheating, pederasty, etc.) which the old Master alone knew about. But then the professor-suspect is himself murdered. . . soon after telling Bognor that the Master was really a Communist spy, along with another old Oxford don! (""They make Blunt and Philby look like a couple of girl guides."") And though the spy-ring story turns out to be all too true, it's the motive for only one of the murders: the other one is a nice little surprise. Bright, occasionally silly mystery-comedy--with Bognor, now wed to Monies, surlier than ever, as he resists adultery, gets knocked about, and snarls amusingly at just about everybody.

Pub Date: April 23, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1982

Categories: FICTION