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Matricide at St. Martha's
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Plot Summary of Matricide at St. Martha's
"St. Martha's College in Cambridge has been providing a quality, conservative, low-budget education for women for many years. Then the college receives a bequest of money upon the death of a wealthy alumna. Debate over what to do with the money divides the faculty into three factions. The Virgins believe that the money should be used for scholarships in traditional areas such as medieval history. The Dykes believe that the college should have a center for Gender and Ethnic Studies. The Old Women (who are mostly men) believe that the money should be used to build an excellent wine cellar for the faculty.

The murder of Dame Maud Theodosia Buckbarrow, the head of the college and a Virgin, upsets the balance of power in this academic feud. Robert Amiss, a visiting fellow of the college, and Detective Sargent Ellis Pooley set out to find the murderer in this hilarious, satirical look at modern campus politics. "

Linda Bertland, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Matricide at St. Martha's
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%




Tone of story - Dry-cynical
How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 50%
Murder of certain profession? - students/teachers
Misc. Murder Plotlets - local police w/ IQ of a houseplant
Kind of investigator - british mystery (I say!)
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - minority/women/homosexual issues
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - teacher
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - none
Ethnicity/Race - British
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
Europe Yes
European country: - England/UK

Style
Person - rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 2
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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Ruth Dudley Edwards Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Harriet Klausner  

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