A literary festival turns lethal, in this sharp-witted series debut: "A marvellous set of unsavoury suspects... good, nasty fun with a ring of truth." - The Mail on Sunday, Thriller of the Week

Bryce Peabody is ready to give a scandalous talk at the annual literary festival in the pretty English town of Mold-on-Wold. Scathing in his reviews and unseemly in his affairs, Bryce is known to have many enemies. So when he's discovered dead in his hotel room, festival attendees are desperate to know what happened.

Could one of the numerous writers he has insulted have taken revenge? Or perhaps one of his scorned lovers? Soon, author Francis Meadowes is drawn into a role he knows only from his own fiction-that of amateur detective. But will he catch the culprit before more festival-goers meet a grisly end?

"A rollicking read." - London Evening Standard

"A very engaging literary romp." - The Sydney Morning Herald

"Ingenious." - The Independent

Chosen for the Independent on Sunday's "Alternative Booker Prize Longlist"