Rating: 
Summary: Really Boring!
Review: After reading reviews by some of my favorite authors about this book I felt I needed to read it. Everyone was raving about it. I was completely disappointed! Maybe people that know the publishing industry from the inside find it funny for reasons we mere mortal readers do not. My advice to those readers that like the Richard Jury books is to skip this failed attempt at humor by Grimes.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Winner From Grimes
Review: At first I groaned that this was not going to be a Jury novel--I miss Melrose and Agatha! But once I got started, I could not put this one down. *Bloated*? Were that reviewer and I reading the same book? I loved the pacing, I appreciated the sly and subtle humor, and I admired the very human characterization. Way to go, Ms. Grimes
Rating: 
Summary: Ultimately unsatisfying
Review: Best-selling author Paul Giverney is switching publishers, and most any acquisitions editor in New York would gnaw a limb off to sign him. While Paul isn't interested in self-mutilation, he does make an unusual demand of the house whose multi-million-dollar offer he's decided to accept: Mackenzie-Haack must drop one of its most valued authors--Ned Isaly, a better writer than Paul who sells far fewer books--as a prerequisite to signing Giverney. Unfortunately for Ned, "Mack-Haack" is not in a position to rip up his contract. It's far easier for the publisher to hire a pair of hit men to take Isaly out--thugs who turn out to be more discerning than your average performers of "wet work."Foul Matter follows the sometimes comic results of Mackenzie-Haack's determination to sign Paul Giverney, and it follows Ned Isaly and his writer friends as they struggle variously with their novels. The book's premise, if implausible, is intriguing. Unfortunately, the book seems to be short a chapter or two. Grimes does finally answer the question readers have been asking themselves since the book's first chapter--why is Giverney gunning for Isaly?--although the payoff isn't really worth it. But the author leaves unanswered a more important question about Ned that develops in the book's course. Ultimately, then, Foul Matter is an unsatisfying read, though there is some fun to be had along the way.
Rating:
Summary: Foul Matters, sanguine spoof of the book biz
Review: Crime is not just happening on the pages (or in the minds) of the authors and publishers in Martha Grimes funny new crime novel, Foul Matters. When bestselling author Paul Giverney makes a contract with a new publisher he gives his editor (Clive Esterhaus) one deal-breaking demand: simple, break the contract with literary novelist Ned Isaly. Bobby Mackenzie (of Mackenzie-Haack publishing house) decides that the easiest way to break his contract with Ned is with another one. Only this kind of contract involves two hit men. Paul's simple demand brings to life all the underhanded dealings of the mob and publishing in one hilarious escalation of events after another. When Paul realizes what his demand has come to, he hires his own made man to fix the problem. That is where this novel really brings out all the big guns, both in the crime world (PIs, bodygaurds, disguises, chases, and heat) but in the literary world as well (poets, novelists, wanna-bes, prize-winners and hacks, editors and merely acquisitions people, and of course writers colonies). This novel is funny--and for those of us who have given many a year to a life in the publishing industry--hilarious at points. There are a few problems though. Foremost, is a lack of follow-through with many of her characters. Also she only leaves the last few pages for clean-up, so with Grimes many of the scenes in the end it just felt like we were moving along in play mode and then suddenly fast-forwarded to the ending. It seems to be a problem with many good storytellers these days, the need to come to a sudden end. But on the whole, Foul Matters is a lively look at the book biz, spoofing an industry that seems so ivory tower to many who aren't in there day to day. I enjoyed this book while reading it, although I'm not sure this is a re-readable book; I just didn't get enough out of the characters for that.
Rating:
Summary: foul book!
Review: Dumbest, most worthless book I ever read! what a disaster to trees to provide paper to publish this idiocy! Stream of consciousness writing. I never read one of Grimes books before and sure won't now. I got the book after reading an article in NY Times: An Author Gets Back At Knopf; She'll Teach Them To Drop Her
- Profile of and interview with mystery writer Martha Grimes, whose series about urbane British detective Richard Jury was dropped by Knopf nearly a decade ago; Grimes, 72, has written new novel Foul Matter, published by Viking, a sendup of publishing industry with certain characters reminiscent of Knopf editors If this book is representative of her writings, no wonder Knopft dropped her! Can I get a refund?
Rating:
Summary: Complete rubbish
Review: Grimes has forgotten everything she has learned about plotting and character development in this venture about the world of publishing.
Rating:
Summary: Wicked, Witty, Fun
Review: How did Martha Grimes get this book published?
Foul Matter is a departure for Grimes. Instead of her usual cast of characters in England, she focuses on the vicious world of publishing in New York.
The plot: a top NY publishing firm is dying-literally-to sign hot writer Paul Giverny. Giverny has one condition-the firm must give him their top literary editor and they must get rid of one of their finest, though not best selling, writers, Ned Isaly. Giverny simply wants to see how far the firm will go to get him-he has no grudge against Isaly. Nor does he want him killed. But the firm takes their job seriously and hires two of the most memorable hit men in history-two individuals who like to get to know their target, his world, and their employers before they make their hit. Grimes' caricatures of these two rivals "The Sopranos" for dark humor in the world of the mafia.
The plot is an excuse to satirize the NY publishing world, its cast of characters, its watering holes, its evil. The book is basically a series of very funny scenes as the cast of characters live their lives with one of them a target for murder. When Isaly goes to Pittsburgh to discover his roots, everyone (hit men, Giverny, publisher, friends) follow him. And they are all lost away from New York.
I would recommend this book to book lovers-it is an interesting look behind the scenes of the industry. I would caution mystery lovers-this is basically a satire and not a typical Grimes mystery. But it is a lot of fun.
Rating:
Summary: Wait For Paperback
Review: I am a huge fan of Martha Grimes and have enjoyed all of her other books, especially the Richard Jury series. I splurged and bought this book in hardcover as a special treat. For the first time, I was disappointed in a Grimes novel. I found the book hard to get into and the characters unsympathetic as well as difficult to keep straight. I had almost decided not to bother reading the rest of the book until the appearance of the two assassins. My advice is to purchase the paperback version. I would probably have rated this book lower if I didn't like Martha Grimes so much.
Rating:
Summary: Foul Matter is correct
Review: I was so disappointed in this novel by one of my favorite authors. I think she should stick with her characters in the British series. This book made no sense to me at all, mildly amusing at times....but what was the point. And the rude language put me off. Did not enjoy reading it and am glad I only borrowed it from the library!
Rating: 
Summary: Finally something good to read!
Review: If you are fairly literate and want to read something that will entertain you from page one, read this book. If, instead, you prefer a book that is dull as dust, don't bother. (But life is too short to waste time reading boring books.) I'm not a huge MG fan and I really enjoyed this book. I kept trying to steal time to read it. This is good stuff. Buy this book.
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