It's like work at home, but more fun

Here's another book with a copy editing character, a "sassy" one no less: "Foul Matter," by Martha Grimes. It's a crime novel about the New York publishing world that came out a year ago.

A book note in the Knoxville News Sentinel says this:

"Does laughing uncontrollably on a subway train constitute legitimate literary criticism? If it does, then Foul Matter (New American Library, $13.95), Martha Grimes's evil-minded satire of the venal, not to say murderous, practices of the New York publishing industry, gets a great review from me."

Wow. A New York Times literary critic actually laughing? Out loud? Those words were enough to get me going on this witty and clever tale set in the cutthroat world of literary New York's power lunches and editorial mayhem. So far, I've met a weird editor, a stuffy author and a sassy copy editor, and I'm only on Page 10.