Felix in the Underworld

Once dubbed the "Chekhov of Coldsands-on-Sea", Felix Morsom has made a decent living writing sensitive, well-received novels of middle-class life in a seaside town. Though he was once a bestselling author short-listed for the Booker Prize, his life is now rather ordinary. Separated after a childless marriage, Felix's only excitement is Brenda Bodkin, his publicist, and their endlessly unconsummated passion. But a bolt out of the blue — a paternity suit hinted at in an anonymous tape received in the mail and a subsequent threat at a book signing — leads to a murder case in which Felix finds himself the chief suspect. Forced into London's underworld of poverty and crime, Felix manages to find friendship and even grace. With his characteristic humor and pathos, John Mortimer has created a novel that is both tender and perceptive, and a marvelous prody of the book trade he knows so well.