This Brittle Existence

While conducting research into the life and works of Lady Ashleigh Blatherton, an obscure British poet, an eminent American professor of literature becomes caught up in the love affair between the lady and a rugged but inept hunter. Dr. Clarence Whippington's dogged efforts to distinguish between truth and imagination lead him over field and fen, through small village pubs and ancient family vaults, and what begins as a scholarly treatise quickly turns into a detective novel as the good professor solves the mystery of Lady Ashleigh's curious disappearance. Literary parody at its sharpest.