Book Takes Aim at Murdochs

British newspapers were flooded last week with coverage of a judicial inquiry that spent several days relentlessly questioning Rupert Murdoch and his son James.

And next to those articles were book reviews of “Dial M for Murdoch,” a new exposé co-written by Tom Watson, the member of Parliament who has been one of the sharpest critics of the Murdochs and was one of their most persistent interrogators during parliamentary hearings last summer. Martin Hickman, the book’s other author, is a journalist for The Independent who has covered the scandal over accusations of phone hacking.

“Even if you are familiar with the News of the World phone-hacking saga, you will be gobsmacked by this account,” a review in The Guardian said. “It is a tale of stupidity, incompetence, fear, intimidation, lying, downright wickedness and corruption in high places.”

Rarely do a book and its author so perfectly align with real-time events. Penguin released the book in Britain on April 19 after it was written in less than six months, and Blue Rider Press, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, acquired it within the last few weeks, said its publisher, David Rosenthal.

“I read it and thought it would be great fun to do over here, particularly because it sure puts the story together beautifully, to say the least,” Mr. Rosenthal said in an interview.

He rushed to release the e-book edition in the United States last Tuesday, even though the paper version of the book had not been printed and distributed. “It’s exquisite timing, if you ask me,” Mr. Rosenthal said.

A print edition will come out in the United States on May 8.

The editor who acquired the book for Penguin UK, Stuart Proffitt, has his own history with Mr. Murdoch. As an editor at HarperCollins, Mr. Proffitt was ordered by Mr. Murdoch to quash a book that was critical of China, British newspapers reported at the time. Mr. Proffitt left the publisher in protest and became something of a folk hero in the publishing world.

Asked about “Dial M for Murdoch” at the inquiry last week, Mr. Murdoch said, “I’m not planning on reading it.”