(OK--first page, and I'm wondering...fact or fiction? Somehow those lines didn't feel like fiction; the name didn't exactly jog my memory, but I stopped right there and Googled Amy Bishop. Indeed, when Bishop failed to be granted tenure at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, she went to a faculty meeting and shot and killed three professors, wounding three others.)
As Red Solaris regrets that the ivory tower is not all sweetness and light, intelligent discussion, and academic camaraderie, the reader knows to expect violence as well. An interesting way to introduce the darker side of university politics.
When the Dean of the Journalism School is found dead from an apparent heart-attack and/or a fall down the stairs, Red is appointed interim Dean and begins to wonder if the death of her friend and mentor was an accident or murder.
Several issues are tackled in the novel: faculty in-fighting, student/professor sexual relationships, curriculum, and cheating and plagiarism. There is also a romance developing between Red Solaris and the detective assigned to the case.
I didn't find the detective's willingness to share information with Red too believable, but otherwise, I was all in and eager to discover who had actually murdered the dean.
Read in Sept.; blog post scheduled for Nov. 20
NetGalley/Henery Press
Mystery. Dec. 9, 2014. Print length: 280 pages.
Interesting premise. I like the title too; sounds fantasy but not. Academic mysteries always intrigue me. ;)
ReplyDeleteI like academic mysteries, too. I also found that discovering about the real and horrific murders by Amy Bishop at the University of Alabama Huntsville added to my interest in this plot.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked books set at a college; there's something about that academic setting that appeals to me. And you're right, knowing about Amy Bishop and that actual shooting makes this book even more of a draw. Thanks for the review! :)
ReplyDeleteThe ivory tower is often fraught with politics which can provide a great many possibilities for a good mystery. If I read about the Amy Bishop case at the time, I didn't pay it much attention, but that case could make for an excellent psychological premise for a thriller. Her case situation seems almost unbelievable--truth is often stranger than fiction, as the old saying goes.
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