This American crime novel is the author´s debut.
Nick Merrill is a young graduate student and teacher at Tilton University. Besides teaching psychology, he has designed a promising computer programme, and at the beginning of the story he is informed that he has received the university´s prestigious fellowship for the coming year. As if that is not enough, he is very happy with his girlfriend Angel, and he also enjoys his affair with his more experienced teaching colleague, Dr Carrie Woods!
When the very ambitious student Rose Shelton learns that she did not get the fellowship, she is not exactly thrilled, and when she stumbles upon her mentor, Carrie Woods, in the arms of Nick Merrill, she is certain she has been cheated of a prize which was rightfully hers. And from this moment on, things begin to collide in Nick´s life like a juggler dropping his clubs one after the other until he is finally found dead outside his flat. Did he slip in the bad weather?
Professor Joel Williams of Tilton University who is a former police detective teaching criminal procedure wonders whether Nick´s death is really an accident, perhaps because he knows the academic setting from the inside: the envy and the backstabbing and the pressure to produce several articles every year or you will not get tenure. Professor Williams realizes that the faculty members are ready to lie, cheat, steal – and possibly kill – for promotion.
An engaging and well-written debut by an author who clearly knows the academic setting she writes about.
Margot Kinberg´s inspiring blog, Confessions of a Mystery Novelist.
A thorough review written by Maxine who kindly gave me the book.
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12 kommentarer:
Dorte - Thank you ! : ) How kind - how very kind - of you to feature my book. That means a lot to me, especially considering how busy you are.
Margot: I am never too busy to read and enjoy a good crime novel once in a while!
And my most busy period should be over in a week or so ... Then I hope I will be able to review more new books and perhaps write a proper article now and then. And who knows, perhaps ask you and some of the other crime writers I know to write a guest post for me?
I would be honored to "guest" for you, Dorte - just ask : ).
Nice review, Dorte. I very much enjoyed this book too, and am looking forward to the next.
An interesting cover for what sounds like an interesting read. Don't some people lead complicated lives though.
Margot, I will take you up on this offer! But probably not until January when I plan to make some kind of plan for my blog again.
Maxine: thank you! Yes, I also want to hear more about Joel Williams!
Petty Witter: it is a beautiful book, and the content is even better.
Great review and for a book which seems very interesting. I always like a good thriller/mystery!
I like the irony of the title for a debut novel. Your comments and the linked review are the irresistible bait that has me now hooked on the notion of reading Publish or Perish, which I hope to find at my local bookstore.
Thanks for this review, which certainly makes me want to read the book.
Louise: I think you would enjoy this one and appreciate the academic setting.
R.T: yes, I also enjoyed that little twist :D Once Margot´s dog wrote on her blog that Margot didn´t have a sense of humour - and for a second I believed it! LOL
Martin: the sense of place is quite strong, a bit like your own Waterloo Sunset which really takes the reader to Liverpool so I think you would like reading it.
I'm reading Margot's book right now and am really enjoying it! I particularly enjoy academic settings (one reason why Morse's Oxford-based series was so appealing) and the plot grabs you right away.
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Elizabeth: I agree that the setting is very appealing, and one has a very clear feeling right from the beginning that something must go wrong!
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