The setting is at a convention hotel in Chicago. The convention is the yearly gathering of the Modern Language Association. It is an event attended by English Literature professors, English departments looking for graduate candidates, and candidates looking for jobs from across the country.
As the convention begins - there is an accident- a professor falls over the railing into the lobby. But is it murder? But then a hiring group from Wellesley gets poisoned from their coffee and one dies. Are the two deaths connected? When the detectives come in - they realize they need some background in this world of publish or perish. And they enlist an assistant professor to be their guide.
The author does a great job with their characters (although the third person omniscient point of view is occasionally disconcerting - but funny sometimes) and they make the reader care about the characters and you want them to succeed with the case. The author (one doesn't know whether it is a he or a she) manages to make quite a statement or two about the status of English literature trends in teaching, the fact that universities are so willing to use up young academics and toss them when it comes time to get tenure, and how some of the trendy teachers are just plain ridiculous. And that the parents and students are paying tuition for it!
A fun mystery about academics! And some nice details about Chicago. Give it to the English major in your life! A fun read.
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