Let's Get Criminal

Take a bumbling writing professor, his author lover, a high strung college department of English, American Studies, and Rhetoric (EAR), a bit of Jewish insight, and a "former lover"; and you have a formula for a murder mystery that is not only fun, but has a social message as well. Nick Hoffman, our protagonist, is a witty, somewhat intense, and sometimes "-itchy" guy, who just by chance is forced into the sleuthing business to save himself and his lover from what appears to be a "case closed" murder investigation that identifies either or both of them of the crime...or was it a crime? You will just have to slip into this delightful murder? romp to find out. Once you read this offering by Mr. Raphael, you will be hooked, and seek out the remainder of his "Nick Hoffman" mysteries.

The editorial reviewers have summed up the story well, so I'll just say I enjoyed this book. I recommend it. The very first few pages were a tad slow because they deal with university politics, but once I got to know the characters and their conflicts with each other, the story moved along nicely. I read a couple of the other books in this series before this one, and if I could start over, I'd read this one first. The later ones stand alone well enough, but this story presents some background for the later ones. Having read this book, I now have a better understanding of the later ones. I read 4 or 5 mysteries every week, so often figure out "who done it" but this book's ending was clever and I never suspected who the villian was.

Mr. Raphael begins his delightful "Nick Hoffman Mystery Series" with a book that sets the tone for a series of truly entertaining reads. "Lets Get Criminal" introduces the reader to Nick and his long-term lover Stefan and to the unlikely setting for murder, the campus of the State University of Michigan.Like Miss Marple's village of St. Mary Mead, the campus, usually a quiet and stately institution of academia, is placed into an uproar over the murder of a particularly disliked professor and at the center is Nick's lover Stefan who, through a series of coincidences, is considered to be suspect number one by the truly detestable homophobic campus police investigator, Detective Valley. Nick has no choice but to try to find the real murderer before Stefan is arrested.Mr. Raphael has succeeded in creating characters that you get to know and relate to easily and placed them in a setting that can be recognized immediately by anyone who has attended college. I, personally believe that, besides the mystery aspect of the story, the detailing of the day to day lives of Nick and Stefan is an intricate part of what made this book so satisfing for me. The descriptions of their home, meals, lovemaking, etc. gave me the feeling of being proud to be gay and of knowing that there is more to life than the next bar/club/bathhouse.I heartily recommend this and all of Mr. Raphael's "Nick Hoffman" books to anyone who loves good characters, a witty read, and a delicious mystery!

When is a gay novel not a gay novel? That question arose with the arrival of the trade paperback edition of "Let's Get Criminal" by Lev Raphael. St. Martin's Press publishes mysteries like Harliquin produces romances. Upwards of 300 a year are produced in all varieties of genres, each one briefly given its moment on the bookstore shelf before being replaced by the next batch. When the hardcover version appeared last year, "Let's Get Criminal" was just one among many to me, but it hooked me from the first page, when the arrival of Professor Perry Cross to the State University of Michigan threatens to unravel the longtime relationship between professors Nick Hoffman and Stefan Borowski. Hired under suspicious circumstances, with Borowski's recommendation, Cross brought with him a well-bred air of menace, so that when his body was found floating underneath a campus bridge, he left behind plenty of suspects, including Hoffman and Borowski. But while Cross is at the center of the mystery, Nick Hoffman is the star of the book. Jealous of the past Cross and Borowski apparently shared, Hoffman reels from strength to weakness and back, using his good humor and acidic observations to keep himself standing. When Cross' death makes them suspects to a homophobic detective, Hoffman charges into the investigation. "Let's Get Criminal" is more than just a mystery story, because Raphael winningly portrays Nick and Stefan, highlighting their differences and examining how their love bends and changes under the pressures of the investigation. There's humor here, but also menace and sadness, and even triumph at the end. The trade paperback version carries a green banner on the cover announcing it is part of the "Stonewall Inn Mysteries," a series which includes works by George Baxt, Mark Richard Zubro and Phyllis Knight. While I accept the idea that gay-themed mysteries should be marketed to gays, I never thought of "Let's Get Criminal" in that context. This is a book I would recommend to anyone who loves mysteries.

Two things save LET'S GET CRIMINAL from being so relentlessly precious you could choke on it. The first is the fact that Lev Raphael genuinely adores the mystery genre. The second is the ingenuous, inquisitive and catty Nick Hoffman, Raphael's sleuth professor. Despite the bitchy asides, the pretentious literary (and other) allusions, and a severe case of political correctness, Hoffman is amusing and -- human. It's hard not to feel for a hero who muses over life, love, literature and still gets the dishwasher loaded.Unlike KIRKUS REVIEWS I didn't find the mystery of who killed Nick's much-hated office mate slight, so much as the supporting characters (Hoffman's lover, Stefan, who figures in earlier Raphael works, notably so). More exploration of the intrinsic Nick/Stefan relationship, and less of books and writing, would be a plus for this reader. Also lacking is the shattering effect of violence on these ivory towers, and that's because the violence itself is academic.What Raphael has written is something like the first gay cosy. SUM provides the village setting, complete with cast of educated eccentrics. The university and the intellectual milieu are skillfully drawn, the writing is witty, the mystery sufficient. What is needed here is passion and danger--especially danger. Having got criminal, I think Raphael should go back to the blackboard and get...physical.