The Mark Twain Murders

A very fun and appetizing read about serious skullduggery at Midwestern U near Chicago, seemingly a take off on Northwestern, where the author teaches. Here we have some very amusing English Dept academics, including a somewhat bitter man-hater, several interesting profs, and the lady professor who really loves Dickens. When a student is karate-chopped in the lady's room, the FBI gets involved with more than book thefts and plagiarism. What struck me was that the FBI did not check the background of the suspects to determine who may have attended karate school in the past, maybe a small quibble but one hopes in real life the FBI would check this out! After the second murder, the situaton gets truly intense, though one feels it should have gotten intense after the first. Still, a top drawer mystery with enough academia, literary allusions, Chicago landmarks, fun, and mystery to keep any reader on his toes, even if the solution seemed a stretch!

This auspicious debut mystery will please readers who enjoy an academic or library milieu and abundant literary allusions. The ingenious plot involves a group of eccentric English-department faculty members, a handsome FBI agent, plagiarism, thefts of valuable books from the library, and, of course, Mark Twain. It's a well-written, literate novel, and the two sleuths, amateur and professional, are likable, intelligent characters. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the sequels.

Skom's first in her three-book series. I read this awhile ago, long before I anticipated the publishing of another Skom mystery, and I was immediately wrapped up in a teriffic whodunnit. I reread this book, and I reccomend the avid mystery-lover jump on it right away!