The Northbury Papers

Definitely need to read Quieter Than Sleep to draw the full benefit of this "second in the series." Enjoyed the character development as much as the central story.

Dr. Karen Pelletier is fascinated by the work of Serena Northbury. She was a popular fiction novelist of the 1800's. Other literature professors and students call her stories trash, but Karen feels that she has captured life. A find in an old bookstore leads to her meeting Northbury's great granddaughter, Dr. Edith Hart. Dr. Hart is very frail from age and diabetes, but still a very forceful personality. She answers some of the questions Karen has for her, and promises more info later. Karen is given permission to look through some of her personal papers and finds what looks to be an unpublished manuscript. Not too long after, Dr. Hart is murdered and the manuscript disappears. Dr. Hart has left a strange will, she left 10 million and the mansion to Enfield College with the condition that Karen run the new Northbury Center for Women's Literature. This makes many very unhappy, was one of them the murderer?This was a very quick moving novel. I liked the characters, for the most part, they were real people, not dry academics, like many of this genre. Karen is not your typical English professor. The author is very good at intertwining the various plots. Very good mystery.

Read it through in one sitting--very diverting with interesting characters and you even feel as if you're learning about American literature and academia along the way. My only quarrel is some of the dialog--especially the male characters is a little flat or even occasionally unrealistic. Overall though very good and I plan to buy her next one in hardcover.

I've always been a fan of mysteries. I grew up reading Nacy Drew and playing Clue, but I have never been completely satisfied when it came to reading many of the modern mystery writers. John Grisham and Mary Higgins Clark became redundant with over used storylines and Anne George builds a great story and then seems to get tired and just ends it, without giving the reader all of the information. Dobson's story kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't put The Northbury Papers down. Having a degree in English, I recognized the faculty dissension between the OWM's and people who read the phone book for culture studies. I didn't want the book to end and I can't wait to immerse myself in Enfield College again to read her other stories. Hopefully they will be as fresh as this one.

The English department of New England's Enfield College is divided over what constitutes classic literature. The old guard revere Shakespeare and Chaucer. Austen sometimes gets a nod. The new centurions regard just about anything as literature. This war leaves two year professor Karen Pelletier in the wrong camp as the department chair champions Milton while Karen was hired to teach American Women's Literature, an oxymoron amongst her peers.To make tenure even more tenuous, Karen is fascinated by the works of nineteenth century writer Serena Northbury, who all her colleagues agree wrote trash. She plans to write a biography on the woman in spite of the objections of the people in her department. During her research, Karen finds an unpublished manuscript in the possession of a descendent of Northbury. However, instead of academia triumph, a murder occurs. Karen realizes that she has more to worry about than just the potential demise of her career as someone wants her out of the way too.The second Professor Pelletier academic mystery is a brilliant entry that will elate the audience. The characters are sharp and in many ways a satirical look at the ole boys network. The who-done-it is interesting and puzzling enough to charm readers. However, what really makes THE NORTHBURY PAPERS grade out as an A+ is Karen's relationships with various and sundry, including the long-deceased author she is studying. Anyone who enjoys a fun mystery, but especially with a college backdrop, should read Joanne Dobson' latest novel and its predecessor, QUIETER THAN SLEEP, because the author has a 4.0 index while majoring in entertaining, well-written literature.Harriet Klausner