The Theban Mysteries

What I love about the Kate Fansler mysteries is their many literary references. I'd love to spend the cocktail hour with Kate and Reed, trying to keep up with the snappy dialogue. The Theban Mysteries is especially good due to its being set in a college seminar on Antigone. This lets Kate be her highbrow best. Many times a mystery series gets repetitive as the series goes on, with the author churning them out like a factory. But every book in this series by Amanda Cross is as good as the last. The only sad thing about reading her books is knowing Amanda Cross is dead and therefore we'll never get another one. If you like this series, though, you should try the Sarah Caudwell mysteries.

I loved this book because Kate Fransler is such a great character. Also, as an English teacher at a commnuity college, I love all her references to literature. This book is fun because the kids have interesting personalities. Antigone is a great play, and I enjoy the way this book keeps coming back to the play. I agree with another reviewer that some aspects of the plot are less than believable, but I read these books for light fun and don't mind an occassional far-fetched element.

This is a little bit of a departure from the usual collegiate themed mystery. Kate is asked to teach a senior seminar on the Antigone(appropriate for a murder mystery) at her old school, the Theban. A young man is found unconscious and bleeding, having been frightened by the school's guard dogs, and shortly thereafter his mother is found dead under similar circumstances. This is very much like the other Fansler mysteries, although the setting is different. The mystery is difficult to figure out and this is faster reading than the usual Cross mystery. I enjoyed it even more than usual.

A seminar on Antigone. "An ancient tragedy, a modern demise and a mystery to baffle the gods!" and as read in Antigone, "No, though a man be wise, 'tis no shame for him to learn many things, and to bend in season."