Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Perseverance Press
Release Date: Sept. 18, 2004
ISBN: 1880284685
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Trade paperback
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Genre: Mystery
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Barbara Buhrer
Reviewer Notes:  
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Tropic of Murder
A Nick Hoffman mystery
By Lev Raphael

    It is winter and cold at the State University of Michigan. But the temperature at the English department is very hot. The provost is about to appoint a new chair for Nick Hoffman's department. Nick is an untenured professor of English composition, and an Edith Wharton scholar. He also has a dubious reputation for solving mysteries on campus, which doesn't set well with the administration. He has been asked by Peter deJonge, a graduate student, to investigate whether or not these events are connected with similar events in the small college town of Neptune where he works. Appointment of an unpopular and perhaps unqualified professor to chair the department deposes the acting chair who had expected the appointment.

    Stefan Borowski, Nick's partner and writer-in-residence at the college feels they should put the winter and the furor behind them. He books a vacation for them at a Club Med on Serenity Island.

    The climate is certainly an improvement over the Michigan winter, but the atmosphere is as turbulent. Nick becomes involved with the various staff members of the resort. The manager, Bruno Zaragossa, is an Edith Wharton fan and seeks Nick's scholarly advice. When Bruno is found murdered, Nick finds himself involved in seeking his killer. The suspects unfortunately include deJonge, who, with his family, is also vacationing there, and a French literary critic and her lover.

     This is a light-hearted, witty story with a host of colorful characters. There are glimpses of the politics of the world of academia. The atmosphere both of Michigan (cold and dreary} and of Serenity Island (balmy and tropical) are very realistically described. The major crime occurs far into the story with the background fully depicted. There aren't that many clues given to the reader, so the murderer comes as a surprise.