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A Karen Pelletier Mystery #3
The Raven and the Nightingale
An unexpected bequest sends waves of violence through the placid groves of academe in Joanne Dobson's third mystery to feature Professor Karen Pelletier.Still untenured, and therefore on shaky academic ground, feisty young Enfield College professor Pelletier finds herself going head-to-head with the resident Edgar Allan Poe expert, Elliot Corbin, an academic windbag of monumental proportions who is lobbying to be appointed to the much-coveted and recently vacated Palaver Chair. So when Karen receives a serendipitous bonanza in the form of never-before-seen manuscripts and journals by the nineteenth-century poet Emmeline Foster, who is rumored to have killed herself for the love of Poe, Corbin is predictably put out.Subsequently, the corrosive Corbin is stabbed to death in his home on Thanksgiving Day. Karen has an airtight alibi, but other suspects abound--from the head of the women's studies program, who also pines for the Palaver Chair; to Visiting Poet Jane Birdwort, whose history with Corbin turns out to be far longer (and closer) than anyone had known; to the perpetually disgruntled department secretary; to a young female adjunct professor whose unbridled ambition will not be denied.Then Karen's office is ransacked, and a number of the Emmeline Foster journals and poems are stolen, so it looks more and more as if Corbin's death may be inextricably entwined with the muse of his life--poet of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. The undeniably attractive Lieutenant Piotrowski is called in, and, as in the past, he solicits Karen's help, involving her once more in the thankless task of investigating her not-always-so-collegial colleagues.As she did in her first two widely acclaimed novels, Joanne Dobson uses her savvy insider's knowledge of academic politics and her considerable talent for complex plotting to produce a witty and eminently satisfying entertainment.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 19, 1999
6 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
About the author
Joanne Dobson
20 books74 followersAt midlife, after two decades as an English professor and literary scholar, Joanne Dobson surprised herself (and her colleagues) by writing a mystery novel set at a small, elite, New England college where the curriculum seemed to offer a major in murder. Joanne was even more surprised when QUIETER THAN SLEEP (1997) was published by Doubleday. QUIETER was the first of the six Professor Karen Pelletier academic mystery novels, and the sheer pleasure of writing mysteries lured Joanne's feet from the straight path of tenured professorship to the slippery slope of 21st-century fiction writing.
And now comes an unexpected new surprise, THE KASHMIRI SHAWL (2014). An historical novel set in an India in violent rebellion (1857) and an America on the verge of Civil War (1860). An epic journey from the sultry climes of nineteenth-century India to the cosmopolitan chaos of New York City on the eve of Civil War, and then back again to India in quest of a kidnapped daughter and a lost, forbidden, love.
Joanne taught for many years at Fordham University, Amherst College, and Tufts University. Currently she teaches at the Hudson Valley Writers Center.
And now comes an unexpected new surprise, THE KASHMIRI SHAWL (2014). An historical novel set in an India in violent rebellion (1857) and an America on the verge of Civil War (1860). An epic journey from the sultry climes of nineteenth-century India to the cosmopolitan chaos of New York City on the eve of Civil War, and then back again to India in quest of a kidnapped daughter and a lost, forbidden, love.
Joanne taught for many years at Fordham University, Amherst College, and Tufts University. Currently she teaches at the Hudson Valley Writers Center.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
January 28, 2016
The third novel in Joanne Dobson’s Karen Pelletier series of academic murder mysteries, and we’re starting to get to emotional payoff time. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book.
Karen Pelletier is a professor in the English Department of Enfield College, a fictional private school in New England. From a working-class background and a hardscrabble adult life, Pelletier has issues enough to keep her feeling like an outsider in her chosen sphere of work—an excellent vantage point for the amateur sleuth. Previous novels have introduced past and possible future lovers, colleagues, her daughter, and various members of the local constabulary, many of whom recur here.
In The Raven and the Nightingale, Pelletier is called in to advise the police when one of her colleagues is murdered. There are plenty of suspects, as well as several subplots involving students and colleagues that are developed in enough detail that the reader can’t be sure whether they are red herrings or relevant. Simultaneously, some original documents from an obscure nineteenth-century poetess go missing. And various academic theories relating to Edgar Allan Poe wind through the narrative.
With all these elements, the story develops slowly, and halfway through I wasn’t sure it was going to amount to much. But then the disparate threads started to braid together, and the suspense grew. Aside perhaps from the final confrontation with the villain (not sure why such scenes are always necessary), the resolution of the mystery was credible and satisfying. The personal aspects of Professor Pelletier’s life also seem to be moving in the right direction (big sighs of pleasure as she zeroes in on the right man, instead of the various wrong ones she has entertained in previous books). The way the academics, the imagery, and the criminal plot played into one another was elegant. And Joanne Dobson’s writing is always strong.
If you have not read the first two novels in the series, some of the characters and echoes of past events may seem otiose, but it is not strictly necessary to read this series in order.
Karen Pelletier is a professor in the English Department of Enfield College, a fictional private school in New England. From a working-class background and a hardscrabble adult life, Pelletier has issues enough to keep her feeling like an outsider in her chosen sphere of work—an excellent vantage point for the amateur sleuth. Previous novels have introduced past and possible future lovers, colleagues, her daughter, and various members of the local constabulary, many of whom recur here.
In The Raven and the Nightingale, Pelletier is called in to advise the police when one of her colleagues is murdered. There are plenty of suspects, as well as several subplots involving students and colleagues that are developed in enough detail that the reader can’t be sure whether they are red herrings or relevant. Simultaneously, some original documents from an obscure nineteenth-century poetess go missing. And various academic theories relating to Edgar Allan Poe wind through the narrative.
With all these elements, the story develops slowly, and halfway through I wasn’t sure it was going to amount to much. But then the disparate threads started to braid together, and the suspense grew. Aside perhaps from the final confrontation with the villain (not sure why such scenes are always necessary), the resolution of the mystery was credible and satisfying. The personal aspects of Professor Pelletier’s life also seem to be moving in the right direction (big sighs of pleasure as she zeroes in on the right man, instead of the various wrong ones she has entertained in previous books). The way the academics, the imagery, and the criminal plot played into one another was elegant. And Joanne Dobson’s writing is always strong.
If you have not read the first two novels in the series, some of the characters and echoes of past events may seem otiose, but it is not strictly necessary to read this series in order.
December 20, 2019
These stories are so enjoyable, full of poetry, literary references, and intrigue surrounding the evils of academia in gaining a jobs as a professors, gaining tenure, and getting published...("or perish"). In this installment of the series starring Karen Pelletier, Professor of English Literature at Enfield College in Western New England, and Lt Piotrowski, of the State Police, we are presented another murder and the hint of their attraction to one another as they go about solving it. Together, again, to determine who killed Prof Elliot Corbin, darling of the literati, who wrote a book about Poe. He is, as expected, a cad of the highest order, carrying on various affairs, especially a long standing one with the department secretary, Monica Cassale, that produced a son, Joey. From an early marriage to Jane Birdwort, a visiting poet, he had another son, who he abandoned, Mike Vitale, who is now the star student of Karen. Mike has disappeared.
The tale is complicated with various faculty vying for the coveted Palaver Chair, which would bring fame, money and a significantly lightened teaching responsibility. It is a vicious bunch, as demonstrated by their constant raging at various meetings. Into the mix is the issue of plagarism. One of Karen's students is the daughter of a major donor, Frederica Whitby, who is seldom in class, has a bad attitude and who submits an essay that clearly poses a level of esoteric and sophisticated writing that Karen knows is someone else's writing. She only as to find the source in order to document the issue and submit a failing grade. Plagiarism is also apparent in the papers that Karen has received of Emmeline Foster, a 19th century obscure poet, who reputedly committed suicide in response to her love for Edgar Allan Poe. The papers do not support that rumor, and in fact, show in a journal of the poet that she wrote a poem about a bird that she accuses Poe of stealing for his poem "The Raven".
In her investigating Karen realizes that she has seen in Corbin's papers that Piotrowski has asked her to review another example of plagiarism, that may be the reason for his murder. It very well may be that his highly lauded book is derived from an essay submitted by Amber Nichols, a former student of his, entitled "Poe in a Dress" which he changed to "The Transvestite Poe". And once again Karen finds herself in danger from a deranged colleague. Again Piotrowski saves the day and Karen. After which they again indulge in General Tso's chicken at Amazing Chinese, when he finally calls her Karen. We have yet to find out his first name.
I love these books. The ultimate escape, with more literate trivia.
The tale is complicated with various faculty vying for the coveted Palaver Chair, which would bring fame, money and a significantly lightened teaching responsibility. It is a vicious bunch, as demonstrated by their constant raging at various meetings. Into the mix is the issue of plagarism. One of Karen's students is the daughter of a major donor, Frederica Whitby, who is seldom in class, has a bad attitude and who submits an essay that clearly poses a level of esoteric and sophisticated writing that Karen knows is someone else's writing. She only as to find the source in order to document the issue and submit a failing grade. Plagiarism is also apparent in the papers that Karen has received of Emmeline Foster, a 19th century obscure poet, who reputedly committed suicide in response to her love for Edgar Allan Poe. The papers do not support that rumor, and in fact, show in a journal of the poet that she wrote a poem about a bird that she accuses Poe of stealing for his poem "The Raven".
In her investigating Karen realizes that she has seen in Corbin's papers that Piotrowski has asked her to review another example of plagiarism, that may be the reason for his murder. It very well may be that his highly lauded book is derived from an essay submitted by Amber Nichols, a former student of his, entitled "Poe in a Dress" which he changed to "The Transvestite Poe". And once again Karen finds herself in danger from a deranged colleague. Again Piotrowski saves the day and Karen. After which they again indulge in General Tso's chicken at Amazing Chinese, when he finally calls her Karen. We have yet to find out his first name.
I love these books. The ultimate escape, with more literate trivia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 13, 2024
"As professor of American women's literature at an elite New England college, Karen Pelletier has discovered that murder can occur even within the civilized confines of academia. But even she is not prepared for the waves of violence that rock Enfield College in the wake of a surprise bequest ...
"When Professor Karen Pelletier receives a box of papers from a descendant of Emmeline Foster -- a nineteenth-century poet rumored to have drowned herself for the love of Edgar Allan Poe -- she plans to use them in women's studies at the newly endowed Northbury Center. But Professor Elliot Corbin, a sexist Poe specialist, is scathingly opposed -- until he is found stabbed to death beside a blood-spattered notepad emblazoned with Karen's name. No sooner has Karen established her alibi -- and begun to dissect those of her colleagues -- than the Emmeline Foster papers are stolen from her office. Now it's up to Karen to use her considerable literary expertise and survival skills to solve these two crimes over a century apart -- and tie together the threads in a case as twisted as anything Poe himself could devise ..."
~~back cover
As always in this series, a seemingly innocuous situation rapidly snowballs into a dangerous murder and possible further murders. As always, Lt. Piotrowski is in the thick of the fray -- ostensibly to solve the murder, but is he really there to protect Karen? Also as usual, Karen plows ahead investigating, only to put herself in very real danger.
A very enjoyable read -- great characters, great plotting (the culprit is always a surprise), great understated possible romance.
"When Professor Karen Pelletier receives a box of papers from a descendant of Emmeline Foster -- a nineteenth-century poet rumored to have drowned herself for the love of Edgar Allan Poe -- she plans to use them in women's studies at the newly endowed Northbury Center. But Professor Elliot Corbin, a sexist Poe specialist, is scathingly opposed -- until he is found stabbed to death beside a blood-spattered notepad emblazoned with Karen's name. No sooner has Karen established her alibi -- and begun to dissect those of her colleagues -- than the Emmeline Foster papers are stolen from her office. Now it's up to Karen to use her considerable literary expertise and survival skills to solve these two crimes over a century apart -- and tie together the threads in a case as twisted as anything Poe himself could devise ..."
~~back cover
As always in this series, a seemingly innocuous situation rapidly snowballs into a dangerous murder and possible further murders. As always, Lt. Piotrowski is in the thick of the fray -- ostensibly to solve the murder, but is he really there to protect Karen? Also as usual, Karen plows ahead investigating, only to put herself in very real danger.
A very enjoyable read -- great characters, great plotting (the culprit is always a surprise), great understated possible romance.
August 19, 2018
Another fun read from Joanne Dobson about her young English Professor Karen Pelletier/amateur detective. The members of the English Department at Enfield College in New England disagree on the role of female authors within the curriculum. Karen has previously been named administrator of the yet-to-be-opened center for literature, and in that role receives a delivery to her office. Opening the carton of materials pegged for the center becomes a group effort as everyone wants to see the contents. A particular notebook goes missing, and then one of the unpopular literary professors is found murdered!! Various campus people are possible perpetrators, and Karen works with the local police Lieutenant to solve the mystery. The author includes the story of Karen's personal life along with the mystery story line, which made the tale seem more plausible. As a bonus, I learned a fair amount about both Emily Dickenson and Edgar Poe.
Hope to read more of this author.
Hope to read more of this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2019
Professor Karen Pelletier is one of the best English Professors that I have come across. I wish I could have one like her, I swear I would assist her efficiently in solving all the mysteries (chuckles).
So, this was my first book by Joanne Dobson and I was very impressed. Her other books are already in line. In this mystery Karen's pompous, rude and unfortunately very successful colleague Elliot Corbin is murdered. But who did it? His student or someone else from the college? Karen is called upon by Lieutenant Piotrowski again to resolve this mystery with the help of her expertise in literature.
I liked ALL the characters in this novel. Even Monica who seemed rotten. The characters were well placed and mystery tightly spun. No space for any loose ends. I enjoyed this mystery. The humor quotient and the dramatic touches were perfectly placed and genuine.
I would advise all the mystery lovers to read this.
So, this was my first book by Joanne Dobson and I was very impressed. Her other books are already in line. In this mystery Karen's pompous, rude and unfortunately very successful colleague Elliot Corbin is murdered. But who did it? His student or someone else from the college? Karen is called upon by Lieutenant Piotrowski again to resolve this mystery with the help of her expertise in literature.
I liked ALL the characters in this novel. Even Monica who seemed rotten. The characters were well placed and mystery tightly spun. No space for any loose ends. I enjoyed this mystery. The humor quotient and the dramatic touches were perfectly placed and genuine.
I would advise all the mystery lovers to read this.
March 20, 2022
Karen Pelletier receives a huge package to sign for at Enfield College. While she is attempting to get the package open several of her other colleagues come in as well. Unfortunately, someone walks off with one of the small blue journals that was Emmeline Foster's. Karen is able to go through some of the 10 small other journals that Emmeline had started while young and more of a journal of her life. The container included forms of never-before-seen manuscripts and journals by the nineteenth-century poet Emmeline Foster, who is rumored to have killed herself for the love of Edgar Allan Poe. Elliot Corbin, who is the main professor of Edgar Allan Poe.
Once again, State police investigator, Lieutenant Piotrowski, calls on Karen's literary expertise, and she is involved once more in the thankless task of investigating her not-so-collegial colleagues. Still a good page turner and more of the details of the past.
Once again, State police investigator, Lieutenant Piotrowski, calls on Karen's literary expertise, and she is involved once more in the thankless task of investigating her not-so-collegial colleagues. Still a good page turner and more of the details of the past.
July 17, 2023
Pretty light fare, this, but okay for a blistering hot summer day when you don't want to think very hard. I wish the satire on academic pretensions had been a little less heavy-handed. Yes, many professors are pompous, and yes, the jargon of literary criticism is badly inflated, but no professor that I've ever met spouts it nonstop the way some of Dobson's characters do. The denouement, as so often in mysteries, is absurd, but by the time you reach it, you've given up on expecting verisimilitude. Oddly, the most persuasively real portions of the novel are the journal entries and letters of a (fictional) nineteenth-century woman poet on whom the plot turns. Dobson does a good job of recreating both the style and attitudes of this woman but doesn't seem to have a very good ear for how contemporary Americans speak.
November 16, 2016
Professor Karen Pelletier is sent a box of manuscripts from a descendant of poetess Emmeline Foster, a woman who is rumored to have committed suicide over Edgar Allan Poe. The manuscripts are taken from Karen's office but when Professor Elliot Corbin, the college's Poe expert, is found murdered, Karen is asked to assist Detective Piotrowski in solving the case. This is a good book and I look forward to reading more of this series.
December 1, 2017
A pickup from a little free library. Granted, mystery is not my typical genre, but I thought this book had some truly odd prose, especially describing people physically. Small ears lying neatly on a well-contoured head, etc.
November 17, 2019
Loved it1.
August 2, 2020
Another incredibly inventive literate mystery. And with endearing flawed characters.
May 10, 2020
Literary mystery in Amherst-like setting
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 14, 2017
This book kind of rubbed me the wrong way. It didn't help that it started off with a student accusing Poe of "getting off" on dead women, and Karen doesn't correct him. Couldn't Dobson sense that that might be a turn off for die-hard Poe fans -- who (one would presume) would be a sizable chunk of her readers?
I also didn't like Karen much. She seemed hyper defensive about her background, and though I can understand that she had painful memories of her family, I didn't like how she bragged about how, unlike other faculty members or students, she was "appreciative" of her place of Enfield, as if having a loving and supportive family makes you spoiled and ungrateful. She seems not to care about her students unless they are abjectly miserable. But it is not out of character for her to be defensive, and I could relate to the Freddie Whitby situation.
I liked Piotrowski. Despite his local slang, he had an eloquence that perfectly described his views on human behavior and literature. If he were an Enfield student, he'd write interesting papers, for sure. And I have a soft spot for any mystery that involves a workplace or a committee bickering over every little thing. As for Poe, well, his image in this book is not flattering, but neither is it too terrible. As much as I love Poe's work, he, like all other human beings, had his flaws.
I prefer the Peggy O'Neill series by M. D. Lake to this when it comes to college life around that time. Peggy is livelier, and the mysteries aren't as didactic.
I also didn't like Karen much. She seemed hyper defensive about her background, and though I can understand that she had painful memories of her family, I didn't like how she bragged about how, unlike other faculty members or students, she was "appreciative" of her place of Enfield, as if having a loving and supportive family makes you spoiled and ungrateful. She seems not to care about her students unless they are abjectly miserable. But it is not out of character for her to be defensive, and I could relate to the Freddie Whitby situation.
I liked Piotrowski. Despite his local slang, he had an eloquence that perfectly described his views on human behavior and literature. If he were an Enfield student, he'd write interesting papers, for sure. And I have a soft spot for any mystery that involves a workplace or a committee bickering over every little thing. As for Poe, well, his image in this book is not flattering, but neither is it too terrible. As much as I love Poe's work, he, like all other human beings, had his flaws.
I prefer the Peggy O'Neill series by M. D. Lake to this when it comes to college life around that time. Peggy is livelier, and the mysteries aren't as didactic.
February 17, 2017
Nice entry in this series. Murder of a university professor, Edgar Allen Poe, and faculty politics.
July 29, 2011
I picked up this book because of the literary references in the title, but within the book they are few and far between. While I'm comfortable with a murder mystery set in academia, the book contained too much of the boring and tedious details of academic life. The subjects of tenure, plagiarism, endowments, and department politics were given more importance than logic, intelligence, and solving a murder.
My biggest pet peeve is that a book written BY an English professor, ABOUT an English professor, contains so many examples of horrible grammar. A copy of Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" would serve her, and her editor, well. I think that the editor coasted through this manuscript and allowed the author to do so, too. An honestly, a good book should not even LEAD to thoughts of the editor. Good editing, like good grammar, is invisible, right? Not this time.
So who would enjoy this book? I'm not sure. The details of academic life may endear it to those who walk the ivy-covered walls, but it alienates the rest of us. And the poor grammar spoken from an English professor will probably turn them off, too.
I rarely read a book that I don't like, and on a superficial level this one is passable. But knowing the wealth of superior books that are available, I'd just give it a "pass."
My biggest pet peeve is that a book written BY an English professor, ABOUT an English professor, contains so many examples of horrible grammar. A copy of Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" would serve her, and her editor, well. I think that the editor coasted through this manuscript and allowed the author to do so, too. An honestly, a good book should not even LEAD to thoughts of the editor. Good editing, like good grammar, is invisible, right? Not this time.
So who would enjoy this book? I'm not sure. The details of academic life may endear it to those who walk the ivy-covered walls, but it alienates the rest of us. And the poor grammar spoken from an English professor will probably turn them off, too.
I rarely read a book that I don't like, and on a superficial level this one is passable. But knowing the wealth of superior books that are available, I'd just give it a "pass."
February 10, 2014
The third of Joanne Dobson’s Karen Pelletier novels, and the best I’ve read so far. All the same ingredients are present – the missing manuscript, the obnoxious tenured professor, Detective Piotrowski, Karen’s daughter, and assorted collected waifs – and it’s nice to see them all again. Of course we encounter the academic politics involving tenure, women’s studies, plagiarism and endowments.
I found this particular missing manuscript (a diary by a 19th century woman poet said to have committed suicide for love of Edgar Allan Poe) more interesting and believable than the previous two. The book also has lots of snippets of poems said to have been written by one character or another in the story, but obviously written by the author, which makes it more interesting too.
We are also introduced to Karen’s working class family, who disowned her when she left her husband twenty years before. They now think she’s an upper class upstart who won’t talk to them. And strangely, one of her colleagues seems to think she wouldn’t understand the working class either.
A good book. Now on to the next one in the series….
I found this particular missing manuscript (a diary by a 19th century woman poet said to have committed suicide for love of Edgar Allan Poe) more interesting and believable than the previous two. The book also has lots of snippets of poems said to have been written by one character or another in the story, but obviously written by the author, which makes it more interesting too.
We are also introduced to Karen’s working class family, who disowned her when she left her husband twenty years before. They now think she’s an upper class upstart who won’t talk to them. And strangely, one of her colleagues seems to think she wouldn’t understand the working class either.
A good book. Now on to the next one in the series….
April 25, 2008
I love this character! Karen Pelletier is an associate professor of English at Enfield College, a top tier school, who keeps getting drawn into murder investigations that require her literary expertise. The mysteries and the character are down-to-earth, but Dobson is able to switch into complicated literary-criticism speak at the drop of a hat where required and fully realizes the academic interactions in a small college. She authentically speaks in the voice of an early-eighteenth-century poetess, an integral component of the plot. This particular mystery is centered on Edgar Allan Poe. I picked up on who did it and a couple of the major secrets revealed pretty early on, but the details and the ride were fun.
May 7, 2014
I was drawn to this book because its heroine is an English Professor at a small, New England college. I am ready now to look for more of the books in this series! Karen Pelletier is a fascinating character who uses her research skills to help the police solve the murder of a colleague, who made his name working on a monograph about Edgar Allen Poe. The premise here is that Poe actually stole the idea for one of his most famous poems, "The Raven", from an obscure 19th century poet Emmeline Foster. Pelletier sorts out all of the interrelationships between the characters to find her colleague's killer for an exciting finish to the story.
April 2, 2016
I'm a sap for a good mystery, I'll admit. That this one takes place on a bucolic, wintery college campus, involving an arrogant professor, assorted campus administrative types, a strong, obviously sexy police lieutenant and a pleasant enough array of witty, love-struck, engaged, psyched, serious, lazy, bummed out, students - in other words, a real enough student body, AND Edgar Allen Poe.....well, that was quite enough to have me hooked. I finished the book in one long day's read. Yes, it's author isn't going to be honored with a Pulitzer; yes, I guessed the paternity of two cleverly drawn characters, but it was, all in all, a good, cozy read. I do recommend it.
January 11, 2011
This book was interesting.... Because I am an English major I appreciated this book more than most people would. However, the story line lacked movement. It was slow and clogged with literary talk that to the average reading is boring. I found it interesting because I do like Poe. The diary entries were interesting and well written but the lack of movement in the story made it hard to read. There was mystery but not the sense of urgency that you get from other books. This book had good potential but just didn't deliver the good mystery I was looking for.
July 27, 2014
Dr. Karen Pelletier's literary focus is 19th century American writers, so she's psyched when she receives a huge box of papers, journals, and unpublished works from Emmeline Foster, a contemporary of Poe's (and rumored to be a distraught lover of his as well). Someone else on the Enfield faculty is also interested in the box, enough to steal and then to kill. Although the whole Poe thing is fiction, Dobson does a great job illustrating via a modern mystery the pitfalls facing female authors a mere 150 years ago.
August 9, 2007
This is the fourth and possibly my favorite in the series featuring Karen Pelletier, English professor at fictional Enfield College. (I haven't read the fifth and last book in the series since the library lost it and I haven't ordered it yet.) This book is quite well plotted, although I still figured out "who did it" before the end of the book. But it's quite an imaginative story regarding a well known Poe and a fictionalized NYC literary lady.
February 7, 2008
Once again English professor Karen Pelletier uses her literary scholarship to solve a murder. I like how Ms. Dobson mixes a long-ago literary mystery with a present-day homicide in each of her books. As well, she has an unerring ear for academic jargon that is quite entertaining. Her characters are engaging and the setting (a college that shares some of the characteristics of both Smith and Amherst) is well-drawn. Highly recommended.
March 10, 2008
I've definitely become a fan of Joanne Dobson's academic mysteries. The third in her series, this one mixes Edgar Allen Poe's 19th century advertures and works with those of 20th century faculty and students. Yes, her plots are a bit formulaic, but isn't that what all good mysteries do? She's a delight to read. Karen Pellitier is as likeable as Kinsey Millhouse. Recommended to all mystery buffs.
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February 20, 2011This is the first one of the Karen Pelletier mysteries I have read, but I plan to read them all. Pelletier is a literature professor in a New England college. She receives a box of papers that belonged to a 19th century poet, Emmeline Foster, who supposedly drowned herself for the love of Edgar Allan Poe. But perhaps it was something much darker, involving this much acclaimed writer of dark tales and poems.
July 30, 2008
Entertaining- the 3rd in Dobson's series of murder mysteries involving Professor Karen Pelletier , professor at a small, distinguished, New England, fictional college- Enfield. Some of the characters are cliche and the mystery a bit simple but there's plenty of literary quotes & information to keep a reader happy. And this one centers around Edgar Allen Poe.
October 13, 2015
Another great addition to the academic Karen Pelletier mystery series with yet another intriguing literary mystery that is likely to appeal to fellow academics as well as anyone interested in not only women's poetry, but also the literary endeavours – especially the haunting poem, The Raven - of the much-debated and still to this day controversial author and poet, Edgar Allan Poe.
October 15, 2012
I admit to not being one with great insight to critique of the arts but simply am an avid fan of mysteries. With that said I enjoy Dobson's series but it is slower then most other series I read and the focus on literature and more so poetry leaves a bit mor bore as it is a topic I know nothing of.
But I like the primary reoccurring characters enough to keep reading the series
January 20, 2013
Smart, engaging, literary, with a clever plot. I enjoyed getting all the references and the protagonist is believable, real, and fallible. The humor sneaks in on you and hides among the witty dialogue, waiting for another moment to strike. Don't miss a word. Don't miss a clue. Don't miss this series!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews