The Problem Professor: Doro Banyon Cozy Historical Mysteries

Doro Banyon Historical Mystery #4

by D.S. Lang

A Roaring Twenties closed-room train mystery and another whodunit for Doro Banyon.

After spending the summer with her parents in Colorado, college librarian and amateur sleuth Doro Banyon plans to enjoy a luxurious journey home aboard a posh train. Traveling with her Gramma Rose and her best friend promises a lovely respite—until an accident forces part of the train to be left behind. Hours later, a belligerent passenger is found dead.
As news of the murder spreads, apprehension spreads among the stranded passengers. With no way to contact help and no towns nearby, Doro and Aggie investigate wit Gramma’s help. Untangling web of secrets surrounding the victim proves grueling. Can Doro crack the case before the killer targets her?

295 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2024

About the author

If you like historical mysteries and intrepid female sleuths in a small town America setting, try my books! My heroines are dedicated to bringing the bad guys and gals to justice, and they have a team of colorful characters who support them in their efforts.

My Arabella Stewart series takes place soon after the Great War. Bella, who served an Army Signal Corps operator, returns to find her hometown and family resort in dire straits. Almost immediately, she is thrust into a murder investigation. Constable Jax Hastings reluctantly accepts her help.

The pair, who were childhood friends, partner in a series of investigations, while also working past barriers put in place during the war.

My Doro Banyon series is also set in an American small town in 1920s, but on a college campus. Doro is a librarian who, along with her best friends, finds herself immersed in a series of mysteries. It has a cozier feel than the Bella series.

Reviews

[QNPoohBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a too-short visit with her parents in Colorado, Doro, Aggie and Grandma Rose are traveling back to Ohio by train. Doro misses her parents but can't wait to get back to work, see her puppy, Tee, and if she cares to admit it, Ev, too. However, there's no point pining for what cannot be because Doro is determined not to give up her job for marriage. It's bad enough Aggie is engaged to Wayne and no college, not even progressive Michaw, will allow a married women with children to teach. However, rumor has it times they are 'a changing and Michaw may soon allow married women to teach. We'll see... thinks Doro. One person who doesn't want things to change is Colorado's Pikely College Professor Staunton Mathers . Doro and companions witness the professor's rude and demanding behavior first hand and in spite of their efforts to be polite, he remained condescending. Halfway through their journey, their train car decouples and Professor Mathers is discovered dead in the kitchen while looking for a midnight snack. Between the decoupling and bad weather, the train can't move forward and no help is nearby. Doro and Aggie want to solve this mystery and win one for the ladies. The conductor isn't the biggest fan of that idea but won't stand in their way. The killer has to be someone on the train and it can't be hard to figure out WHO. Unfortunately, the ladies discover more people hated Professor Mathers than liked him and they are going to have their work cut out for them!

I liked this mystery a lot. A locked train mystery is different from the locked room mystery and the victim was someone I loved to hate. It's still a cozy mystery in spite of the horrific murder and Doro and Aggie are the main sleuths this time. Their men are back home and have no idea what has happened. That's what a cozy mystery is and if amateur sleuths asking questions until they nearly get killed isn't your thing, then this genre isn't for you. I enjoyed following along with the "girls" and learning more about the characters. I expected something a lot more sinister than was revealed. I did guess whodunit just before Doro got into trouble. The person pretty much gave themself away at that point.

Doro is a fun character. She's a modern gal with very modern problems. Here we are 100 years later and some people still have problems with women working, voting, controlling their bodies and living their lives. Doro is looking forward to changes to come and it's fun to think in this world, there is a place that will soon allow married women to keep their jobs and perhaps even mothers. Doro is resisting her feelings for Ev and the lady doth protest too much methinks. She cares for him very much and wants to step out with him but loves her career more. I hope some day she can have both and grows to care for Ev much more. They do share custody of a puppy after all and he loves her. I wholeheartedly applaud her choosing career over marriage and family though. I'm torn because I like a good slow burn romance but I want to see characters more like myself represented in fiction. Doro is prickly and proud of her position. If she were a post-1970s character, she would probably go by Ms. Banyon but as she's living in the 1920s, she likes to use her title with officious, sexist men. PROFESSOR Banyon if you please. She doesn't really have a reason to investigate this case but does she ever? As she points out, she has more qualifications than anyone else on board and someone needs to gather evidence for whoever comes to help before the trail gets cold.

Aggie is more of a sidekick. She has more of a level head than Doro who can be relentless and reckless. Aggie misses Wade and knows he and Ev wouldn't approve of the investigation but like Doro, she wants to prove she has brains behind the pretty face. It was fun to get to know Doro's family. Her mother is lovely and of course we've heard a lot about her dad. It's sweet and wonderful to see how close they are and how he supports her dreams. Gramma Rose is a fun character. She seems to have a bit of an amateur sleuth in her too but from a safe distance. She's so very lovely- kind and generous but I sense a motive behind her words and actions. She's gathering evidence in her own way! I can see why Doro loves her so much.

Professor Staunton Mathers, a science professor at Pikeley College in Colorado, is traveling solo and is not a pleasant traveling companion. He was belittling to his wife back home as he was leaving, rude to the waiters, demanding and rude to the chef, sexist, elitist and an all around horrible person. It's really no wonder he was killed. I made a 🤢in the notes at his very first appearance. I would not have been able to hold my temper around him and Doro barely holds it together. Gramma Rose is more diplomatic and tries with finesse to calm the man down from his rage but he doesn't seem to respond. His wife, Luann, is half his age and was an orphan when he married her. She's been browbeaten and verbally abused but she's not on this trip so her hand didn't kill her husband.

Suspects are plentiful, even in a locked train car. I say Luann's hand didn't kill her husband but one suspect, a student named Grayson Bailey, is in love with Luann and has been since they were kids. He expected they would marry once he graduated and found a job. When that didn't happen, he was crushed. He had motive and opportunity but he claims he has an alibi. It's not airtight and impossible to prove. He seems like a nice young man and killing Luann's husband isn't going to solve his problem. It will make things worse if he goes to jail. His friend, Phineas Spieth, is not as pleasant. He's kind of snobby and rude himself but a good friend to Gray. He helps Gray pay for the trip home to see his family following the death of Mr. Bailey, Gray's dad. Phin is a bit more reckless and wild than his friend but I don't think he's the killer either.

The killer might be a member of the crew. The chef, Andre, was a stereotypical arrogant, angry chef. He had more than one argument with Professor Mathers and wasn't at all interested in being polite, deferential or even calm. Yikes. A young waiter, Joshua, had a run-in with Professor Mathers in the dining car the night the professor died. Joshua seems nervous and cagey about something but he's nice to Doro and Aggie. He just seems young and scared. He's a poor orphan so maybe he thinks he'll take the blame because he makes an easy scapegoat. He's close to the older waiter, Clyde. Clyde is angry with Professor Mathers for personal reasons. Clyde seems to have a hot temper and enough pent up anger to lash out. He's a broken man, hints at a devastating loss that made him that way. Yet- he has a wife who has already endured one devastating loss. How could he do that to her? Anger doesn't see reason though so I think he could be the killer but more realistically I think it's a person who decoupled the train somehow, jumped off and ran away.

Doro thinks the conductor, Mr. Sayers, is sexist and rude but is he? He's never had a murder on a train before and he's new to his position. He must be anxious about what will happen and busy trying to keep everyone calm and the passage running as smoothly as it can with the train stuck. Unless he's trying to keep Doro from the truth for a reason?

Gramma Rose makes a new friend, fellow widow Mrs. Mavis O'Brien. She is an avid mystery reader and happy to share what she knows from her husband's time working on the railroad. She's very nice and too polite to gossip. She's scared and sees safety in numbers but I see her dipping her toe into investigating. She says she'll do it on paper, as an intellectual exercise but not in practice because it's dangerous.

Who killed Professor Mathers? Does anyone care? What will happen to Doro when she returns and Ev finds out what she was up to? I hope to find that out soon!

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have enjoyed this author’s Arabella Stewart Historical Mysteries series so thought I’d give her Doro Banyon Cozy Historical Mysteries series a try. I admit I have mixed feelings about The Problem Professor. I keep in mind that this is fiction and doesn’t have to be 100% believable, but I struggled with some aspects of this novel.

Dorothea Banyon is a librarian at a small Midwest college and has earned a master’s degree, hence she has the title of professor. Her best friend Aggie has helped her solve a few mysteries in the past, so when there is a murder on the train they take from Colorado back to home, their first instinct is to try to solve the murder. Doro teaches a course at the college on mystery novels (that does surprise me a bit, seems a little forward thinking for 1920s college courses) and believes that gives her more insight into solving cases. Most of the book involves the two asking questions of people on the train. They discuss their findings with Doro’s grandmother who is traveling with them, and a friend they make on the train, Mrs. O’Brien, whose late husband worked many years for the railroad company.

Here's where I have some issues with the book. Doro and Aggie are relentless in their questioning of people they deem murder suspects, yet they really have no authority to do so. To me it seemed it was an ego thing for Doro to solve the case before the authorities arrived. And question they did – over and over and over, often the same questions that had been asked and answered. I doubt I would have had the patience to be asked the same questions over and over. Then they spend pages rehashing what they know. A good and honest editor might have suggested cutting some of the repetition as it slows down the pace of the story. Doro seems upset that some don’t take her role as amateur sleuth seriously, but in reality, why would they? There really aren’t any twists or turns, something I had hoped for since the description of the story reminded me of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express – a closed room mystery with no outside help right away. While I don’t expect Christie level writing, I was disappointed by how straightforward the mystery was. I was intrigued by the idea that in the 1920s, any college was considering opening teaching positions – or head librarian positions as Doro aspires to same – to married women and married women with children. My mother-in-law was a teacher and she had to quit teaching when she married, and that was in the 1940s.

There is no bad language in the book, for those who like to know such things, and no romance since the women are not home where their “young men” are. It’s a decent story that could use less repetition and a tightening of the storyline. The story is complete, no cliffhangers. The last chapter leads to the next book in the series which is due in late 2024.

I received an advance review copy of The Problem Professor for free. I leave this review voluntarily.

[Angelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doro Banyon is a professor of Library Sciences at Michaw College. She’s also a mystery writer and amateur sleuth. In this, the fourth book in the series, Doro, her best friend Aggie and Doro’s grandmother are returning home after spending the summer visiting Doro’s parents in Colorado.

During a storm, the part of the train they’re on gets separated and stuck in the middle of nowhere. If that wasn’t stressful enough, an incredibly obnoxious and horrible fellow professor is murdered while getting a midnight snack. There’s no shortage of suspects, and soon Doro and Aggie are up to their necks in clues, suspects and suspicious characters.

I had a couple of problems with the book. Doro’s “they wouldn’t treat me this way if I was a man” attitude got a little tiring after a while, and there was a really long buildup to the murder because page after page after page was spent telling us how awful Professor Mather was. Other than these two minor complaints, I really enjoyed the story. The characters are a lot of fun, as always, and Ms. Lang’s research is impeccable. You get a real feeling for the time period with her descriptions and characters.

All in all, it’s not the best of the series, but it’s a fun book and an entertaining light read.

I received an advance review copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Elisabeth Scherer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Problem Professor is a murder mystery set in the 1920s. Professor Doro Banyan is traveling via train with her grandmother and best friend when the unthinkable happens to another passenger. Doro, an amateur sleuth, decides to help figure out the mystery.

The book interested me as a who-done-it mystery setting in a wonderful timeline.

I could see this potential for Doro to be spunky, witty, and unabashedly good at talking to people who think she should just be silent.

I think the book could benefit from a reexamination of repeated information about the status of women at the time and how this intelligent woman keeps bringing up this discrimination. I was frustrated by the constant back and forth of talking to suspects and then rehashing it back in their compartment with the older ladies. It made it hard for me to become immersed in the world. I did finish the book and knowing that I haven't read any of the previous books in the series would be open to reading the others to see if my opinion was off base or if the character changes over time.

The story is very clean and the only real content warning I would put on the book is this book deals with parental grief.

I received a free advanced review copy of this book and am leaving this honest review as my personal opinion.

[Emily Gawlak · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent addition to the Doro Banyon series! It is exciting to read about the unfolding mystery aboard a train. This book is especially enjoyable because it focuses largely on Doro, Aggie, and Gramma Rose during the travels. The author, D. S. Lang, does an exquisite job creating and describing the environment of traveling on a train. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that Doro and Aggie only use a few areas throughout the story. This builds a sense of suspense because, in such confined quarters, you do not if your with the bad and if you can even get away from them. All the characters are central to the story. I have to say I was off on who I thought the bad guys was, but the unfolding of the story was like one I have never read before. The way characters maneuver through the story was thoroughly enjoyable to read and I love how the scene takes a complete shift at the climax of the story.

The Doro Banyon series is excellent. I love how each book is set a few months after the previous one. Though they can all be read as standalone, it is enjoyable to follow along and get to know the characters and the referenced stories. Each book has its own thoroughly enjoyable unique quality with twists that you never see coming.

Overall, I truly enjoyed The Problem Professor. It is a gripping story that carries you through Doro's travels from Colorado to Ohio. There is significant character building and further bonding built between Doro and Aggie, and Gramma Rose.

Give it a try, you will love it!

Happy reading! 📖

[Cindy Topp · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Problem Professor“ is a special treat for train and rail enthusiasts, such as myself. I long to have experienced that time, when traveling meant so much more than merely getting from point A to point B, and as fast and anonymously as possible.
After reading only a few pages, it is abundantly clear what an engaging writing style Lang has: very smooth, elegant even, and totally without frills: almost as if Art Deco had been translated to words on a page.
The era is experiencing continued birth pangs in the women`s rights movement, which leaves young Professor Doro Banyon, also an amateur sleuth, frustrated, more often, than not and provides a continuous red thread as backbone to the story. In that sense, the book straddles genres, both as a cozy historical mystery and as women`s fiction. The angsty plot twists and turns, and every time I thought I was closer to solving the puzzle, another clue pushed me back to square one, which I, personally, like; for me, nothing is worse than having guessed the identity of the killer and their motive before I`m even halfway through the book.
Disclaimer: I have received an advance review copy for free, and am leaving a review voluntarily.

[Belinda Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doro, her grandmother, and best friend Aggie are going home after spending the summer with Doro's parents in Colorado in the 1920's. They are taking an elegant train ride home to Michaw, Ohio, looking forward to relaxing and being pampered a few hours.
Doro and Aggie are both professors at Michaw College and Doro is an amateur sleuth. Aggie helps Doro whenever she can on cases. While they are waiting to board the train, they overhear another passenger ranting and raving, complaining about waiting and arguing with a couple other passengers demeaning them.
Not long after the train begins the trip, part of the lower half decouples from the front part of the train. The passengers in the lower cars are left stranded in the middle of nowhere until help can be notified and get out where they are. There is a murder and Doro's life is put in danger. The killer is on the train and no help for miles and hours away.
This is the fourth book in the Doro Banyon series. Excellent research. Good recipe included. I highly recommend these Doro Banyon series and Arabella Stewart series. Awesome historical mysteries with some romance. All you need is some quiet time and a cup of coffee. You will enjoy these books.

[Merry Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the fourth book in the Doro Banyon Cozy Historical Mysteries that is fun and fast and very enjoyable. Doro, her grandmother, and her best friend, Aggie are on their way home by train, from a visit to Colorado and Doro's parents. It's the end of summer vacation and Doro the librarian and professor at a small midwest college. Her best friend Aggie is a professor their too. Being this takes place in the 20s it is not an everyday occasion for women to be working. When the train has an accident of sorts, and some of the cars were decoupled from the head of the train, we have a dilemma. But nothing as bad as a murder when there are not towns in sight and there's a murderer on the train. The conductor relented and realized that a murderer must be found before someone else becomes a victim so Doro and Aggie begin their investigation. Can Doro and Aggie find a murderer? This is a fun, fast paced book that keeps you guessing until the end. This is a really good series that I highly recommend. I received an ARC of this book but the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer vacation is at an end and Doro, her gram and Aggie are leaving Colorado and her parents to head back to the college. What should be a relaxing journey ends abruptly when a few cars are decoupled and then there is a murder. While reluctant at first the conductor relents and gives his blessing to Doro and Aggie’s investigation when their delay is longer than expected. But they’re all locked together with a killer can they find them before they strike again?

Love the premise and the creative setting. I also loved that Doro and Aggie proved amply capable even though they were dismissed at first due to be women. I did think it got a little repetitive in the middle when they trio and their new friend discussed the same clues and the nit even remotely subtle tries at matchmaking. The twists at the end were great and I’m happy about the developments revealed. So all in all a lovely read.
I received an advance review copy from BookSirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very clear early on who the victim was going to be. Narcissistic obnoxious people don't last long in a murder story , thankfully. Lol. Usually the reader and the people in the book don't feel too much regret when someone like that goes away . The villain was predictable and apparent to me , but it didn't lessen my enjoyment. I was appalled that a professor would steal student's work or decrease their grade because he had that power . I was struck by how aggressive the women were with their questioning. It was just short of a room with a bare lightbulb. My guess is that the author felt because they were woman they needed to take a rough and tough stance. My opinion differs. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

I voluntarily read a free copy of this book provided by book sirens and am giving an honest opinion.

[Homerun2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A historical cozy featuring independent woman Doro Banyon, a professor and librarian who is an amateur sleuth. Doro bristles at the all the gender constraints placed on her in the 1920s but she is living in a time of transition and things are slowly changing.

Doro, her grandmother, and her best friend Aggie (also a professor) have spent the summer visiting her parents in Colorado. On the train ride home, a particularly obnoxious passenger is found stabbed. In a real stretch of the imagination, Doro persuades the train officials to let her investigate because she teaches a class about mystery novels and has dabbled in a couple cases.

These are pleasant and inoffensive mysteries that read quickly. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderfully written historical cozy murder mystery with familiar Ladies from one of a few colleges that highered female professors or librarians. One being the heroine the other her associate as amateur sleuths.,along with an array of vibrant, colorful, quirky and charming characters that will have you intrigued from the beginning while enticed further through a plot of degradation, bullies, narcissist, lies, secrets, betrayals, and plenty more including murder. Visiting family then traveling back home isn't always easy and for Doro, Aggie and gramma Rose this time is even more so. I couldn't put it down once I began reading this cozy not until I reached its unexpected and climatic conclusion. Acquire " A Problem Professor " for hours of intriguing and enjoyable entertainment. Kat

[Marietta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished this book and it was the first book by this author that I have read. I feel very glad to know that we did not grown up the 20's as women were held back by men for many things as they were thought to be just meant to service man and raise his children with no opinion herself but what her husband or father said. I love how Dora & Aggie were very good at figuring out who the murders were even if the men in their lives thought that they could not see this. I will read more of the author's books as they become available. The author gave the women in this series alot more courage to stand up to the males in their lives and do what they wanted to do. I would recommend this author to anyone who enjoys a good cozy mystery.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Doro mystery so far! I love the setting of a sleeper train - such an elegant way to travel in the 1920s. And the inclusion of Gramma Rose on this trip really added a great dimension, whether discussing “your young man” or details about the professor’s murder. Speaking of which, it would be hard to think of a less-likeable villain- NO one will miss Staunton Mathers. The author framed Doro’s life in an interesting fashion, opening the book with her parents in Colorado and ending with Ev at Union Station in Chicago, with plenty of leads, red herrings, and danger in between. Just enough lovely loose ends dangling for the next book! A gem of a series.

[Mrs LIR Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed the Doro Banyon books based on the college campus where Doro works. She has with her detective admirer (who is campus security) solved a few murder mysteries.

This book was a wonderful different type of mystery as the murder takes place on a train - and then the train is stranded due to a poor coupling.

The feeling of being nowhere…………. and there being a murderer in the midst of the people stranded is very well depicted.

The mystery solving is nicely written too.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Geraldine Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an enchanting mystery. It was very interesting as it highlighted the inferior position of women in society after the first World War. Women were not supposed to work after marriage and their 'real' job was to marry and have children. The heroine Doro of course broke the mould and the rules. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Eliz Marino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC and this is my voluntary review. A great fast paced clean cozy that I found hard to put down. Doro and her friend Aggie and Doro's grandmother are on their way home when a murder happens on the train. Doro and Aggie start another sleuthing investigation. A great book with looks of red herrings and suspects galore. I can't wait to read more in this series.

[Kathryn Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with previous books in the series I enjoyed the gentle humour and plot twists as Dora and her friend Aggie investigated a murder on a train.

The historical setting appeals to me, although "cozy mysteries" are not normally really my thing.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Barb Hegreberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doro and Aggie are at it again. The series reminds me of the Nancy Drew books I read as a child maybe with a little Murder She Wrote (1980s television series) sprinkled in.

I enjoyed learning about travel by train during the Prohibition Era of US history.

I received this book free from the author, publisher, or other source. My only obligation is to provide a fair and honest review.

[Brenda]

This is a good Historical Cozy Mystery. I liked it very much
The ladies were on a train and the cars that they occupied came uncupled from the engine. A professor is murdered. They don't know who did it. Can they solve the mystery before someone else dies? I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun read from DS Lang. I do like the Doro Banyon books and I can sympathize with the ladies when they are treated as if their opinion are second rate, especially when they are well on course and relevant. Several possible perpetrators, just the way I like it and a victim who is asking to be topped!
Much enjoyed, and recommended as always

[Julie Burnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always enjoyed the story and learning about the time period. I would not have guessed who did it.