The George Eliot Murders

Beth Austin #2

by Edith Skom

Professor Beth Austin is an expert on 19th century novels and a born sleuth. Taking along George Eliot's Middlemarch on her Hawaiian vacation was pure serendipity, for Beth never dreamed the classic novel could help her solve a crime. Stumbling upon a gruesome murder, Beth observes Eliot's brilliant character studies coming to life in those close to the crime.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Mystery Thriller

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Edith Skom is the acclaimed author of The Mark Twain Murders and The George Eliot Murders and has been nominated for the Agatha, the Macavity, and the Anthony awards. She lives outside Chicago, where she is a lecturer at Northwestern University.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been reading the Beth Austin series backwards, due to having picked up the third book first. I have decided that I really enjoy the whodunit focus of the books and the plot, minus the attempt to link the situation to classic literature. That attempt just feels forced and falls flat for me.

Unlike reading The Charles Dickens Murders, I just ignored Skom’s attempts to link the characters in her story to the characters from Middlemarch and enjoyed it so much more this way. Overall it was a quick read that kept me interested, though I fully intend to add these to my donation pile of books as I won’t keep it in my personal library.

[Verity W · Rating 3 out of 5]

College professor Beth Austin is off to Hawaii for a vacation during her term off teaching. At the resort on the island she takes part in a tennis tournament and comes into contact with some of the hotel's highest spending guests. When a woman falls from a balcony, everyone thinks it's suicide or an accident, but Beth isn't convinced. And then another body is found and she starts investigating for real, with the help of two friends that she's made at the resort.

This is as bit of a strange one because it was first published in 1990 and is quite dated and of its time in some ways, but actually in others it feels more modern. I also didn't think it needed the Middlemarch tie-in, but I get that that's the conceit of the series and so it has to be there. I'm not massively familiar with Middlemarch (I think I read the book after I watched the TV adaptation in the mid 1990s!) so it also didn't really make a huge amount of sense to me either! But I liked Beth as a character and the mystery was good with a neat conclusion. I wouldn't rule out reading more of these, but given that I picked this up from a bookswap bookcase I suspect I won't be come across them any time soon!

[Lila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beth Austin escapes the cold of a Chicago winter to head for Hawaii where she meets a popular paperback writer and a couple of deaths among the wealthy resort clients--all while reading Middlemarch to prepare for a class and contemplating the Dorothea and Causabon dynamic. If this moves anyone to read George Eliot, it will be a public service.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel that I need to reread Middlemarch as there is much I do not recall. The end of this was predictable but flowed more smoothly than earlier in the book. Many characters to keep straight and many murders as well. Contrived, but readable.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was okay. However, I did get pretty sick of Middlemarch by the end. Lol.

[Elisa Fierro · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book at a library book sale and was intrigued by the title. Victorian Lit is one of my passions and I happen to be working again on George Eliot for a lecture I am giving. The book is set in Hawaii, where I spent some happy time recently. Finally, I love mysteries, so I thought this was going to be a very interesting read. Alas, was I disappointed! The only connection with George Eliot is that the protagonist, Beth Austin, an English Lit professor, takes Middlemarch with her on her Hawaiian vacation and opens the book randomly on a couple of occasions. That's it! The story was boring, repetitive, with some attempts at wit, and the characters, with names like Twinkie (!!!), were not believable. Personally, having read George Eliot's masterpiece more than once, I did not find any connection at all between the complexity of that novel and this book. The only connection - that I found forced on the reader - is something I cannot tell you or I would spoil the story completely. Of course, I am expressing only my personal opinion. I understand that the book is part of a successful series and I am happy for the writer. However, I have no desire to read any other part of that series and am going to donate this book at the library as soon as possible.

[Lorraine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only thing that connects these murders to George Eliot's Middlemarch is the protagonist, Beth Austins's, expertise as an Eliot scholar and Skom's weak attempts to connect a murder in a fashionable Hawaiin resort to Eliot's critique of English class and gender divisions in the 19th century. Very weak connections. Confusing characters too with names like Doc, Twinky, Burt, Suzy, Link, Carlotta and Bruce (most in matched pairs). By the time I had met all of the characters and gotten them confused numerous times, I didn't care who committed the murder.

[Lbaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it while on vacation in Hawaii, until I opened it, had no idea that it was set here!
Enjoyed all the references to Middlemarch although it has been a very long time since I read it.
Fairly light, not gory at all, I look forward to reading more in the series.

[Carolynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

So-so mystery about a young English teacher who visits a posh Hawaiian resort and is drawn into two murders. For me at least, the fillip created by the connection to George Eliot is negated by the novel's not being set in Britain.

[Amyem]

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6...

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enough. A different take on a murder mystery. Good characters, and interesting. A quick read.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought the connection to Middlemarch to be tenuous at best. This is not a literary mystery.