Cold and Pure and Very Dead

A Karen Pelletier Mystery #4

by Joanne Dobson

The Agatha Award-Nominated Author of Quieter Than Sleep

Professor Karen Pelletier has made a name for herself as one of the leading scholars of literature at exclusive Enfield College. But when an offhand comment sets off a firestorm of controversy, she finds herself embroiled in a scandal that began with a notorious novel from the 1950s — and ends with a very real murder....

When a New York Times reporter ends an interview with Karen by asking her to name the best novel of the twentieth century, she glibly picks the steamy potboiler Oblivion Falls, a long-forgotten tome that caused a sensation forty years ago.

After Karen’s comment renews interest in Oblivion Falls, the book quickly climbs onto the bestseller charts — and now everyone wants to know what became of the book’s long-vanished author, Mildred Deakin. The reporter who broke the story finally tracks her down — and is rewarded for his efforts by being shot dead in the writer’s driveway.

When Mildred is arrested for murder, Karen feels obligated to investigate further. And what she discovers, as she probes the long-forgotten publishing drama surrounding Oblivion Falls, is almost as shocking as the book itself — and far more deadly.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Academia, Mystery Thriller, Cozy Mystery, American

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

At 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.

Reviews

[Margaret]

I enjoyed this mystery. Liked the use of first person and liked reading excerpts of Oblivion Falls, a novel written by one of the characters. Although I guessed a lot of the ending, it was a good many-tiered story, a little different than the average cozy mystery.

[Cindy Bellomy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the idea of "murder-due-to-flippant-answer" was novel.

[Amanie Johal · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars

Picked this up in a used bookstore because I found the cover absolutely stunning. I can't explain why, but something about the colours, title, and images combined are very aesthetically appealing to me. I don't think the image of it here on Goodreads does it justice, seeing it in person is much better.

My secondary reason for picking this up was to get over my hangup about picking up mystery series from book 1 instead of the middle entry I'm interested in; even though many mystery series are written to be read as standalone entries, I always feel compelled to start from the beginning, which can result in me not picking up the series at all because book 1's mstery does not interest me even though book 2's does.

Unfortunately...this book was not successful in getting me over that hangup. Even though the mystery is a standalone, the character history seemed very intense and complicated. From what I could gather, Karen (our protagonist) had a teenage or early-20s pregnancy, possibly got kicked out of the house for it (or maybe that was unrelated), was no-contact with her family for 15+ years as she raised her daughter alone (or with someone who might be the baby daddy but that relationship also ended somehow), then her daughter apparently reached out to her family behind Karen's back, so now she currently has a strained relationship with them because of the being-kicked-out thing and because they assume her "high-falutin" academic job means that she's constantly judging them. Also, Karen has a budding romance with a detective that seriously has no chemistry? Wih the way this man was described, I did not expect him to be the series love interest because he was so incredibly standoffish, and not in a "mysterious brooder" kind of way, more like "this is a side character you don't need to worry much about" kind of way; it was as if he wasn't given much personality because he was not supposed to be a significant character, and yet he was.

There is also a large cast of characters not only for the suspect pool but for the recurring characters of Karen's life (ie. her coworkers and family members), which is to be expected in a mystery, but this is one of the fears I have of picking up series out of order; I found it incredibly difficult to distinguish each character apart from each other because even though they were "unique", I had no sense of who they were because there were just too many of them. The main reason the perpetrator ended up being a surprise to me was because I thought the character was a recurring character, not a new character introduced for the suspect pool! It almost makes me wish I had access to earlier books to find out if that character was introduced earlier in the series and the author had this idea set up for awhile, or if this book was their introduction but because their history matched all the other coworkers' histories, I just assumed they were a recurring character.

Anyways...going to try to not let this dampen my attempts at picking up mystery series out of order, but it definitely hit every fear I have about doing so, lmao

[Anne, Unfinished Woman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh goody, the relationship of Karen Pelletier and Lt. Charles Piotrowski is moving right along. Once again Karen is recruited to help in the investigation of the murder of a contemporary writer, Jake Fenton, a womanizing full-of-himself macho man who has begun a term at Enfield College. There is also the new Palaver Chair Ralph Emerson Brooke, a man in his 70s who doesn't seem to add anything positive to the faculty of the English Department, constantly bragging about his friendship and first name basis with such celebrities as Jack (Kerouac). Though he is a colleague of the Department Chair, Miles Jewell, as far as Karen is concerned he is creepy.

When asked what book she thinks is the best of the century, Karen offhandly answers (believing it is a dumb question, after all) Martin Katz the New York Times reporter, Oblivion Falls, a roman a clef from the 1950s. It was a sensational scandal story written by Mildred Deakin that is supposedly authobiographical. The author disappeared after much acclaim, and hasn't been seen since. There was a recent reprint of the novel and Karen's flip reference puts it on the bestseller list again, and results in the murder of the Times reporter. He had sought out the whereabouts of the author Mildred Deakin, now Finch, a goat farmer, and she is arrested for the killing. She is unwilling to talk further to anyone including Karen and the police. As Karen follows up not believing that Mildred killed Katz, Fenton is also murdered. Obviously someone doesn't want any the past resurrected. And it seems again that everyone newly introduced at the college, as well other evidence is revealed, are connected in one fashion or another. It is up to Karen to interpret much of the information to Piotrowski, and New York detectives, Lt. Paula Syverson and Sgt. Rudy Williams. This is a convoluted and fascinating tale. Parts of the novel "Oblivion Falls" are told between the case story.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Professor Karen Pelletier has made a name for herself as one of the leading scholars of literature at exclusive Enfield College. But when an offhand comment sets off a firestorm of controversy, she finds herself embroiled in a scandal that began with a notorious novel from the 1950s -- and ends with a very real murder ...

"When a New York Times reporter ends an interview with Karen by asking her to name the best novel of the twentieth century, she glibly picks the steamy potboiler Oblivion Falls, a long-forgotten tome that caused a sensation forty years ago. After Karen's comment renews interest in Oblivion Falls, the book quickly climbs onto the bestseller charts -- and now everyone wants to know what became of the book's long-vanished author, Mildred Deakin. The reporter who broke the story finally tracks her down -- and is rewarded for his efforts by being shot dead in the writer's driveway. When Mildred is arrested for murder, Karen feels obligated to investigate further. And what she discovers, as she probes the long-forgotten publishing drama surrounding Oblivion Falls, is almost as shocking as the book itself -- and far more deadly."
~~back cover

This one is a bit different plot. This time Karen isn't suspected of being the killer, for a change. But she feels responsible ... if it hadn't been for her flippant off-the-cuff remark about Oblivion Falls, the reporter wouldn't have been killed and Milly Finch wouldn't be in jail for being his murderer.

As always, the investigative path is convoluted, and fraught with danger. As always, the murderer is one of the least likely characters. As always, the plot, characterization and long-simmering romance are beautifully done.

[Sherrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen is being interviewed and she notices that the reporter looks bored while interviewing. He ask a question about which book should be known as the best novel of the twentieth century and she came up with Oblivion Falls which was sensational novel 40 years ago. The reporter is found shot to death outside where the author's driveway. Karen finds out that the author has been arrested and decides to come out to talk to her.
Unfortunately this brings out something that should have stayed in the past. Once again, she is called upon for her expertise in academics to help out and solve what happen and who the real killer is.

[K.B. Inglee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the characters and the situation. I remember Payton Place. The fact that the professor would pick such a work as the best novel is intriguing, and the unintended consequences are believable. Made me want to raise goats. I have not read the earlier works in the series, but this one felt a bit tired.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of the appeal for me is the rather sly send up of academic literati pretensions. Plus a very good mystery. This author intersperses the mystery with excerpts from the literature and novels that springboard the mystery. The author can write authentically in a number of styles such as turgid academic style and in this novel, 1950s sexy potboiler..

[Rogue Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to find the academic mystery so enthralling and now I just find them pompous - apologies to those who disagree. The plot of Dobson's Cold and Pure is engaging and the denouement, satisfying but the telling is just so pompous, so pretentious that I grew weary...

[Joyce Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had this book on my bookshelf for quite a few years and recall reading other books in this series by Joanne Dobson. I love her literary mysteries. This was predictable, but good character development and fun read!

[JB · Rating 3 out of 5]

my first book by this author, and in the middle of the series but that didn't matter, didn't need any back story. I liked it, suspected the bad guy and I was correct but still a very enjoyable read.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fourth in the series of books featuring Professor Karen calendar. I love these books because her based on literary mysteries. This was a good one.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent academic mystery with a bit about writing and the publishing world.

[Mackin McCullough · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just couldn’t get into it. It felt like you know everything before it comes and a lot of it made my eyes skim over it.

[Zermeena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book within a book. Great mystery and strong characters.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four books in and still no one has pointed out to the author that it's "should have" instead of "should of" (and so on and so forth)? Other than that driving me crazy, great series.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fourth Karen Pelletier mystery by Joanne Dobson, though the fifth one I have read, I liked this one a lot. In addition to having the author’s signature literary-associated murder(s), we have sidebars where she recreates a fictional work for our enjoyment. (I’m guessing it gives the author some enjoyment to dabble in an alternative style too).
Aside from being a murder mystery, the book, right up front in its title, asks us the question “what is literary anyway?” The full quote from Sinclair Lewis reads “Our American Professors like their literature clear and cold and pure and very dead”. One of the previous books in the series referred to English Professors preference for Dead White Males, and this is a subtler expansion of that topic. Specifically, can popular novels be literature?
In a throwaway line to an annoying New York Times reporter, Karen Pelletier nominates a Peyton Place-style novel as her choice for best book of the 20th century, setting in motion a series of events that give us our story. The book, 1959’s Oblivion Falls, resurfaces as a bestseller and the reporter goes seeking its long-disappeared author, and finds more than he expected. Specifically, he is killed. And the now-exposed writer is now the prime suspect. More mayhem ensues when a second writer is killed.
Karen and her usual cast of characters (Lieutenant Piotrowski etc) are now dragged into attempting to decipher the clues in real life and in the old novel, where all the characters were based on real people (though not the events!). The campus politics continue as before; this time we have an old fogey turning up as the Palaver Chair, a sinecure where conservative literary opinions can be espoused without fear of criticism from junior professors…. But wait, he was old enough to have been around when the book was published…..
A good read…

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joanne Dobson's Karen Pelletier books just don't come out often enough to suit me. These academic mysteries are always satisfying, sometimes funny and have just enough romance to be interesting without overdoing it. Karen is a professor of English literature at one of the small liberal arts colleges for which Massachusetts is known. As a younger woman, and one who comes from a working-class background, she encounters a certain amount of pushback from the older male faculty members. Although she is a single parent of a college-age daughter, she is still young and attractive enough to get some not-always-wanted attention from the younger ones. In earlier books she was involved with a police detective working out of New York, and although that relationship is over and he has married, they are still friends. Then there's Lt. Piotrowski of the local cops....
Earlier books in the series have centered around older literature, but the literary part of this mystery is strongly reminiscent of the tale of Grace Metalious and Peyton Place, with a number of twists. Why did Mildred Deakin disappear from the literary world soon after her bestseller made her famous? And who killed the reporter who tracked her down years later? Karen Pelletier can't help investigating, while also dealing with a newly-hired professor who thinks he's God's gift to women. Plots intertwine, leading to a surprising conclusion. Highly recommended.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen Pelletier is a college professor taking the year off to do research of her own and further her career. During a boring newspaper interview, she throws out an answer to the question of what literary work she considers to be the greatest Twentieth Century English novel. The book she names, "Oblivion Falls" is reminiscent of the well known "Peyton Place" and readers will recognize much of the same attitude toward small town sex scandals within it. When the reporter decides to investigate the author of the book, he winds up dead. The author is accused of the murder and so Karen sets out to find out how all of the factions involved in the book fit together thereby solveing the murder. It is very easy for the reader to guess the killer early in the book but the read is enjoyable anyway. This is the first Joanne Dobson book I have read and I will definitely go back and read from the first so I can see how the characters have progressed from the start.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** "Cold and pure and very dead" by Joanne Dobson, is the 4th mystery by an E. NY lit prof about the same. The Agatha Christie tradition puts character and brain ahead of action and blood. University politics and middle-aged spinster indecisive romance are heavy, full of literary quotes, references and spoofed academic jargon. I can envision the author's real-life enemies skewered, much as young Mildred fictionalizes the tale of her best friend, seduced and murdered by a handsome visiting prof. The sudden fame leads Mildred to have an illegitimate babe adopted, and vanish from the public pressure for a sequel. Decades later, Prof Karen brings the racy title to the attention of an interviewing journalist. He re-ingnites the notoriety, traces Mildred to her goat farm lane, where he is murdered by her shotgun. Shy admiring NY cop Charlie warns Karen she will be visited by the law, and the sleuths are on the trail of past and present misdeeds.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book 4 in a series but is the first book of the series I've read. I enjoyed it. Karen Pelletier is a PhD professor at a small New England college. When she is interviewed by a reporter from the New York Times she is asked what was the best book of the century. She names a long forgotten book, Oblivion Falls, published in the late 1950's. The book is along the lines of Peyton Place. The author disappears shortly after the book becomes a best seller and hasn't been heard from in 40 years. When the interview is published the book is reprinted and all of sudden the hunt is on for the missing author.

Interestingly the book has an adoption theme running through it. The author of Oblivion Falls gives up her baby for adoption, he grows up to become a best selling author. He is searching for his birthmother, with no clue she is the author of Oblivion Falls. Lots of secrets, lots of heartache, and a few deaths make this a very good book.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably my favorite of the series, or possibly the next one, I can't decide. Karen Pelletier, English professor at fictional Enfield College, is giving an interview to NYTimes reporter. He asks her the aggravating question of what's your pick for best book of the 20th century? She facetiously names a book that could be compared to the real book "Peyton Place," which she finished reading earlier that week. This sets off a search for the author of the book, who had disappeared many years previously, not having produced a second book. All of the odd things that are set off by this off-the-cuff comment are possibly a bit amazing, but make for an entertaining read.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the series of Karen Pelletier books from Joanne Dobson. The details of college English department life ring true -- teaching, class prep, grading papers, students annoying in class, brilliant and delightful in class, disturbed by their own personal problems. It all sounds very familiar to this retired English Prof. The annoying colleagues and departmental drama seem less familiar to me. Oh yeah and all the murders on and around campus are definitely different turf.

[Elisha (lishie) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun mystery in the series. Professor Pelletier's back in the middle of trouble. This one has not one but two fictional Fiction writers, excerpts from a fake book (that are intriguing) and maybe some romance, hmmm.

[Grey853 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen gives an interview and later the reporter ends up dead, killed by the 50's writer that Karen mentioned in the article. Or so it seems.

The book has several twists and turns, and like all the other books I've read by Dobson, it's well written.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The detective isn't in this one so much, but Karen definitely is becoming a better sleuth on her own. The mystery here allows her to come to grips with some personal demons, but it also sheds a light on fame and loss of personal privacy. I'm so glad I found this series!

[Andrea Elkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why oh why do these female amateur sleuths never stop to think about their own safety?
Good book, believable characters, enjoyable read.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lively, fun read for mystery lovers.

[Cece · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy this series, but the first one is still the strongest of the titles.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

not bad. I might read her other books.