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A Karen Pelletier Mystery #6
Death Without Tenure
Karen Pelletier is about to realize her dream. After six years in the English Department at New England's exclusive Enfield College, she is up for a tenured position. But when her rival for the one available tenured spot is found dead from an overdose of Peyote buttons, Karen is first on the list of suspects. Now a homicide cop with a grudge against Lieutenant Charlie Piotrowski, the love of Karen's life, is breathing down her neck.
On campus, political passions rage, inflamed by the politically-correct English Department chair and by the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Whiteness Studies. Two of Karen's favorite students are caught up in the furor.
Will Karen be able to survive the investigation, protect her students, and find a permanent niche in the world of academe, all without her beloved Charlie, now serving with the National Guard in Iraq?
230 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2009
19 people are currently reading
123 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 62 reviews
December 16, 2022
second in the series of "weird books i found in the break room at work" is a real doozy! part mystery, part anti-political correctness screed, overall pretty silly and bad
February 16, 2012
Being a literature professor myself, I suppose I found this novel even more hilarious than others might. But still, this is a wonderful picture of academia and its joys and difficulties. The plot is great since Pelletier herself comes under suspicion when one of her colleagues who might be chosen in her stead for the upcoming tenure is murdered. I must admit I was more than a little baffled when I saw this picture of the American system, trying to atone for the Native American genocide by being politically correct to the point of being caricatural... I ended up crying with laughter towards the end.
July 16, 2023
Would give it less if I could
February 8, 2020
SPOILER ALERT
I have reached the final installment of the Karen Pelletier series and it cause for sadness. This was a highly entertaining read: academic shenanigans, murder, romance, among literary venues and references.
Karen is missing Charlie Piotrowski, Lt of the CID in the MA State Police, who is serving with the National Guard in Iraq, while Amanda is also miles away trekking in Nepal. What a time to be the suspect in a murder, and the brunt of Charlie's rival Lt. Neil Boylan, when she needs them most. Furthermore, neither Charlie nor Amanda are communicating regularly and she is worried. Boylan is ready to get back at Charlie for unknown issues by going after Karen. She is a rival for tenure in the English Dept and because of a recent rule change the college only bestows one tenure appointment per year. Her rival is Joe Lone Wolf, who teaches Native Studies. However, he has never gotten his PhD, he has never published anything, doesn't participate in faculty responsibilities, and he has a non-presence on the internet. Then Joe turns up dead of a Peyote overdose. Karen realizes she is going to have to do some of the heavy lifting in the investigation herself, and she finds that the information in his personal file is false. He says his mother's from Erehwon, MT; that means Nowhere. No one can find any information about him. Fortunately, Charlie's partner, out on maternity comes to her aid. Sgt. Felicity Schultz's husband is Sgt. Lombardi, Boylan's partner, until he is suspended for sharing information with his wife. Felicity keeps not only Boylan in line on his acting outside the bounds of policy, but keeps Karen and Charlie in the loop.
In the middle of all of this Karen's sister, with whom she has never had a good relationship, drops their mother literally on her doorstep on her way to the airport for a job interview. Adele is starting the road to senility and needs to be watched continually. Adele hints also that there is a secret that she needs to share with Karen. Ironically, during the investigation, her mother reveals that their family has Native ties. Karen's great, great grandmother was a full-blooded Mi'kmaq Indian in Canada. My god, what percentage did that make her. Obviously more than Joe Lone Wolf. But she decides to save that gem to share with the tenure committee after she gets tenure. The growing compassion that Karen shows toward her mother who abandoned her when she was pregnant with Amanda is heart warming.
More difficulties, in the middle of all this her tenure box is taken in a department snafu. She is given a reprieve on the deadline from Dean Santay, but redoing the entire thing comes to a halt when Boylan confiscates her computer. She is also dealing with the woes of her Muslim student Ayesha Ahmed, who is getting hate mail, and also later comes to her bereft as she is pregnant. As always, Karen is heavily involved with her students and goes to great lengths to help and protect them. Another admirable character trait.
Karen's having problems with the tenure committee members and various other people. Rumor had it that the committee was most interested in Joe. So Boylan thinks there are multiple reason for her to have killed Joe Lone Wolf: the tenure rivalry, a fight she had with him over his treatment of one of her students, and then her comprehensive online search of him. Simultaneously, a student requests that she friend her on Facebook. Karen doesn't do social media, but in a moment of frustration, she lets the student sign her up. Since one online search brought results, she puts Joe's picture out there on Facebook, in full tribal regalia, and an old college friend recognizes him, but as a former Montana University colleague, Frank Vitagliano. She goes to the Dept head Ned Hilton, who is being a jerk, and is apparently in way over his head. He tells her to tell no one else. They had never checked Joe's credentials because they simply wanted a Native on staff, as a point of reparations for atrocities of history. He is ruined. But she tells the police and then goes to Miles Jewell, the former department head who was in charge when Joe was hired, six years earlier. Hank Brody also had a motive as Joe was going to give him a no-pass in the "Outsiders" course he conducts, since Hank will not write a paper supporting poverty (other subjects were supporting the position of Auschwitz). Karen witnessed an assault on Joe in a bar and later Ned claims that a woman named Graciella Talltrees came to see him. She was a dealer at a casino that Joe had an affair with, and he stole $10,000 from her, another suspect. Then there is the overbearing, arrogant Visiting Professor of Whiteness Studies, Clark McCutcheon, who was also from Montana University, who seems Joe's pal, strutting around dressed like a cowboy and hand-tooled boots and putting the make on Karen.
In her ongoing Facebook investigations, she finds a picture of three students, stoned, siting on a couch with the current department head Ned Hilton, and Joe Lone Wolf. When she takes that to Earlene Johnson, Dean of Students, it turns out that the College is conducting an investigation into drug trafficking and this is the evidence she and the new Director of Security Fareed Khan need. Students found with drugs are subject to expulsion, more suspects. When they are questioned more information is revealed about Joe and his anti-Columbus Day event and other elements of his teaching and blackmail of students to do his bidding. Her final foray into an internet search brings her to the site for Montana University again. There she finds a story about a student who committed suicide, Sandra Begay. She wrote an essay entitled 'Whaddya Mean "We" White Man'. And there it is...the ultimate motive. Clark McCutcheon's career is based on his publication of an essay of the same title...hence, plagiarism. He is being considered for the prestigious Palaver Chair. This would ruin his reputation and put him out of the teaching community. She goes looking for more evidence...a copy of the essay to compare word for word with the student's, that she thinks will be in Joe's office, and there is McCutcheon going through Joe's papers. Clark sees immediately that Karen knows his secret; he pulls a gun. Karen seems to be led by the drumming spirits of the Native artifacts lining Joe's office, and picks up the tomahawk and miraculously throws it accurately at him, knocking him out. She is overcome by all the stress of tenure, murder and nearly being killed...so she is out of commission for awhile. Her feelings about Joe are conflicted. While he made no attempt to get along with faculty, his students loved him. She thinks he did a good job in creating a point of view for "outsiders", and a "self-constructed identity fantasy". When she comes back to life, President Avery Mitchell assures her that she has the tenure, Amanda is on her way home, and when out celebrating with her friends and colleagues, surprise!! there is Charlie, on emergency family leave. She falls into him arms sobbing. He is safe. The end to a great series of reads. I will miss this character, so well developed, quirky and compassionate. I will miss the wonderful stab at the snooty academic world and its politics. I will miss the charming relationship she has with Charlie, their very real attraction. Sadness.
I have reached the final installment of the Karen Pelletier series and it cause for sadness. This was a highly entertaining read: academic shenanigans, murder, romance, among literary venues and references.
Karen is missing Charlie Piotrowski, Lt of the CID in the MA State Police, who is serving with the National Guard in Iraq, while Amanda is also miles away trekking in Nepal. What a time to be the suspect in a murder, and the brunt of Charlie's rival Lt. Neil Boylan, when she needs them most. Furthermore, neither Charlie nor Amanda are communicating regularly and she is worried. Boylan is ready to get back at Charlie for unknown issues by going after Karen. She is a rival for tenure in the English Dept and because of a recent rule change the college only bestows one tenure appointment per year. Her rival is Joe Lone Wolf, who teaches Native Studies. However, he has never gotten his PhD, he has never published anything, doesn't participate in faculty responsibilities, and he has a non-presence on the internet. Then Joe turns up dead of a Peyote overdose. Karen realizes she is going to have to do some of the heavy lifting in the investigation herself, and she finds that the information in his personal file is false. He says his mother's from Erehwon, MT; that means Nowhere. No one can find any information about him. Fortunately, Charlie's partner, out on maternity comes to her aid. Sgt. Felicity Schultz's husband is Sgt. Lombardi, Boylan's partner, until he is suspended for sharing information with his wife. Felicity keeps not only Boylan in line on his acting outside the bounds of policy, but keeps Karen and Charlie in the loop.
In the middle of all of this Karen's sister, with whom she has never had a good relationship, drops their mother literally on her doorstep on her way to the airport for a job interview. Adele is starting the road to senility and needs to be watched continually. Adele hints also that there is a secret that she needs to share with Karen. Ironically, during the investigation, her mother reveals that their family has Native ties. Karen's great, great grandmother was a full-blooded Mi'kmaq Indian in Canada. My god, what percentage did that make her. Obviously more than Joe Lone Wolf. But she decides to save that gem to share with the tenure committee after she gets tenure. The growing compassion that Karen shows toward her mother who abandoned her when she was pregnant with Amanda is heart warming.
More difficulties, in the middle of all this her tenure box is taken in a department snafu. She is given a reprieve on the deadline from Dean Santay, but redoing the entire thing comes to a halt when Boylan confiscates her computer. She is also dealing with the woes of her Muslim student Ayesha Ahmed, who is getting hate mail, and also later comes to her bereft as she is pregnant. As always, Karen is heavily involved with her students and goes to great lengths to help and protect them. Another admirable character trait.
Karen's having problems with the tenure committee members and various other people. Rumor had it that the committee was most interested in Joe. So Boylan thinks there are multiple reason for her to have killed Joe Lone Wolf: the tenure rivalry, a fight she had with him over his treatment of one of her students, and then her comprehensive online search of him. Simultaneously, a student requests that she friend her on Facebook. Karen doesn't do social media, but in a moment of frustration, she lets the student sign her up. Since one online search brought results, she puts Joe's picture out there on Facebook, in full tribal regalia, and an old college friend recognizes him, but as a former Montana University colleague, Frank Vitagliano. She goes to the Dept head Ned Hilton, who is being a jerk, and is apparently in way over his head. He tells her to tell no one else. They had never checked Joe's credentials because they simply wanted a Native on staff, as a point of reparations for atrocities of history. He is ruined. But she tells the police and then goes to Miles Jewell, the former department head who was in charge when Joe was hired, six years earlier. Hank Brody also had a motive as Joe was going to give him a no-pass in the "Outsiders" course he conducts, since Hank will not write a paper supporting poverty (other subjects were supporting the position of Auschwitz). Karen witnessed an assault on Joe in a bar and later Ned claims that a woman named Graciella Talltrees came to see him. She was a dealer at a casino that Joe had an affair with, and he stole $10,000 from her, another suspect. Then there is the overbearing, arrogant Visiting Professor of Whiteness Studies, Clark McCutcheon, who was also from Montana University, who seems Joe's pal, strutting around dressed like a cowboy and hand-tooled boots and putting the make on Karen.
In her ongoing Facebook investigations, she finds a picture of three students, stoned, siting on a couch with the current department head Ned Hilton, and Joe Lone Wolf. When she takes that to Earlene Johnson, Dean of Students, it turns out that the College is conducting an investigation into drug trafficking and this is the evidence she and the new Director of Security Fareed Khan need. Students found with drugs are subject to expulsion, more suspects. When they are questioned more information is revealed about Joe and his anti-Columbus Day event and other elements of his teaching and blackmail of students to do his bidding. Her final foray into an internet search brings her to the site for Montana University again. There she finds a story about a student who committed suicide, Sandra Begay. She wrote an essay entitled 'Whaddya Mean "We" White Man'. And there it is...the ultimate motive. Clark McCutcheon's career is based on his publication of an essay of the same title...hence, plagiarism. He is being considered for the prestigious Palaver Chair. This would ruin his reputation and put him out of the teaching community. She goes looking for more evidence...a copy of the essay to compare word for word with the student's, that she thinks will be in Joe's office, and there is McCutcheon going through Joe's papers. Clark sees immediately that Karen knows his secret; he pulls a gun. Karen seems to be led by the drumming spirits of the Native artifacts lining Joe's office, and picks up the tomahawk and miraculously throws it accurately at him, knocking him out. She is overcome by all the stress of tenure, murder and nearly being killed...so she is out of commission for awhile. Her feelings about Joe are conflicted. While he made no attempt to get along with faculty, his students loved him. She thinks he did a good job in creating a point of view for "outsiders", and a "self-constructed identity fantasy". When she comes back to life, President Avery Mitchell assures her that she has the tenure, Amanda is on her way home, and when out celebrating with her friends and colleagues, surprise!! there is Charlie, on emergency family leave. She falls into him arms sobbing. He is safe. The end to a great series of reads. I will miss this character, so well developed, quirky and compassionate. I will miss the wonderful stab at the snooty academic world and its politics. I will miss the charming relationship she has with Charlie, their very real attraction. Sadness.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 7, 2016
**edited 02/01/14
Reader beware: this book made me angry. I am not a kind reviewer when I am angry. This may indeed be a good book, but it really, really pushed some of my buttons and I am currently unapologetic for the forthcoming tirade.
Death without Tenure is, as one might expect from the title, a murder mystery that takes place in academia with a professorial protagonist. Karen is a professor of English in a New England liberal arts college. She is currently fighting against a fellow professor, the Native American Joe Lone Wolf, for tenure. For some odd and improbable reason, this insane school decided to give tenure to only one of the two. (That's not how tenure works, folks.) Even more improbably, Joe Lone Wolf was somehow hired with no publications, no finished PhD, and no qualifications. He hasn't attended a conference for six years, no one has even checked on what he is teaching, and he isn't producing academic work. But despite this, the (insane) school decides to put him up for tenure because of affirmative action. People, this isn't how the system works. There is no way in the deep abysses of Hell that any professor could get away with the above. The system is also not so corrupt that ethnicity trumps everything else.
Well, of course, Joe gets murdered, and our protagonist is a primary suspect. We have some ridiculously improbable police interrogation and even more ridiculous and offensive characterization of Native Americans and other ethnicities. The book finally terminates with the obvious suspect and an improbable methodology.
As a relatively engaging, light, and not particularly enthralling murder mystery, this is fine. I've read plenty of books that were more poorly written. So why all the ire?
...
Due to my disapproval of GR's new and highly subjective review deletion policy, I am no longer posting full reviews here.
The rest of this review can be found on Booklikes.
Reader beware: this book made me angry. I am not a kind reviewer when I am angry. This may indeed be a good book, but it really, really pushed some of my buttons and I am currently unapologetic for the forthcoming tirade.
Death without Tenure is, as one might expect from the title, a murder mystery that takes place in academia with a professorial protagonist. Karen is a professor of English in a New England liberal arts college. She is currently fighting against a fellow professor, the Native American Joe Lone Wolf, for tenure. For some odd and improbable reason, this insane school decided to give tenure to only one of the two. (That's not how tenure works, folks.) Even more improbably, Joe Lone Wolf was somehow hired with no publications, no finished PhD, and no qualifications. He hasn't attended a conference for six years, no one has even checked on what he is teaching, and he isn't producing academic work. But despite this, the (insane) school decides to put him up for tenure because of affirmative action. People, this isn't how the system works. There is no way in the deep abysses of Hell that any professor could get away with the above. The system is also not so corrupt that ethnicity trumps everything else.
Well, of course, Joe gets murdered, and our protagonist is a primary suspect. We have some ridiculously improbable police interrogation and even more ridiculous and offensive characterization of Native Americans and other ethnicities. The book finally terminates with the obvious suspect and an improbable methodology.
As a relatively engaging, light, and not particularly enthralling murder mystery, this is fine. I've read plenty of books that were more poorly written. So why all the ire?
...
Due to my disapproval of GR's new and highly subjective review deletion policy, I am no longer posting full reviews here.
The rest of this review can be found on Booklikes.
October 24, 2024
"Professor Karen Pelletier is about to realize her dream; after six years in the English Department at New England’s exclusive Enfield College, she is up for a tenured position. But when her rival for the one available tenured spot is found dead from an overdose of Peyote buttons, Karen is first on the list of suspects. Nowy a homicide cop with a grudge against Lieutenant Charlie Piotrowski, the love of Karen’s life, is breathing down her neck.
On campus, political passions rage, inflamed by the politically-correct Endlish Department chair and by the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Whiteness Studeies. Two of Karen’s favorite students are caught up in the furor.
Will Karen be able to survive the investigation, protect her students, and find a permanent niche in the world of academe, all without her beloved Charlie, now serving with the National Guard in Iraq?"
~~back cover
A wonderful final book in the series. (Oh why didn't she write more? We all want to know if Karen got that little green house on Elm Street, and whether she finally marries Charlie!) It's the usual academia tango. complete with a nasty, determined Inspector who is salivating at the chance to arrest her for murder, thereby striking a blow of revenge against his old nemesis. The shifting alliances and rivalries of a university department are reproduced loud and clear , and Karen's struggle toward tenure vividly portrayed.
Just as it looks a though the murder won't be solved, leaving Karen at risk of arrest and prison, the facts start surfacing, and Karen manages to track down all the pieces, just in time to save herself, and her tenure.
On campus, political passions rage, inflamed by the politically-correct Endlish Department chair and by the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Whiteness Studeies. Two of Karen’s favorite students are caught up in the furor.
Will Karen be able to survive the investigation, protect her students, and find a permanent niche in the world of academe, all without her beloved Charlie, now serving with the National Guard in Iraq?"
~~back cover
A wonderful final book in the series. (Oh why didn't she write more? We all want to know if Karen got that little green house on Elm Street, and whether she finally marries Charlie!) It's the usual academia tango. complete with a nasty, determined Inspector who is salivating at the chance to arrest her for murder, thereby striking a blow of revenge against his old nemesis. The shifting alliances and rivalries of a university department are reproduced loud and clear , and Karen's struggle toward tenure vividly portrayed.
Just as it looks a though the murder won't be solved, leaving Karen at risk of arrest and prison, the facts start surfacing, and Karen manages to track down all the pieces, just in time to save herself, and her tenure.
November 25, 2023
Overall, this is a decent academic cozy mystery. There are a lot of nods to the frustrations of higher education and some of the phoniness that can be found among faculty and students on campus. I had not read some of the earlier titles in this series, so I did not see the point of some of the characters, but perhaps they have more to do in other books. Also, there are some tangent lines in the book that I suppose are meant to built suspicion of other characters, but for the most part are a little predictable. There is a lot of discussion of Native Americans in this book, which I did not really get from the description, but in the end I would not say that it is about Native Americans, except for maybe one slightly cringy moment towards the end.
March 23, 2019
Enjoyed this mystery ! It is one in a series by Joanne Dobson that takes place in a university setting. I have not read the others in the series, but it was not a problem as this stands on its own merit with necessary information included to help follow the story.
Interesting story with lots of twists and turns and a murderer who I never suspected till the end of the book !
The complications of having to care for her Mom who has Alzheimer's was an interesting twist.
The class discussions were also an interesting addition to the story.
Interesting story with lots of twists and turns and a murderer who I never suspected till the end of the book !
The complications of having to care for her Mom who has Alzheimer's was an interesting twist.
The class discussions were also an interesting addition to the story.
March 27, 2019
Didn't quite hold up for me. I enjoyed some of the caricature of academia, but I found a few things off-putting enough to ruin the book for me:
1. The superficial treatment of race, ethnicity, and affirmative action.
2. The premise that affirmative action prefers unqualified candidates of "minority-status" to qualified candidates.
3. The general smug tone and easy answers given to difficult questions.
4. The protagonist's unchanged outlook on race, ethnicity, and affirmative action after the ordeal.
Anyway, if those things don't push your buttons, you may enjoy this book!
1. The superficial treatment of race, ethnicity, and affirmative action.
2. The premise that affirmative action prefers unqualified candidates of "minority-status" to qualified candidates.
3. The general smug tone and easy answers given to difficult questions.
4. The protagonist's unchanged outlook on race, ethnicity, and affirmative action after the ordeal.
Anyway, if those things don't push your buttons, you may enjoy this book!
April 22, 2026
A cautionary tale of letting your pet causes get out of control. The English department is in a bind after one of the professors dies. Is it accidental, murder, or suicide? Karen is alone. Her daughter is traveling and her BF is on military duty in Iraq. The local cop, who has a beef with the BF is harassing her and her sister unexpectedly drops their mother with dementia literally on her doorstep. She just cannot catch a break.
September 9, 2021
I listened to the audiobook and wish she had more audiobooks. The reader was very dramatic and fitting. The story was a fun look at academia and family ties. So happy to have all this time to try new authors.
December 4, 2018
College faculty politics end in death and a few surprises
January 12, 2019
2.5 stars
September 2, 2020
I have so enjoyed the series. This is the last book in the series. I’m going to miss the characters. I loved the academic setting and the stories. I wish there were more.
November 10, 2020
Best for its insights into faculty life, particularly the reluctance to be dept chair.
January 25, 2021
Excellent Read
Fast paced. An inside view of the world of academe and police procedure. Enough twists and turns to keep you guessing
Fast paced. An inside view of the world of academe and police procedure. Enough twists and turns to keep you guessing
June 17, 2022
As with all her mysteries the author weaves a plot that keeps you reading to the end. I highly recommend this book and this series.
November 5, 2024
Professor Karen Pelletier stuggles to get all of her tenure stuff together while figuring out who killed Professor Joseph Lone Wolf who was her chief rival for the coveted position.
April 2, 2025
I love this series and I'm sorry that it has ended. This was a clever mystery with the usual humor. I missed Karen's friend Jill but bringing Felicity in as a sidekick was great!
August 12, 2024
Cute, short & good look into professorial life.
March 17, 2024
I read and enjoyed several of Dobson's Karen Pelletier books a few years ago and was glad when my search for a new cozy led me to one I'd somehow missed, Death Without Tenure, published in 2010. Of course I put it on hold, and of course I started it right away when it arrived.
It was disappointing. Oh, I finished it, albeit in a quick, skimmy sort of way, but Death Without Tenure would never have made me look for more books by Dobson the way Quieter Than Sleep or Cold and Pure and Very Dead, or any of the others did.
The big problem is I never really believed any of the dangers Pelletier was supposedly in. Problem one: For some reason, there is only one tenure position available at Enfield, and Pelletier, just up for tenure, is in danger of losing out to Joe Lone Wolf, an American Indian who has never even finished his dissertation but who is being favored for reasons of political correctness. Problem two: Lone Wolf turns up dead, and Karen evidently has a good motive for killing him; besides, the officer in charge of the investigation hates Pelletier's fiance and wants her to be guilty.
The thing is, for either threat to be credible, everyone involved has to have checked their brains in at the doors. Yes colleges take affirmative action seriously, but I couldn't believe every single one of the people involved in the process would overlook the bulk of tenure requirements. Nor, once some of the circumstances of Lone Wolf's hiring became apparent, could I quite believe them; apparently, no one conducted even the most rudimentary background check on the man they were hiring. People can be idiots, but this required too much stupidity--and the absence of good old-fashioned curiosity--on the part of too many people.
The same held true of the investigation. For Pelletier to be in real danger, the investigator had to be someone the courts would creditably believe. His actions were over-the-top, and his fellow officers so clearly did not like or credit him, that that fell through. Really, anyone who wasn't Pelletier or her friend, was completely inane, which perversely made Pelletier herself far less likeable.
Too, Dobson handles the inter-cultural and inter-racial dilemmas that form the backbone of this book less than deftly. Yes, inter-cultural matters can be difficult, and institutionalized attempts to handle them can create a maze of conflicting dictates. To Dobson's credit, Pelletier herself doesn't come off as a shining example of perpetually correct cultural reading, but the tone of this book is often condescending, at best. Fully analyzing the maze in Death Without Tenure is, mercifully for this reviewer, quite impossible without heavy spoilers, but there are some major letdowns in Dobson's handling of the Lone Wolf scenario. I almost think Dobson wanted to address the issue and slapped it into a Pelletier mystery when what she really wanted was something much longer and more complicated. At least, she needed something longer and more complicated to adequately handle the number of questions she raised.
Other matters were also disappointing: Pelletier's sister brings her mother over to stay for a few weeks. This had some promise because the relationship between the women has been fraught for years. It's even more poignant because their mother is now fuzzy-minded (exact cause unclear), and needs constant care. The trouble is, other than one or two quick bonding moments, the ailing-mother subplot gets reduced to "I left Mom with (insert friend's name) while I taught/investigated/graded." Pelletier has some seriously good friends.
Also, I believe she re-used a motive, this time around, which is a pity.
The other books in the Karen Pelletier series--the ones I did enjoy, enough that I'll still read the next mystery, whenever it comes out.
Quieter Than Sleep: A Modern Mystery of Emily Dickinson
The Northbury Papers
The Raven and the Nightingale: A Modern Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe
Cold and Pure and Very Dead
The Maltese Manuscript
Note: This review was originally written and shared on my blog, Bookwyrme's Lair. Stop by and visit for lots more reviews, photos, and general musings on the good things in life.
It was disappointing. Oh, I finished it, albeit in a quick, skimmy sort of way, but Death Without Tenure would never have made me look for more books by Dobson the way Quieter Than Sleep or Cold and Pure and Very Dead, or any of the others did.
The big problem is I never really believed any of the dangers Pelletier was supposedly in. Problem one: For some reason, there is only one tenure position available at Enfield, and Pelletier, just up for tenure, is in danger of losing out to Joe Lone Wolf, an American Indian who has never even finished his dissertation but who is being favored for reasons of political correctness. Problem two: Lone Wolf turns up dead, and Karen evidently has a good motive for killing him; besides, the officer in charge of the investigation hates Pelletier's fiance and wants her to be guilty.
The thing is, for either threat to be credible, everyone involved has to have checked their brains in at the doors. Yes colleges take affirmative action seriously, but I couldn't believe every single one of the people involved in the process would overlook the bulk of tenure requirements. Nor, once some of the circumstances of Lone Wolf's hiring became apparent, could I quite believe them; apparently, no one conducted even the most rudimentary background check on the man they were hiring. People can be idiots, but this required too much stupidity--and the absence of good old-fashioned curiosity--on the part of too many people.
The same held true of the investigation. For Pelletier to be in real danger, the investigator had to be someone the courts would creditably believe. His actions were over-the-top, and his fellow officers so clearly did not like or credit him, that that fell through. Really, anyone who wasn't Pelletier or her friend, was completely inane, which perversely made Pelletier herself far less likeable.
Too, Dobson handles the inter-cultural and inter-racial dilemmas that form the backbone of this book less than deftly. Yes, inter-cultural matters can be difficult, and institutionalized attempts to handle them can create a maze of conflicting dictates. To Dobson's credit, Pelletier herself doesn't come off as a shining example of perpetually correct cultural reading, but the tone of this book is often condescending, at best. Fully analyzing the maze in Death Without Tenure is, mercifully for this reviewer, quite impossible without heavy spoilers, but there are some major letdowns in Dobson's handling of the Lone Wolf scenario. I almost think Dobson wanted to address the issue and slapped it into a Pelletier mystery when what she really wanted was something much longer and more complicated. At least, she needed something longer and more complicated to adequately handle the number of questions she raised.
Other matters were also disappointing: Pelletier's sister brings her mother over to stay for a few weeks. This had some promise because the relationship between the women has been fraught for years. It's even more poignant because their mother is now fuzzy-minded (exact cause unclear), and needs constant care. The trouble is, other than one or two quick bonding moments, the ailing-mother subplot gets reduced to "I left Mom with (insert friend's name) while I taught/investigated/graded." Pelletier has some seriously good friends.
Also, I believe she re-used a motive, this time around, which is a pity.
The other books in the Karen Pelletier series--the ones I did enjoy, enough that I'll still read the next mystery, whenever it comes out.
Quieter Than Sleep: A Modern Mystery of Emily Dickinson
The Northbury Papers
The Raven and the Nightingale: A Modern Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe
Cold and Pure and Very Dead
The Maltese Manuscript
Note: This review was originally written and shared on my blog, Bookwyrme's Lair. Stop by and visit for lots more reviews, photos, and general musings on the good things in life.
July 25, 2011
This novel is the seventh in a mystery series focused on an English professor turned amateur sleuth, written by Joanne Dobson, herself a noted English professor and literary scholar. The series began with Quieter Than Sleep, Dr. Dobson’s debut novel featuring her heroine, Professor Karen Pelletier, a woman from the wrong side of the tracks who had fought hard to work her way to a position in a prestigious private university. Karen is a likable, down-to-earth, motherly figure that the reader can easily get behind in this first-person “cozy” (meaning a mystery novel featuring an amateur detective that shies away from graphic violence).
I had found the Karen Pelletier series quite by accident, picking up the first in the series at a used book sale because it promised to be ‘a mystery of Emily Dickinson’; I quickly fell in love with the series, its heroine, the grumpy policeman love interest, the charming characters and even the sometimes stuffy fictional Enfield College. Each ensuing novel seemed only to get better, though the sixth definitely left something to be desired – but I’ll get to that in another review.
Dobson returned to form with her seventh in the series. Our beloved Prof. Pelletier is up for tenure at Enfield College while being left to face the stress of the matter alone, with her daughter backpacking through Asia and her love interest, the oddly charming grump Lietenant Piotrowski, away serving with the National Guard in the Middle East. This sets the tone for what is missing from this novel to a grand degree – the likable friends, students and colleagues that had filled the series with their happy presence from the first in the series are scant, a big change from the usual format of the novel.
Also missing, to my great disappointment, is the academic aspect that had speckled the Karen Pelletier novels from the very beginning. From Emily Dickinson to Edgar Allan Poe, to a fictional roman à clef that mirrored the real-life Peyton Place, Dr. Dobson’s novels have always had an accompanying literary mystery that went hand-in-hand with the modern murder the crafty English professor heroine was trying to solve. Not so with the latest entry in the series, which focuses solely on the murder at hand.
That being said, Dr. Dobson’s mystery is still a step above many others in the “cozy” genre, touching on class, gender and religious divisions among her students, the Enfield staff and even her own family while spinning a tale of secrecy and murder. While I’d love to see more of Karen’s “old friends” in the next in the series, even if Dr. Dobson continues on course with her current style, it will be worth the read.
I had found the Karen Pelletier series quite by accident, picking up the first in the series at a used book sale because it promised to be ‘a mystery of Emily Dickinson’; I quickly fell in love with the series, its heroine, the grumpy policeman love interest, the charming characters and even the sometimes stuffy fictional Enfield College. Each ensuing novel seemed only to get better, though the sixth definitely left something to be desired – but I’ll get to that in another review.
Dobson returned to form with her seventh in the series. Our beloved Prof. Pelletier is up for tenure at Enfield College while being left to face the stress of the matter alone, with her daughter backpacking through Asia and her love interest, the oddly charming grump Lietenant Piotrowski, away serving with the National Guard in the Middle East. This sets the tone for what is missing from this novel to a grand degree – the likable friends, students and colleagues that had filled the series with their happy presence from the first in the series are scant, a big change from the usual format of the novel.
Also missing, to my great disappointment, is the academic aspect that had speckled the Karen Pelletier novels from the very beginning. From Emily Dickinson to Edgar Allan Poe, to a fictional roman à clef that mirrored the real-life Peyton Place, Dr. Dobson’s novels have always had an accompanying literary mystery that went hand-in-hand with the modern murder the crafty English professor heroine was trying to solve. Not so with the latest entry in the series, which focuses solely on the murder at hand.
That being said, Dr. Dobson’s mystery is still a step above many others in the “cozy” genre, touching on class, gender and religious divisions among her students, the Enfield staff and even her own family while spinning a tale of secrecy and murder. While I’d love to see more of Karen’s “old friends” in the next in the series, even if Dr. Dobson continues on course with her current style, it will be worth the read.
July 4, 2014
I'm not sure this is a great mystery; I'll admit that I often have trouble following the twists and turns of Dobson's plots, and a day or two after finishing the book, I often can't remember whodunit or why. I'm attracted to mysteries more by character development than by clever puzzles, and I find the characters in these books engaging. I'm particularly fond of Dobson's heroine, Karen Pelletier, a Franco-American from a working class background who finds herself in the rarefied world of elite liberal arts college. My history has enough in common with Karen Pelletier's that I can easily identify with her reactions to the very different world in which she has ended up. What really keeps me coming back to these books, however, is the devastating wit with which Dobson describes the academic world in which I have spent a long career. Many novels and films set in academia don't get it right, but Dobson nails it. Her descriptions of students, classes, and (especially) student papers are written by someone who has clearly taught such students and graded their papers. And her descriptions of Karen Pelletier's colleagues and the things that they say often make me laugh out loud. I still cherish one early book in this series (I can't remember which one) for the following description of an academic reception: "Academic chit-chat swirled around me like a sudden spring snowstorm -- dense and blinding, but with nothing much sticking to the ground."
August 15, 2010
One of the things I like most about these mysteries is the way Karen and Charlie work together. Unfortunately in this one, Charlie's in Iraq, so Karen's pretty much on her own. She doesn't fare well, which doesn't ring true to the character for me.
In earlier books, Karen is a tough lady, but in this one she's a bit shaky. Her dream of tenure might be going up in smoke and she's stressed out. She comes across as a little bit petty in some scenes.
There's still a decent mystery, just not as tight or as fun as earlier ones. I think if I'd read this one first, I might not have read the others as quickly.
In earlier books, Karen is a tough lady, but in this one she's a bit shaky. Her dream of tenure might be going up in smoke and she's stressed out. She comes across as a little bit petty in some scenes.
There's still a decent mystery, just not as tight or as fun as earlier ones. I think if I'd read this one first, I might not have read the others as quickly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2014
3.5 stars
I loved this series *so much* and put off reading the last installment for a long time. Although it was entertaining, I didn't feel it lived up to the standards of the books that came before.
It was published a good long time after the previous book in the series, and I appreciated that the author tried to show this by following events developing in the earlier books to some natural conclusions. But the overall impression was that I had missed some important things in the story arc, and...DAMN IT I really would have liked to see the inception and development of the romance with Piotrowski!
All in all, though, it was a good read and an entertaining mystery.
I loved this series *so much* and put off reading the last installment for a long time. Although it was entertaining, I didn't feel it lived up to the standards of the books that came before.
It was published a good long time after the previous book in the series, and I appreciated that the author tried to show this by following events developing in the earlier books to some natural conclusions. But the overall impression was that I had missed some important things in the story arc, and...DAMN IT I really would have liked to see the inception and development of the romance with Piotrowski!
All in all, though, it was a good read and an entertaining mystery.
February 3, 2012
I usually enjoy these mysteries because of the Academic setting which I can really relate to but this installment came up short. I think what this book is missing for me are the family relationships that Dobson usually includes... Karen Pelletier's boyfriend is an acting National Guard in Iraq & her daughter is in Katmandu... which means, the daughter's friends, home visits, etc. are missing too. I understand why Dobson used this "outtatheway" device but still... That & some super-forced minority references... left me feeling a little empty this mystery.
October 16, 2011
Very good continuing story of Karen Pelletier who is an English professor at an eastern college. Solves the murder of a colleague who was a loner and lied about his heritage and qualifications to work as a professor. This man antagonized everyone except some of his students. He blackmails the one other person who also knows of his lies. He is also the only other person who is competing for "tenure" other than Karen, making her a murder suspect. She tries to solve this mystery, all the while having problems in her personal life as well. Nicely done.
January 14, 2024
Sigh... I'm of two minds about this novel.
On one hand, it's always interesting to read about campus politics and the politics of tenure. So in that this was an interesting novel.
On the other hand, this novel was so sloppy. It was sloppy in its treatment of campus racial and religious dynamics (the main character was a complete dolt when it came to such things); it was sloppy with minor continuity errors AND it literally stole a plot line from an earlier book in the series. Geez... how many people in one college department commits plagiarism?
On one hand, it's always interesting to read about campus politics and the politics of tenure. So in that this was an interesting novel.
On the other hand, this novel was so sloppy. It was sloppy in its treatment of campus racial and religious dynamics (the main character was a complete dolt when it came to such things); it was sloppy with minor continuity errors AND it literally stole a plot line from an earlier book in the series. Geez... how many people in one college department commits plagiarism?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 7, 2010
A bit of a disappointment. I really enjoyed the previous books in this academic mystery series. The author seemingly wanted to take on social networking, the stress of tenure, the drawbacks of being a Muslim at a small college, and identity politics but forgot to weave it all together into a compelling mystery plot. I do really like the characters though and hope that the author continues with the series.
June 22, 2010
A Karen Pelletier Mystery. I wasn't sure when I started but it ended up one of those books I would find myself just trying to even read a page or two quick before I had to do something else. It was hard to put down. It was very well written. It raised some points about the "equal opportunity employment" thing which really made you think. It was a great story, well-written, thoroughly enjoyable.
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