Grave Circle: An Ivory Tower Mystery

Ivory Tower Mystery #1

by David D. Nolta

Virginia Vanderlyn, infamously adulterous wife of an archaeology professor, is found buried beneath the cellar floorboards of her Clare College home. The murder compels Professors Antigone and Hiawatha Musing to investigate, using their complementary gifts for reason and intuition in this sumptuously atmospheric mystery. Grave Circle seduces readers with alluring settings, poignantly human characters, and a stunning resolution.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

David D. Nolta refers to his own life as "a manifestation of the charmed but highly insecure existence of the eternal student" (he went directly from high school to college (The University of Michigan), then directly to graduate school in English Literature (University of Chicago), transferring to another graduate school to pursue art history (Yale University).

This lifelong intimacy with scholars and scholarship has resulted in the creation of an astounding number of unique and memorable characters and situations. Some of Nolta's favorite targets are scholarly pomposity and hypocrisy, sexual pride and naiveté, anglophilia, and academic envy.

Reviews

[Olivia Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great job Dah-veed

[Louise Carlson Stowell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started out slow. I thought there were too many verbose phrases...like the author was trying too hard to sustain the academic role. I loved it once he got past all of that (about a quarter of the way through)and got into the meat of the story. I cared about the characters and found myself involved in their personal stories, wanting to know more and what they will do after the story has ended.