Reading the Detectives discussion

Does anyone have any favourite books which fall into this category?

I'm thinking of books set in or around universities or places associated with them like Oxford and Cambridge, or featuring an academic, professor, student or similar as the detective - or sidekick.

I was reminded while reading a review of one of Edmund Crispin's books that my favourite types of detective fiction used to be those in either an academic or church setting, but I've rather lost touch with these aspects in the last few years and I'd like to reacquaint myself with some of the books and find some new ones.

I love the wordplay and literary games in Edmund Crispen's books, and I also generally enjoy seeing quotes and latin and greek phrases littered around even if I've no idea what they mean!

Have you read the mysteries of Michael Innes (whose real name was J. I. M. Stewart, and he wrote some serious novels under that name in addition to the many Michael Innes books)? Of the Innes books, most are not centered on academia though they have some academic themes, but one, The Paper Thunderbolt, is set in the Bodleian Library.

If you are interested in an academic setting for books that are not detective stories, read J. I. M. Stewart’s A Staircase in Surrey series: the first is The Gaudy. They certainly widened my vocabulary!

I read the first of the Peter Shandy series by Charlotte MacLeod, Rest You Merry as part of my Xmas reading. He is a professor at a college and lives on campus. I enjoyed it as much for the college "politics" as for the mystery, but have not continued the series.

Simon Said by Sarah R. Shaber is the first story featuring Professor Simon (I don't recall his last name), possibly a history or archaeology professor at a Southern college/university. It was okay. Possibly a touch cozier than I was prepared for. Maybe future volumes aren't as bad as the first. I think I may have started the second one.

I am also very fond of the series of mysteries by Joanne Dobson, set in a fictional New England college town and with a professor sleuth. The first is Quieter than Sleep. They were written in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

This is great - lots of new authors for me to try! Keep it coming :-)

Abigail wrote: "Have you read the mysteries of Michael Innes (whose real name was J. I. M. Stewart, and he wrote some serious novels under that name in addition to the many Michael Innes books)? Of the Innes books..."

The first one is definitely an academic one, Death at the President's Lodging, published in the U.S. as Seven Suspects.

Amanda Cross wrote a good academic mystery series featuring Professor Kate Fansler.

And slightly less academic are the anthropology/sleuth duo in Margot Arnold's books (less academic because the murders tend to take place while the profs are doing field work rather than at the university itself).

There are the Colin Dexter books set around Oxford University that led to the television series Morse.

Abigail wrote: "I am also very fond of the series of mysteries by Joanne Dobson, set in a fictional New England college town and with a professor sleuth. The first is Quieter than Sleep. They were wr..."

I enjoyed this series.

Leslie wrote: "Abigail wrote: "Have you read the mysteries of Michael Innes (whose real name was J. I. M. Stewart, and he wrote some serious novels under that name in addition to the many Michael Innes books)? Of..."

I tried one of the Cross books - I think it related to Joyce - I just couldn't make it through. I may have given up after just a chapter or two. It may be that this was in the middle of the series and I needed information that I just didn't have. But I swore off her then.

A few others I thought of - actually was reminded of when I was looking something up at SYKM - Jefferson Bass writes of Dr. Bill Brockton, a professor at University of Tennessee and forensic anthropologist. Bill Bass (the Bass portion of the writing team with Jon Jefferson) is the founder of The Body Farm, located at UT.

I also like Beverly Connor's Lindsay Chamberlain series. She is also a forensic anthropologist connected to some southern university, possibly in Georgia. She spends a lot of time in the field; although at least one, possibly more, dealt with administration politics.

Aaron Elkins' Gideon Oliver series. Believe he is connected to a university in the Pacific Northwest, in Washington. Also a forensic anthropologist - "the bone doctor". He has a new one that has just come out.

And, the last one that comes to mind, is Elly Griffiths' Dr. Ruth Galloway series. She is a forensic archaeologist.

Well, of course there's Sayers's Gaudy Night, not only deeply embedded in Oxford, but with the culminating moment being a Latin phrase from the Oxford degree granting ceremony.

I also like academic mysteries. My nephew is currently studying at Oxford and I was surprised that they do still go to dinner in gowns...

Kell wrote: "From the cozy mysteries site:

http://www.cozy-mystery.com/blog/teac...

and

http://www.cozy-mystery.com/blog/myst......"

There's a few on those two lists I'm going to look into.

Thanks to everyone for all your suggestions on this thresd and the clerical mysteries thread. They are both going to be such great resources that I can refer to.

I've just come across an interesting article about academic mysteries and the Golden Age:

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/...

I read a series set in an American university a while ago, which I enjoyed: the Nick Hoffman series by Lev Raphael.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/6920...

The first is Let's Get Criminal

Judy wrote: "I've just come across an interesting article about academic mysteries and the Golden Age:

Thank you for this! It reminded me of another book I really enjoyed, by Ruth Dudley Edwards: Matricide at St. Martha's. I remember it was particularly good at sending up politically-correct language.

It's one of the Robert Amiss series, which manages to deal with number of different institutions and their foibles, including the English Civil Service (Corridors of Death), gentlemen's clubs (Clubbed to Death), the House of Lords (Ten Lords A-Leaping), Cathedrals (Murder in a Cathedral) and literary prizes (Carnage on the Committee). They are particularly good as audiobooks, narrated by Bill Wallis.

Thanks much for the article, Judy. I'm fascinated by the idea of Isaiah Berlin as a detective, so I ordered the first in series mentioned by Jocelyn Davey, A Capitol Offense. Apparently takes place in the British Embassy in DC right after the war. Excited to get this one!

A few other possibilities:

Death Among the Dons by Janet Neel - London setting...enjoyed this series many years ago and re-read this recently
Murder At The College by Victor Whitechurch...two stars, so-so
An Oxford Tragedy by JC Masterman...three stars
Murder Is Academic by Christine Poulson...three stars

On my list but haven't read yet: The Cambridge Murders by Dilwyn Rees

Entertaining read on the oddities of Oxbridge dons:
The Dons: Mentors, Eccentrics and Geniuses by Noel Annan

Miss M wrote: "A few other possibilities:

Death Among the Dons by Janet Neel - London setting...enjoyed this series many years ago and re-read this recently
Murder At The College b..."

Thank you for reminding me of Janet Neel! I'm off to re-read some of hers.

I really liked the Neel series--need to re-read some more!

HJ wrote: "Judy wrote: "I've just come across an interesting article about academic mysteries and the Golden Age:

Thank you for this! It reminded me of another book I really enjoyed, by [author:Ruth Dudley E..."

I love Ruth Dudley Edwards' series - they are marvellous for sending up institutions.

Some great books/authors I have not read and on kindle too :)

Susan wrote: "Some great books/authors I have not read and on kindle too :)"

I can wholeheartedly recommend Ruth Dudley Edwards - Baroness 'Jack' Troutbeck is a marvellous character as is Plutarch the cat.

I think I read the first one, Damaskcat. Another series I really need to go back to...

Susan wrote: "I think I read the first one, Damaskcat. Another series I really need to go back to..."

I now have a long list of series I want to read or re-read as a result of this thread :-)

Few more...

Joan Smith's Loretta Lawson is a feminist professor/amateur sleuth, somewhat similar to the Amanda Cross books. (I gave the first one only two stars when I re-read it recently, but still mention it because most of the time something may not be my cuppa tea, but perfect for someone else's tastes...and vice versa!)
A Masculine Ending

VC Clinton-Baddeley's series features Cambridge don Dr. RV Davie. I've only read the first so far but thought it was pretty good.
Death's Bright Dart

There's also High Table by Joanna Cannan which I've heard is interesting, but still on my WL. (Also not sure if it's crimefic.)

New one coming out 12 April:
The Age of Treachery by Gavin Scott
During World War II, the brightest and best Oxbridge dons were eagerly snapped up by British Intelligence. The guns have fallen silent, but in 1946 the Russians, Americans and English are busy picking over the bones of a shattered Europe. Duncan Forrester leaves his post with the Special Operations Executive and returns to what he thinks will be a quieter life under Oxford’s dreaming spires. When a controversial and much disliked academic is murdered, there is no shortage of suspects, but the police home in on just one – Forrester’s oldest and most valued friend. Determined to find the real killer, he is forced to follow a trail of academic jealousy and double dealing which leads him to Berlin. There, the seeds of the Cold War are germinating and he’s in the middle of it.

Oh, that looks good, Miss M!

Does look promising, right? Have to wait and see what the Look inside' shows...

I've really enjoyed the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths and wonder if anyone has come across anything similar i.e. involving an archaeologist, (or even a conservationist or historian) set in modern Britain?

There's Andrew Taylor's Caroline Minuscule featuring murdered tutors and medieval manuscripts which I read a while ago and enjoyed.

That sounds like the sort of thing I'm after, thanks Alwynne.

I loved The Stranger Diaries also by Elly Griffiths, which features an English teacher. I loved The Postscript Murders even more.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics is set in the US but also features an academic setting.

Black Chalk is set in Oxford, but I haven't read it. Just come across it...

Susan wrote: "I loved The Stranger Diaries also by Elly Griffiths, which features an English teacher. I loved The Postscript Murders even..."

I quite liked the first one, although I thought the representation of British-Asian culture was a bit laboured and close to stock. I didn't think they were as good as her early Ruth Galloway novels though.

Ruth wrote: "I've really enjoyed the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths and wonder if anyone has come across anything similar i.e. involving an archaeologist, (or even a conservationist or historian) set in..."

Picking up on the archaeologist theme, this series was mentioned in Martin Edwards' book:

The Merchant's House by Kate Ellis

From GR:

Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson's first day in his new posting in South Devon finds him investigating the brutal death of a young woman on a cliff path while his new colleagues are searching desperately for a missing child. Then Wesley's old friend from university, archaeologist Neil Watson, unearths the bodies of a strangled young woman and a new-born baby on the site of a seventeenth century merchant's house: though luckily for the overstretched police force the skeletons are centuries old. But as the search for the missing child intensifies and the true identity of the body on the cliff path is established, Wesley begins to suspect a tragic link, spanning the centuries, between his investigations and Neil's: for motives of jealousy, sexual obsession and desperate longing are as old as time. And when the dark secret of the merchant's house is finally revealed, Wesley must act swiftly to avert a further tragedy.

Thanks for all the suggestions. The Kate Ellis series looks promising.

That is encouraging as I seem to have 20 books in that series. Thanks

Alwynne wrote: "Susan wrote: "I loved The Stranger Diaries also by Elly Griffiths, which features an English teacher. I loved [book:The Postscript Murders|..."

I only read the first Ruth Galloway and didn't much like it, as I recall, but loved The Stranger Diaries and Postcript.

Jill, you must have picked up the Kate Ellis books as a Kindle Deal of something - always worthwhile picking up a series.

I just read Blood On The Backs by Margaret Suckling, the second in the Midge Carrington series. It takes place in Cambridge in the 1930s where an undergraduate student has just fallen on the roof of one of the buildings. Two of the major detectives are Midge who is a student and her cousin John who is a don. The dons are wonderful and dialog amongst them is great. Also good courtroom scenes.

Diane wrote: "I just read Blood On The Backs by Margaret Suckling, the second in the Midge Carrington series. It takes place in Cambridge in the 1930s wher..."

Absolutely thrilled to hear that you loved the dons and their dialogue! I had great fun writing those scenes (especially any of the scenes with Dr Hartismere). Thank you so much.

I've been meaning to try this one, set in a fictional Oxford women's college Death on the Cherwell

Death on the Cherwell is a fun read as far as I remember, Alwynne - I think we did all the books by that author as group reads a while back. I will check the details when I'm on my computer next!

Oops, looks like I'm wrong and we didn't do a group read of Death on the Cherwell - I must have read it on my own. We have read others by Mavis Doriel Hay in the group, though.

Seems like a good one to be put up for nomination some time

Judy wrote: "Death on the Cherwell is a fun read as far as I remember, Alwynne - I think we did all the books by that author as group reads a while back. I will check the details when I'm on my computer next!"

Great, I read her Murder Underground but don't remember it very well.

I found some lists online:

http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/un...

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/Job...

And this article:
http://fp.amu.edu.pl/the-academic-mur...

Alwynne wrote: "Judy wrote: "Death on the Cherwell is a fun read as far as I remember, Alwynne - I think we did all the books by that author as group reads a while back. I will check the details when I'm on my com..."

I felt that Death on the Cherwell was the best of her three books. The university setting is convincing and I think that the frivolous approach of the undergraduates is believable for the time in which the book was written.

Thanks Margaret, I read an extract and it does sound very promising, but it's nice to have recommendations!