The Edith Wharton Murders

✍ Scribed by Raphael, Lev

• Publisher: Stonewall Inn Mysteries
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 157 KB
• Series: Nick Hoffman Mysteries 2
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

College + Crime + Conference = Comedy

Chaos hits the State University of Michigan when two bitterly rival Edith Wharton societies are brought together for a joint conference. Its reluctant organizer, assistant professor Nick Hoffman, is desperate to get tenure, but things go from bad to worse to murder.

There's never been an academic satire quite like this one or a sleuth like Nick Hoffman.
**

Amazon.com Review

Whoever said that the pen was mightier than the sword might have had The Edith Wharton Murders in mind. In this campus mystery by the talented Lev Raphael, a conference on Edith Wharton becomes a killing ground when various literary factions carry their war of words a little too far--and someone ends up dead. At the heart of both the hostilities and the mystery is Nick Hoffman, a Wharton bibliographer saddled with the thankless task of moderating the conference. Once the murder has occurred, Nick must switch his focus from panel discussions to investigation, a course of action that provides plenty of opportunities for author Raphael to skewer the academic world he left behind.

From Kirkus Reviews

As if the State University of Michigan weren't already full enough of misfits and malcontents, a conference on Edith Wharton promises to pipe more in from across the country. Reluctant conference organizer Nick Hoffman is sure that the invited guests- -rival Wharton scholars Van Deegan Jones (of the offensively insular old guard) and Verity Gallup (of the offensively irresponsible new), trendy punk novelist Chloe DeVore and her current lover Vivianne Fresnel, bestselling trashy romancer/aspiring Wharton biographer Grace-Dawn Vaughan and her professor-baiting editor Devon Davenport--will mix so well with the home-grown cargo of covetous academics, spineless administrators, and born-again trustees that they'll all be delighted when the conference is history. But even Nick is surprised when Chloe DeVore is bashed to death with one of the attractive new granite tiles being installed at the conference site, and a throng of new suspects (a lesbian colleague hoping to break up Chloe's on-again affair with Vivianne! a novelist prostrated by Chloe's dismissive review! a fortuitous ex-husband!) come leaping into the spotlight with all the spontaneity and emotional expressiveness of the Rockettes. As in Nick's debut (Let's Get Criminal, 1996), criminal investigation takes a backseat to catty gossip as the narrator outdoes the characters by trashing authors as diverse as David Baldacci and Eve K. Sedgwick. Except for the murders, the conference turns out pretty well. -- Copyright 1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

ES Index : 2
Has Cover : Yes
All Identifiers : amazon:B0059XF2NI, goodreads:344241, isbn:9780312198633
Number of Words in Auth: 2
Formats : EPUB
Number of Formats : 1
Test Text Series Index: Mysteries
Single Author : Lev Raphael
Original Source : New_Files_Horla_11_13
Sorted Author by LN, FN: Raphael, Lev
Title Length : 025
Title Parm D : The Edith Wharton Murders
Title Parm F : The Edith Wharton Murders
Title Parm A : The Edith Wharton Murders
Title Parm B : (
ES Lib Name : NIRC 2019-11
Record ID : 9574
Template Work Area : Mysteries
ES Name : Nick Hoffman Mysteries
Uncomma Author : Lev Raphael
Num of Aut : 1