Sunday, June 23, 2013

The Square Root of Murder by Ada Madison

Finished circa 5/13

First of a series with a math professor as the accidental detective. Love the titles, but the connection between the titles and the plot is minimal at best.

They are set at a small New England liberal arts college just going through the transition between being an exclusive women's college and going coed. It probably bears a striking resemblance to some actual college, but I certainly wouldn't know what it was. This is the story that many academics would like to write; the victim is the faculty jerk - the faculty member least likely to win friends and influence people - colleagues or students. I took a stab at it once while I was teaching high school, someday maybe ---

Shades of Kate Fansler, English professor and detective, in the series by Amanda Cross (Carolyn Heilbrun), who was actually an English professor. Ada Madison (whatever her real name is) was a physicist before and her previous series (written as Camille Minichino) had to do with the periodic table of the elements.

All of which reminds me that it has been a long time since I have reread Amanda Cross, better add her to the list.

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