Burning Down the House (Nick Hoffman Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Lev Raphael (Author)

Book Description

Series: Nick Hoffman Mysteries | Publication Date: October 2001

Nick Hoffman's State University of Michigan is a place where the Borgias and the Marx Brothers would be equally at home. Heading into the Christmas season, SUM is being torn apart by bizarre attempts to make it more diverse while an autocratic new provost pushes for a White Studies program and Nick faces not only a tenure battle but conflicting requests for support in a battle for department chair.

With his professional life a mix of seasonal chaos and departmental warfare, Nick discovers that he's not only attracted to the outrageously sexy Juno Dromgoole and disturbed by these disorienting new feelings in his life, but also the target, along with Juno, of a vicious harassment campaign that escalates into stalking, assault, and attempted murder. There's certainly no shortage of suspects, only solid clues. The decisions Nick faces may change his life forever...if he survives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Raphael's disappointing fourth book featuring untenured professor and amateur detective Nick Hoffman, Juno Dromgoole, an English professor at the State University of Michigan, wants to find out who's been harassing her with anonymous phone calls urging her to "Get out!" and to become chair (the "alpha bitch") of her department. So she turns to her colleague Nick for help. The Glock-owning Juno hardly seems to need Nick or anyone else; she's got more balls than 99% of her colleagues, whom she dismisses as "a bunch of whiners and weasels." This dysfunctional tribe of academics represents the possible suspects, and while several are clearly capable of a threatening phone call, none seems to have the guts or the motive for the (mildly) escalating violence. Raphael pads the story with other conflicts: Will Nick get tenure? Should he buy a gun of his own? Is he attracted to the Amazonian Juno? (Not a trivial question for a gay man in a committed relationship.) It would take a more resourceful, less ambivalent hero to rescue Juno or this thinly plotted novel. Nick is almost as annoying as his petty, inarticulate colleagues. Their heated debates are more reminiscent of playground squabbles than intellectual disputes. Satirizing the academic world is one of the author's big themes, but it's a tired premise in this inexplicably titled book. Raphael doesn't generate enough narrative momentum or suspense to hold the reader's interest as the novel grinds to its abrupt, unsatisfying ending.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Raphael proceeds down a path he started in the last Nick Hoffman mystery, Little Miss Evil (2000). That book was almost over before someone was murdered. This time the corpse never shows up, and Nick voices Raphael's seeming preference for slowly- building suspense rather than bodies. Suspense arises from a variety of sources, and readers may find partnered, gay Nick's mid-life lusting for a woman more engrossing than the mysterious accumulation of injuries done to him and the object of his sexual fantasies--tall, voluptuous Juno. Will Nick act on his fantasies? For that matter, will untenured Nick even stay on at the State University of Michigan, Raphael's take on academic hell, where professors are reduced to whining subservience by administrators who, like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, hand down sentences before verdicts? Sexual and academic tensions fascinate Raphael more than the phone threats and beatings of the mystery element of the book, leaving readers to wonder whether he is defining a new genre. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company; First. edition (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802733654
• ISBN-13: 978-0802733658
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #822,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lev Raphael has wanted to be an author since he was in second grade, and he's not only achieved his dream, he's published 19 books in genres from memoir to mystery; had his books translated into nearly a dozen languages; appeared in two documentaries; won various prizes; done hundreds of invited talks and readings on three different continents; recently sold his literary papers (92 boxes!) to the Michigan State University Libraries (MSUL); been the subject of scholarly articles, papers and book chapters; and seen his work taught at colleges and universities around the country. Which means he's become homework. Who knew?

Born and raised in New York, he got over it and has spent half his life in Michigan. He's a pioneer in writing about children of Holocaust survivors, which he's been doing since 1978, longer than almost any other American author. He frequently tours with his books (check http://www.levraphael.com for his current schedule) and is currently touring with My Germany, a memoir/travelogue exploring the role Germany has played in his family, his life, and his career. After he escaped academe to write full-time, he reviewed extensively for over a decade for the Detroit Free Press, Michigan Radio, The Washington Post, Jerusalem Report, The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Forward, Boston Review, and Lambda Book Report. He now reviews for Bibliobuffet.com and WKAR 90.5 FM/East Lansing Public Radio, and when he's not busy, he sometimes imagines some graduate student years from now in the MSUL archives puzzling over his handwriting.

A seasoned reader of his own work, with a background in theater and teaching, he loves the performance aspect of touring, as well as meeting people he'd never meet back home. And the sightseeing. And the foreign foods. German fans in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hannover, Magdeburg, Dessau and Halle will get to hear him next fall. Stay tuned to this page or check his web site for details of his next German book tour. For photos and description of previous sones, go to http://www.levraphael.com/europe_photos.html.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A highly recommended book by a most talented writer, January 11, 2002

By 

Doris Ann Norris (Fostoria, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Burning Down the House (Nick Hoffman Mysteries) (Hardcover)

BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE is Lev Raphael's best book yet in the Nick Hoffman series. Unlike the previous Nick book which were called mysteries, the cover says "a Nick Hoffman novel." I think this is indicative of the direction the series is going and that certainly is not meant as a criticism. There is no murder, but there is attempted murder. The tone is darker than the others in the series as Nick continues in his sexual fascination with Juno Dromgoole which both intrigues and frightens him. But things on the SUM campus, especially in his department are becoming more and more bizarre with the launch of a campaign for "whiteness studies" and the diversity tree. To complicate matters, Juno has decided she is going to run for the chairmanship of EAR and wants Nick's help. A not very popular decision as at least two attempts are made on Juno's life and Nick is attacked on campus. As with life, there is no neat ending, but rather more self-awareness on Nick's part of how he is capable of reacting. It certainly leaves me eagerly....even anxiously awaiting the next book. The humor is here, but it seems more biting and certainly less tolerant of the fools that Nick encounters in the academic life. It is more like the campus (and the world) would be a better place without some of these bloomin' idiots. I would highly recommend BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE, but suggest that you read Lev's other books in order of publication. Another point about Lev's books. I've been becoming a little concerned that so many books, movies, tv shows, etc. are using only allusions to popular culture, doing away with those to classical literature, mythology, art, et al. Lev manages to bring both into his writing and that is a real bonus.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Burn Marks, February 6, 2002

By 

Author Bill Peschel "Writers Gone Wild" (Hershey, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burning Down the House (Nick Hoffman Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Nick Hoffman is a very confused man. The untenured professor and star of Lev Raphael's four mystery novels faces a bleak future from his unwanted connection with several murders. He's concerned about the rise of hate crimes against gays on campus. Even his sexuality has come under assault by his unexpected attraction to Juno Dromgoole, the voluptuous Canadian professor who's a force of nature in spandax. Not that he's against such connections, but his long-time male lover might object.

Worse, the State University of Michigan is under considerable turmoil. A new administrator has pushed the faculty to open revolt with her high-handed ways. If that built the bonfire, the presence of a Christmas "Diversity Tree" and the possibility of a Whiteness Studies program is the equivalent of dumping gasoline and tossing on the flaming torch. And Juno's campaign to become chairman of Nick's department is being undermined with threats. Nick tries to negotiate these land mines, but his search for the source of these attacks compels him to reach a possibly life-changing conclusion.

As a former professor, Lev Raphael has plenty of material to etch his acidic portrayals. There are few good people. The administrators and faculty are deadly ambitious, hilariously inept or simply clueless. Back-biting and rumor-mongering are traditional ways to gain power or revenge. Meetings tend to degenerate into accusations and chaos. In this context, violence seems like just another way to get ahead; cannibalism the logical conclusion of a bloody-minded faculty meeting.

"Burning Down the House" marks a new direction among the amateur detective subset of the mystery genre. It's less a mystery novel than the culmination of threads woven in Raphael's previous books, beginning with "Let's Get Criminal." Nick's confrontations with violence and death has been changing him, from a buoyant teacher to a more edgier version, flirting with the possibility of violence. This can make "Burning" an unsettling book at times; Nick is almost manic in his reaction to Juno and the crimes he's witnessed. The lead protagonist honestly being affected by violence is rarely seen in this part of the mystery field; most either start out that way, or never seem to mind constantly being surrounded by bodies. Following Nick's journey into the dark side of human nature alone makes the next book in the series worth watching for.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC SATIRE! RAPHAEL'S BEST!, September 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Burning Down the House (Nick Hoffman Mysteries) (Hardcover)

If you've followed this delightful, well-written, and moving series from the first book, you've watched Nick Hoffman grow progressively disillusioned with his academic home, though he loves teaching itself. The pettiness hasn't just been petty, it's been murderous, and the university he teaches at has become more and more of an autocracy.

Well, in BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE, the hard rain starts to fall and
Nick is caught in an academic riot--yes!--that is the wildest scene Raphael has ever written. It's as good as anything Jane Smiley or David Lodge has done in this vein.

Don't expect a paint-by-numbers mystery, and don't expect political correctness either. Nick enters uncharted territory in a number of surprising and exciting ways.