Customer Reviews

Death of a Princeton President (Princeton Murders)

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This is the second book Waldron has written about McLeod Dulaney and Princeton. Waldron really did her homework on Princeton: all the details, about the people and places, are amazing and will keep any alum interested, but that's the only positive part of the book. The writing is stunted, particularly the dialogue. The main character is not a law enforcer of any sort and so it seems a bit farfetched that she would be able to do all of this detective work (although at least, that is addressed as the police lieutenant keeps telling her to stop). The plot twists are rather predictable, lots of clearly red herrings pointing to different suspects when I figured out who the real murderer was much earlier than she did. There's also a strangely characterized romance that didn't seem to have a reason to be there.
Basically, if you're looking for good literature, or a good murder mystery, look elsewhere. If you want to read a rather fun book about Princeton, especially as an alum, go ahead, but don't have terribly high expectations.

Melissa Faircloth is the newly installed president of Princeton. When she is missing for three days, her daughter asks her nonfiction writing teacher, McLeod Dulaney, to find her. It is two years after McLeod's first stay in Princeton when she and her students solved a murder mystery. Presently McLeod is good friends with the president's assistant, George Bridges. McLeod is advised that the president's estranged husband, Clarence Robbins, is in Princeton and she arranges to see him. McLeod hears that the president is planning to fire the provost.

George and McLeod find Melissa Faircloth dead in her office. Afterwards a number of people agree that McLeod asks too many questions. A moviemaker has remained on campus after the spring break against the wishes of the late president. McLeod learns that her friend George is actually a murder suspect. Snapper soup is a specialty of the Nassau Club. McLeod eats there with a 1940 alumnus. George is put on administrative leave after an article in the Trenton Times lists him as a suspect. He is on paid leave, but is idle and frustrated until McLeod solves the mystery.

A family member of mine notes the storytelling meanders. It is true that the writer takes her time. Basically she does a better than adequate job here.

This story is my favorite of the series. It's interesting to know more about Princeton and how things are changing there. When a woman becomes president of this institution, some people are not happy. And when she is found murdered, everyone is left wondering why. Our white haired heroine, McLeod, pursues answers and puts her own life at risk. The scary ending is one that could happen only at Princeton!

McLeod Dulaney is a Florida journalist who has landed a great gig: teaching writing at Princeton University one semester a year. Coincidentally, every time she's up in New Jersey, she's involved in a murder investigation on campus. Inquisitive by nature, McLeod makes every attempt to solve the murder. She gets close to the truth but often comes to a slightly incorrect conclusion.

This second installment in the series takes place more than a year after the first book. McLeod is back on campus, once again teaching a nonfiction writing course. One of her students happens to be the daughter of the university president, and when that woman has been missing for several days, the student asks McLeod for help. Everyone knows that her previous class investigated -- successfully -- a series of murders during that fateful semester. So while McLeod beseeches the student not to get involved and ask questions, she ignores her own advice and starts plodding away on her own. Soon enough, the president is found to have been murdered, and her daughter asks McLeod to move temporarily with her into the presidential suite at Lowrie House until things settle down. Now she's in the prime place to figure out who the killer was. And even though she's been warned by every potential suspect and by police investigator Nick Perry (who remembered her from the previous incident) to drop her lines of questioning, McLeod is a born interviewer and cannot help herself. Her new friend and date, George Bridges, has lost his job because of circumstances surrounding the murder, and McLeod rationalizes that she's only trying to decipher everything to clear his name. But can she put two and two together before the killer decides to eliminate her from the equation?

The episodes in this series are like bags of potato chips: you can't stop at just one. Though the general writing style and the unraveling of each mystery won't set the world on fire, the books are entertaining enough -- especially for folks who are connected to Princeton or to any academic atmosphere where similar circumstances could certainly arise.

I loved this book! DEATH OF A PRINCETON PRESIDENT is the second novel in Ann Waldron's Princeton University-based mystery series, and i'ts even better than the first (which is saying a lot since the first one was great!). McLeod Dulaney is a very smart, insightful and witty sleuth (she didn't win a Pulitzer Prize for nothing), and her observations of life and death on the Princton campus are so interesting and entertaining you'll want the book to go on forever. It won't, though. A sensational murder, a sinfully clever plot, and a cast of wickedly well-drawn characters make DEATH OF A PRINCETON PRESIDENT the kind of mystery you can't put down!