Let's Get Criminal: An Academic Mystery [Paperback]

Lev Raphael (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1997

When Perry Cross, an outsider, is hired to fill a new position at the State University of Michigan, fellow teacher Nick Hoffman finds the situation curious. But his curiosity changes obsession when he learns that his longtime lover, Stefan, shares a past with Cross. Now Cross has been murdered, and both Nick and Stefan are prime suspects.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The ivory tower looks a bit chipped in Raphael's portrayal of a state university set in the fictional town of Michiganapolis. Nick Hoffman has everything he has ever wanted: a teaching job, a nice house, a solid relationship with his lover, Stefan Borowski, a brilliant novelist and the university's writer in residence. But when Perry Cross shows up, Nick's peace of mind is shattered. Not only does he have to share his office with the nefarious Perry, who managed to weasel his way into a tenured position without qualification, he also discovers that Perry played a destructive role in Stefan's past. Nick, who teaches basic writing courses, is a self-confessed gossip and isn't above creating a little drama of his own when Stefan invites Perry to dinner. The next morning, Perry turns up dead. Nick wonders if Stefan might have had something to do with it while the campus security force is wondering the same about Nick. Nearly all the faculty members and a couple of grad students have something unsavory in their pasts they'd rather not broadcast. Despite laying it on a bit thick with his narrating Nick (who immediately thinks of Ceausescu's overthrow in Bucharest when he sees a broken window), Raphael (Winter Eyes, 1992) delivers literate, witty, mildly suspenseful goods.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

English professor Nick Hoffman is mightily suspicious when obnoxious Perry Cross, with whom he has to share his office, is hired in a nontenured position with a tenure-track salary (i.e., more than his). When (before the semester is over) Cross turns up dead and a leading suspect in what soon seems to be murder is Nick's life partner, Nick becomes obsessed with discovering the truth about Cross and his murderer. Interestingly enough for followers of Raphael's career, Nick's partner is Stefan Borowski, protagonist of Raphael's enthralling first novel, Winter Eyes (1992). That book may have had its mysteries--Stefan's discoveries of his Jewishness and his gayness--but it was not a murder mystery. This book may be a murder mystery, but it is more rewarding when regarded as a lengthy monologue by a protagonist-narrator, Nick, whom some will find annoyingly chatty and self-absorbed but others will consider delightfully loquacious, if a trifle batty. Consider it a mystery for those who don't especially like mysteries. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312151608
• ISBN-13: 978-0312151607
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,244,119 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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great start to a great mystery series!, August 31, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: Let's Get Criminal: An Academic Mystery (Paperback)

When is a gay novel not a gay novel? That question arose with the arrival of the trade paperback edition of "Let's Get Criminal" by Lev Raphael.

St. Martin's Press publishes mysteries like Harliquin produces romances. Upwards of 300 a year are produced in all varieties of genres, each one briefly given its moment on the bookstore shelf before being replaced by the next batch.

When the hardcover version appeared last year, "Let's Get Criminal" was just one among many to me, but it hooked me from the first page, when the arrival of Professor Perry Cross to the State University of Michigan threatens to unravel the longtime relationship between professors Nick Hoffman and Stefan Borowski. Hired under suspicious circumstances, with Borowski's recommendation, Cross brought with him a well-bred air of menace, so that when his body was found floating underneath a campus bridge, he left behind plenty of suspects, including Hoffman and Borowski.

But while Cross is at the center of the mystery, Nick Hoffman is the star of the book. Jealous of the past Cross and Borowski apparently shared, Hoffman reels from strength to weakness and back, using his good humor and acidic observations to keep himself standing. When Cross' death makes them suspects to a homophobic detective, Hoffman charges into the investigation.

"Let's Get Criminal" is more than just a mystery story, because Raphael winningly portrays Nick and Stefan, highlighting their differences and examining how their love bends and changes under the pressures of the investigation. There's humor here, but also menace and sadness, and even triumph at the end.

The trade paperback version carries a green banner on the cover announcing it is part of the "Stonewall Inn Mysteries," a series which includes works by George Baxt, Mark Richard Zubro and Phyllis Knight. While I accept the idea that gay-themed mysteries should be marketed to gays, I never thought of "Let's Get Criminal" in that context. This is a book I would recommend to anyone who loves mysteries.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delicious beginning to a wonderful series!, November 11, 2000

By 

Ray Cupples "Midnight Manic" (Indiana, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Let's Get Criminal: An Academic Mystery (Paperback)

Mr. Raphael begins his delightful "Nick Hoffman Mystery Series" with a book that sets the tone for a series of truly entertaining reads. "Lets Get Criminal" introduces the reader to Nick and his long-term lover Stefan and to the unlikely setting for murder, the campus of the State University of Michigan.

Like Miss Marple's village of St. Mary Mead, the campus, usually a quiet and stately institution of academia, is placed into an uproar over the murder of a particularly disliked professor and at the center is Nick's lover Stefan who, through a series of coincidences, is considered to be suspect number one by the truly detestable homophobic campus police investigator, Detective Valley. Nick has no choice but to try to find the real murderer before Stefan is arrested.

Mr. Raphael has succeeded in creating characters that you get to know and relate to easily and placed them in a setting that can be recognized immediately by anyone who has attended college. I, personally believe that, besides the mystery aspect of the story, the detailing of the day to day lives of Nick and Stefan is an intricate part of what made this book so satisfing for me. The descriptions of their home, meals, lovemaking, etc. gave me the feeling of being proud to be gay and of knowing that there is more to life than the next bar/club/bathhouse.

I heartily recommend this and all of Mr. Raphael's "Nick Hoffman" books to anyone who loves good characters, a witty read, and a delicious mystery!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let me hear your body talk..., October 7, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Let's Get Criminal: An Academic Mystery (Hardcover)

Two things save LET'S GET CRIMINAL from being so relentlessly precious you could choke on it. The first is the fact that Lev Raphael genuinely adores the mystery genre. The second is the ingenuous, inquisitive and catty Nick Hoffman, Raphael's sleuth professor. Despite the bitchy asides, the pretentious literary (and other) allusions, and a severe case of political correctness, Hoffman is amusing and -- human. It's hard not to feel for a hero who muses over life, love, literature and still gets the dishwasher loaded.

Unlike KIRKUS REVIEWS I didn't find the mystery of who killed Nick's much-hated office mate slight, so much as the supporting characters (Hoffman's lover, Stefan, who figures in earlier Raphael works, notably so). More exploration of the intrinsic Nick/Stefan relationship, and less of books and writing, would be a plus for this reader. Also lacking is the shattering effect of violence on these ivory towers, and that's because the violence itself is academic.

What Raphael has written is something like the first gay cosy. SUM provides the village setting, complete with cast of educated eccentrics. The university and the intellectual milieu are skillfully drawn, the writing is witty, the mystery sufficient. What is needed here is passion and danger--especially danger. Having got criminal, I think Raphael should go back to the blackboard and get...physical.