Customer Reviews

Let's Get Criminal: An Academic Mystery

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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.

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!

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.

This was a funny and kind of a feel!good who-dun-it book told from the 1st POV of Nick Hoffman, the university professor and lover of Stefan Borowski, also a professor and a reknown writer. When Nick finds out that Stefan helped a former lover to win a position at the University, he's enraged and he wishes that said ex-lover was dead. But then, said ex-lover is truly found dead and suddenly, Nick and Stefan are the main suspects of his murder.

What I loved about this book was the main hero himself. His opinions, his inner voice make you smile and sometimes even laugh out loud. When he finally decides to investigate on his own, he's nervous, he makes mistakes because he's no detective and he never even read mystery novels. It's quite cute :)

On the jacket for this first mystery by Lambda award winner Raphael, Faye Kellerman calls it "literate, witty" and "a delightful romp." I'm always in the mood for a delightful romp, and I liked this one.

Nick Hoffman teaches composition at the State University of Michigan in the capitol, Michiganoloplis, where he lives with his lover, noted writer (and fellow professor) Stefan Borowksi. Trouble begins when Perry Cross, an old lover of Stefan's, comes to SUM and shares an office with Nick. The relationship between Nick and Stefan is particularly strong, and very sweet.

I've read most, if not all, of Raphael's books, and they're clever and addictive.

Neil Plakcy, author of Mahu Surfer: A Hawaiian Mystery (An Alyson Mystery)

The protagonist is gay. So what? If you wnat to limit yourself, this is as good a criteria as any, either pro or con. But I simply like mysteries, and I liked this one.

I'd call it soft-boiled. It fits the loose definition of cozy, but the characters are more realistic than many cozys that reach into a grab bag of eccentrics to fill out the cast. It does fit the cozy rules of keeping the graphic sex and violence off the page, though.

It's an academic mystery, peopled with intelligent, educated people who make allusions the average reader may not catch, but Raphael doesn't hit you over the head with his knowlege, he shares it. Not recognizing a citation does not detract from your enjoyment of the book or your ability to solve the puzzle.

The mystery is well-crafted with clues and red herrings that are neither too obvious or vague. The relationships among the characters ring true, no matter what their or your orientation. I felt this was a family I'd like to visit again, and learn more about.

Lev Raphael - Enjoy Lev's academic mysteries and especially get a kick out of the Michigan detail. Brought back memories of working at a teachers credit union for 18 years and have heard many an outrageous tale as told by professors. Lev pins the tail right on. As an aside, Raphael has got to be the most photogenic of authors I have seen in a LONG time.

The editorial reviewers have summed up the story well, so I'll just say I enjoyed this book. I recommend it. The very first few pages were a tad slow because they deal with university politics, but once I got to know the characters and their conflicts with each other, the story moved along nicely. I read a couple of the other books in this series before this one, and if I could start over, I'd read this one first. The later ones stand alone well enough, but this story presents some background for the later ones. Having read this book, I now have a better understanding of the later ones. I read 4 or 5 mysteries every week, so often figure out "who done it" but this book's ending was clever and I never suspected who the villian was.

Having read and enjoyed some of Lev Raphael's short stories, I was curious to see how his themes of gay identity, Jewish identity and academic life would translate to the mystery genre. In a word: UGH! Against the backdrop of this silly and poorly constructed mystery, those themes seem very forced or as if they were mere afterthoughts.
Despite the author's noble attempt to portray a gay couple in a believable state of domestic bliss and strife, (rather than the usual overly glamorized or repulsive caricatures) Nick & Stephan's relationship is barely developed and not at all compelling - if we were not informed that the two were life partners, we might think that they were roommates who simply got on each other's nerves. Raphael's presentation of the couple's flair and love of beautiful, civilized things as a beacon in the otherwise dull college town is a cute premise, but the lavish descriptions of home-cooked gourmet meals served with caviar, fine art on every wall, and extensive world travel are simply ridiculous. These flights of fancy simply make the characters less believable.
Other details and characters are equally preposterous - namely, the hip female cousin who draws on her experiences as a former fashion model to help Nick solve the crime. The dialogue is not realistic and often very trite. Raphael's use of metaphor is particularly painful - when referring to the writing style of a former student who is also on the wrestling team, the author proclaims "His prose was as lean and powerful as he was." Yak! The story moves very slowly and then seems to gloss over important details. The characters are largely incredible and the writing is surprisingly amateurish compared to some of the author's short stories.
One final gripe - without giving anything away, I'll advise readers to keep their eyes open for a wanna-be witty line towards the end of the book that is so obviously lifted from the 1930s movie "The Women". Does Raphael think that no one but he has seen this campy classic adored by so many gay men? This whole story really just falls flat - I think the author is out of his league and should stick to the short-story genre.