Maltese Manuscript [Mass Market Paperback]

Joanne Dobson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2004

In classic noir tradition, English Professor Karen Pelletier gains a client when her office door opens and a famous Private Eye novelist enters. The author is dogged by Trouble (a Torrweiler) and by a problem. And since Sunnye Hardcastle (a Patricia Cornwell lookalike) will be a featured speaker in the English Department's upcoming conference on the murder mystery, Karen is intrigued. The next thing you know, one midnight, someone rushes out of the Enfield Library with an armload of rare books. With a real private eye on the case, the hunt is on-for the manuscript of Hammett's famous novel, The Maltese Falcon, for the missing books, and for potential murder suspects.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her fifth Prof. Karen Pelletier mystery, Dobson (Quieter Than Sleep) offers an academic novel both gutsy and romantic. Sound contradictory? It is, thanks to bestselling feminist author Sunnye Hardcastle, herself a dozen or so contradictions, who comes to Enfield College in Massachusetts with her rottweiler, Trouble, to speak on the hard-boiled women's detective novel at an English department conference. But trouble dogs Sunnye. Lavishly expensive texts and even a manuscript of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon disappear, despite a tight alarm system at the college library. Karen ends up hiding Sunnye from the local police, even though this brings down the wrath of Lt. Charlie Piotrowski, Karen's he-man lover, who's looking into the thefts. Murder muddles their affair, as well as the criminal investigation, which leads to two houses holding fabulous libraries, including many first editions, signed copies and manuscripts with marginal notes. Dobson's obvious knowledge of, and respect for, mystery and detective fiction is immense. She takes the reader on a glorious tour, describing everything from comic books to anthologies. Even the most moral mystery fans will understand why a person would want to purloin even one or two of these treasures.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

There's no one better than Dobson at playing the politics of academe--not for laughs as much as amused chuckles. Famed crime novelist Sunnye Hardcastle (think Patricia Cornwell) is part of Enfield's Women's Studies conference on crime fiction. Professor Karen Pelletier will serve as Hardcastle's keeper while balancing concern about tenure and her own classes. Meanwhile, some precious books and a Dashiell Hammet manuscript have disappeared from the college library. More rare books disappear, a researcher dies, and Hardcastle, the researcher, and the PI brought in to investigate turn out to have odd connections with each other. Dobson riffs brilliantly and hilariously on academic conferences and the hard-boiled female detective. She allows Karen the complexity of an adult relationship with a police lieutenant while seamlessly inserting graceful asides on food, clothing, music, and teaching styles. She gets the library stuff almost exactly right, too. The best so far in a thoroughly entertaining series. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: I Books (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743480058
• ISBN-13: 978-0743480055
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,033,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Wonderful news! FACE OF THE ENEMY, the WWII novel I co-authored with Beverle Graves Myers, will be published in September 2012 by Poisoned Pen Press.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Pelletier novel yet, March 15, 2003

By 

Moe811 (New York USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Maltese Manuscript (Hardcover)

Karen Pelletier is on the tenure track at Enfield College. She is assigned to escort a famous novelist during a seminar on campus. Sunnye is a writer of novels featuring a female private investigator and Karen has been a fan of her work for years. At the same time, valuable manuscripts and books are missing from the college library. A childhood friend is hired to look into the missing books. When a man is found dead in the library, Karen's significant other, homicide detective Charlie Piotrowski further complicates matters.

I have long been a fan of this series and couldn't wait for this one to be published. I read it in one sitting on the day it arrived. The main character in the series is a college English professor, yet she seems very real and down to earth. The film noir theme of the book is very well done and keeps sneaking in when you least expect it. This novel was and incredibly quick and entertaining read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wacky, Romantic Adventure Tale, January 15, 2004

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Maltese Manuscript (Hardcover)

I decided to characterize The Maltese Manuscript as an adventure tale because I've come to realize that Ms. Dobson's "mysteries" just cannot be characterized that way. She telegraphs who did what to whom much too clearly to see her books as mysteries. Sure, they are dead bodies, missing persons and stolen goods, but those are really just a backdrop for the comic action in this fine novel. Think of The Maltese Manuscript as a Stephanie Plum-like adventure involving libraries, academics, feminists and detective fiction authors. For long-time fans of the series, the romance of Professor Karen Pelletier and police Lieutenant Charlie Piotrowski is in full flower in this book. The complications from that romance remind me of many fine episodes of I Love Lucy. I hope that Ms. Dobson continues in this vein in future novels.

The Maltese Manuscript is the fifth volume in Professor Joanne Dobson's series about Professor Karen Pelletier. In Quieter than Sleep, readers first met the professor. Doctor Pelletier found herself pregnant as a teen in high school, and dropped out of her plans to go to Smith to marry her truck driver lover. After a difficult pregnancy and marital abuse, she put her life together to raise her daughter as a single Mom while pursuing her academic career. Finally finding love with a cop in New York, she abandoned him to follow her desire for a career to settle at tony, elite Enfield College in New England. Arriving at Enfield, she became the new kid on the English department block sharing responsibilities for 19th century American literature with an aggressive, pompous womanizer who wanted to discuss more than literature with her. She found herself attracted to all the wrong men, and attracted attention from men she would rather avoid. Ah well, back to those term papers! In The Northbury Papers, the professor had an unusual stroke of luck that made her career prospects much brighter. In The Raven and the Nightingale, she made an important literary discovery and explored the nature of originality. In Cold and Pure and Very Dead, the author explores what makes literature significant and finally develops the love interest between the professor and her police lieutenant sparring partner. The primary appeal of the series is that Professor Dobson has created a memorable character who will resonate with all those who question pretension. Increasingly, the other characters are becoming memorable as well.

Those who liked Quieter than Sleep, The Northbury Papers, The Raven and the Nightingale, or Cold and Pure and Very Dead may not like The Maltese Manuscript as much unless they like the series mostly for its characters and academic-spoofing humor. This book is a strong departure in style from the earlier books. If you think you would like a thinking person's Stephanie Plum, then The Maltese Manuscript is probably for you.

I recommend reading Quieter than Sleep before this book because the characters and the context won't make as much sense without having read that book first. Otherwise, you may find this book to be a four-star read.

This book is almost a spoof and delivers on the very promising sense of humor by the author that was hinted at in Cold and Pure and Very Dead. I was reminded of Hoodwink in the Nameless Detective series by Mr. Bill Pronzini.

Enfield College is planning a Women's Studies conference, and noted crime novelist, Ms. Sunnye Hardcastle, has been hired to speak. That invitation makes the conference high profile, and shifts its focus onto feminism in detective fiction. Ms. Hardcastle reads the topic of Professor Pelletier's talk, and orders her driver to head for Enfield. Ms. Hardcastle wants Professor Pelletier to help her research her next book. Ms. Hardcastle's entrance is a memorable one:

"The door to my office opened, and a dame walked in, bringing Trouble with her. The dame was Sunnye Hardcastle, celebrated crime novelist, and Trouble was her dog, a big Rottweiler with teeth like boning knives." The obvious reference to the classic noir detective fiction style is very cleverly and humorously done. The fun continues throughout the book. The language of academic studies about women provides constant sources of humor throughout the book.

Because of their connection, Professor Pelletier is assigned to be Ms. Hardcastle's escort during her visit for the conference. During the conference, a dead body is found in the library, the manuscript of The Maltese Falcon disappears, a student and her ward disappear, and Ms. Hardcastle becomes a suspect. In the background, the library has been losing its detective fiction to an unknown thief for some time. When Charlie Piotrowski takes on the investigation, the potential for humorous mishaps explodes. Charlie tells Karen to keep out of the investigation. Miffed, she responds by withholding evidence and driving him up the wall. Can their relationship survive these strains?

As I finished the book, I found myself wondering how I can cleanse my own writing of jargon that is impenetrable and off-putting to the general reader. Specialists, beware of hiding your expertise with stilted language!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This series gets better & better, May 2, 2003

By 

M. Yates "mavricktoo" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maltese Manuscript (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this installment of the series. There's always a risk when you set a mystery series in a smaller town. The author constantly has to bring new characters into the small setting and sometimes it can feel very artificial - sort of like the Ensign Smith of Star Trek - you know whenever a minor character is introduced he's going to be gone fairly soon. The small town college setting has allowed Dobson to bring in new characters in a believable manner - this time it's for a Women's Studies crime fiction seminar. Familiar characters do return, though they don't have roles as big as in previous books.

I liked how Dobson skipped ahead to Karen & Charlie already being in the relationship. I get tired of the will they or won't they dance so many book series and TV shows perform. I never would do that in real life, why should I expect the characters I care about to do the same? Despite the existing relationship, there still is some tension between the two, and I think it's realistic and well done. I LOVE how Charlie made up to Karen after they had had a fight!

There are missing books, a suspicious death and a man from Karen's past. I had many theories about how all of these were going to be resolved, and I was pleasantly surprised when I was mostly wrong. I don't know if Dobson needed a new publisher, but I'm glad that Poisoned Pen Press is continuing to publish this fine author.