The Mark Twain Murders [Mass Market Paperback]

Edith Skom (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 1990

Skulduggery was afoot in the campus library at Midwestern University. Sinister students were razoring pages from periodicals and stealing obscure essays for their term papers. A bookish thief was making a bundle smuggling out valuable first editions for resale. And in the South Tower, a killer was stalking a coed.

Even so, Professor Beth Austin was shocked--and intrigued--to find a handsome FBI agent in the English Department. Soon they had joined forces, delving into the lives of her eccentric colleagues...and straying into the dark shadows of the groves of academe where someone's hands were stained with blood.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The inaugural title in the new Brown Bag mystery series featuring pocket-sized hardcover books, this exciting story is set at Midwestern University in Illinois where a student is killed after winning a prize for her essay on Tom Sawyer . Convinced that the girl had plagiarized the piece, Professor Beth Austin plunges into the intricate task of unearthing the original. Coincidentally, Gil Bailey, an erudite FBI agent, arrives to investigate thefts of library treasures and establishes an informal partnership with Austin. Suspicion falls on professors and others on the university staff as the amateur and professional detectives cooperate and (soon) fall in love. In the end, an attack on Austin proves fatal to the unlikely killer. Skom provides a literary treat, salted with wit, most notably in her characterizations of eccentric academics.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Skulduggery was afoot in the campus library at Midwestern University. Sinister students were razoring pages from periodicals and stealing obscure essays for their term papers. A bookish thief was making a bundle smuggling out valuable first editions for resale. And in the South Tower, a killer was stalking a coed.

Even so, Professor Beth Austin was shocked--and intrigued--to find a handsome FBI agent in the English Department. Soon they had joined forces, delving into the lives of her eccentric colleagues...and straying into the dark shadows of the groves of academe where someone's hands were stained with blood.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Dell (June 3, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440206081
• ISBN-13: 978-0440206088
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,496,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great mystery thriller, May 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mark Twain Murders (Mass Market Paperback)

Skom's first in her three-book series. I read this awhile ago, long before I anticipated the publishing of another Skom mystery, and I was immediately wrapped up in a teriffic whodunnit. I reread this book, and I reccomend the avid mystery-lover jump on it right away!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent university/library whodunit, August 27, 2000

By 

Sheila L. Beaumont (South Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Mark Twain Murders (Mass Market Paperback)

This auspicious debut mystery will please readers who enjoy an academic or library milieu and abundant literary allusions. The ingenious plot involves a group of eccentric English-department faculty members, a handsome FBI agent, plagiarism, thefts of valuable books from the library, and, of course, Mark Twain. It's a well-written, literate novel, and the two sleuths, amateur and professional, are likable, intelligent characters. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the sequels.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars shocking, February 14, 2010

By 

birdwalker "birdwalker" (Friday Harbor, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mark Twain Murders (Beth Austin Mysteries) (Library Binding)

Shocking -- because I read The George Eliot book first, and based on that (even though it's essentially chewing gum for the eyes of TVphobes) I sought out Skom's other two books, and this one is unbelievably amateurish -- not at all as smooth as book number two. Even so, neither of Skom's first two books present her protagonist as much more than a robot. As I said in a comment to a reviewer of the George Eliot book, there is a tremendous temptation to psychoanalyze: has she become an academic because she is unsuited to anything more social? Asberger's syndrome? Definitely obsessive. And not particularly logical in her pursuit of dangerous perpetrators: would you venture into isolated quarters when you know there's a killer around, a killer who is probably after you? ("Who calls me coward?")

A question: does Northwestern University library use the Dewey Decimal System?! Most academic libraries use the LC classification...