Murder at the B-School [Mass Market Paperback]

Jeffrey Cruikshank (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

Now in paperback--Cruikshank's riveting debut novel that probes murder, pretension, and conspiracy in the halls of Harvard University's famed graduate program.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Some fine description helps offset plot weaknesses in this competent first mystery from former Harvard Business School administrator and financial writer Cruikshank (The Greenspan Effect). When Eric MacInnes, a handsome, rich student at the business school, turns up dead in a whirlpool bath in a campus building, Dean Jim Bishop asks Wim Vermeer, a low-level finance professor headed nowhere, to keep the MacInnes family informed about the investigation. That the dean should select the rather lackluster Vermeer for such a sensitive task isn't particularly plausible. Nevertheless, Vermeer goes to the powerful MacInnes family, whose members are predictably hostile when he tries to placate them. Vermeer bumps into Capt. Barbara Brouillard, the Boston police detective assigned to the case, and they agree to work together, an arrangement that again feels forced. Before they've gotten too far, Eric's purported girlfriend, Jeannette Bartlett, jumps off a bridge and another murder follows. The relationship between Vermeer and Brouillard is feasible up to a point, but the leap it later makes leaves the reader behind. The entertaining picture of the world of academic finance and university politics gives the story a bit of an edge.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Cruikshank's debut mystery novel is impressive. The protagonist is a Harvard Business School, soon-to-be-untenured assistant professor who is the descendant, many generations past, of the painter Vermeer--but without any aesthetic inclination of his ancestor. Assigned to help "investigate" the murder of one of his finance students, Wim Vermeer gets caught up in the lives of the rich and famous, is implicated in a second homicide, and, finally, tracks down the killer in a sleepy Puerto Rican village. The main scenery--eastern Massachusetts--rings true, as do the solemn caricatures of the afflicted and affluent MacInnes family. What remains to be a bit more fleshed out, pun intended, is the portrait of the female cop--and, indeed, all the other women in this whodunit. It's not hard to figure out the ending, but the story is engagingly entertaining. Barbara Jacobs
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: 384 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446616613
• ISBN-13: 978-0446616614
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,609,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm the author or co-author of numerous books of interest to managers. These include histories of the Harvard Business School, New England Electric, Cummins Engine Company, The Weather Channel, and Perdue Farms; a book on corporations and architecture for Herman Miller, Inc.; a history of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy; the definitive guide to art in public places (Going Public); and books on numerous other subjects, ranging from logistics in the Gulf War (Moving Mountains) to entrepreneurship (Low Risk, High Reward) to the inner workings of the commercial real estate industry (The Real Estate Game, and Creating and Growing Real Estate Wealth).

In 2005, I published my first murder mystery (Murder at the B-School). Another is in the works. (Thanks for your patience.)

I'm about to publish my first biography--The Man Who Sold America--which focuses on the life and times of Albert D. Lasker (HBR Press, summer of 2010). I think it's an amazing story, of interest to a wide range of people: advertising and PR executives, baseball buffs, students of American political history, people with an interest in bipolar illness, and anyone who likes a good yarn.

I'm a graduate of Amherst College and the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School. I worked as a consultant to a number of companies and schools in the Boston area in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1980, I became the editor of the Harvard Business School Bulletin, beginning a relationship with that school that has continued since then, and has led to many other engagements in the worlds of education and business.

In 1989, I co-founded Kohn Cruikshank, Inc., a Boston-based consulting firm that served corporate and institutional clients until September of 2001, when we moved to Milton, Massachusetts and became The Cruikshank Company, Inc. I've worked on capital campaigns and development-related work for Harvard Law School (two campaigns), MIT (two campaigns), the University of California at Berkeley, the Boston Athenaeum, Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Massachusetts, Fenway Community Health, North Shore Medical Center, the Shackleton School, Milton Academy, Phillips Andover Academy, the Peddie School, Boston University, and many other institutions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars college conspiracies, October 16, 2004

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder at the B-School (Hardcover)

Rebeccasreads recommends MURDER AT THE B-SCHOOL as a thoughtful thriller, although the protagonists are in need of more passion as they tend to talk in lectures. However, Jeffrey Cruikshank does have a way with words, a fine sense of humor, an aptitude for suspense, & has the makings of a mystery writer to watch out for.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When Murder Hits School!, October 20, 2004

By 

Betsie's Literary Page (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder at the B-School (Hardcover)

The background for this murderous tale is Harvard Business School, aka The 'B-School'. Boston Police descend upon the school when the school's golden boy, Eric MacInnes, the son of a wealthy dynasty is found dead in a Jacuzzi after hours in a locked building.

A descendant of the 17th century Dutch painter, Wim Vermeer, is a teacher on The 'B-School' faculty who not only fears his career is on the line, but is stunned when this "freak" accident appears to look like an ingenious murder. He soon finds himself suspect in the case.

Dean Bishop assigns Vermeer the task of liaison between Harvard and the MacInnes who are demanding answers. The lead investigator in the case is Captain Barbara Brouillard, nicknamed by the department as 'Ms. Biz', also known for making up her own rules. She takes a liking to Vermeer, but isn't sure if he's an asset or an impediment to her investigation.

Desperate to clear himself and discover the truth, Wim begins his own investigation into the case.

Corpses begin to pile up, when Libby, the MacInnes' daughter, is found murdered. Both rumors, as well as computer evidence begin to point towards Wim Vermeer. It doesn't take long for Vermeer to realize he's been setup for a devious cover-up. With secrets unraveling, and higher members of the faculty being held responsible, the atmosphere in the halls of the Harvard Business School quickly tense.

Jeffrey Cruikshank's descriptive settings of Boston, Cambridge and the Harvard Campus, New York and Puerto Rico help create an interesting debut novel, although the story is somewhat slow to start. However, there are enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing.

Reviewed by Betsie

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad but it could have been much better, January 6, 2006

By 

Scott Delo (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder at the B-School (Hardcover)

When a student from a wealthy family, think Rockefeller or Vanderbilt, is found dead in a campus hot tub, the dean of the Harvard Business School asks an untenured finance professor to provide assistance to the student's family. At the same time, a Boston police detective investigates the death and finds evidence of foul play. The detective and professor team up to determine what happened.

I'm a fan of the mystery genre, particularly mysteries where the detective isn't a police officer. I also have a graduate degree in finance, so I expected to love this novel. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The book's description is misleading in that it implies the professor will solve the case. In truth, the police detective does most of the work. I'd hoped to be given more insight into the inner world of a top tier B-school. Instead, Harvard serves merely as the setting for a stock mystery. This could have just as easily been Murder at Harvard or Murder in Cambridge. The professor didn't seem authentic for a tenure track finance professor at Harvard. He's lackadaisical while I suspect most of them are very intelligent and ambitious. I also expected him to use his unique skills to solve the mystery, similar to how Michael Connelly used a biotech engineer's skills of logic and reasoning to solve a mystery in Chasing the Dime, but that wasn't the case. When John Grisham writes about a lawyer or Michael Crichton writes about a doctor solving a mystery, it's clear they've been there and know what they're talking about. It's obvious this author hasn't been to B-school. He's probably walked across Harvard's campus but that's about it. That's as much of Harvard Business School as you'll get from this story.

On the whole, the book was a pleasant enough experience. The plot flowed smoothly and created enough interest to keep me reading. The protagonists made decent companions for a month's worth of commutes on the train but I don't think I'd be apt to look for a sequel or read anything else by this author. Don't pay retail for this but if you see it in the library or in a bargain bin and like a pleasant mystery that doesn't ask too much from you, then this is worth the read.