Customer Reviews

The Northbury Papers

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I've always been a fan of mysteries. I grew up reading Nacy Drew and playing Clue, but I have never been completely satisfied when it came to reading many of the modern mystery writers. John Grisham and Mary Higgins Clark became redundant with over used storylines and Anne George builds a great story and then seems to get tired and just ends it, without giving the reader all of the information. Dobson's story kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't put The Northbury Papers down. Having a degree in English, I recognized the faculty dissension between the OWM's and people who read the phone book for culture studies. I didn't want the book to end and I can't wait to immerse myself in Enfield College again to read her other stories. Hopefully they will be as fresh as this one.

Read it through in one sitting--very diverting with interesting characters and you even feel as if you're learning about American literature and academia along the way. My only quarrel is some of the dialog--especially the male characters is a little flat or even occasionally unrealistic. Overall though very good and I plan to buy her next one in hardcover.

Karen Pelletier is the kind of English professor I wish I had had in college. Maybe if so I'd still be in the academy. But alas no, she is only the brainchild of Professor Joanne Dobson. A delightful thinker and speaker, Karen has had a troubled life and comes from the poor side of the tracks which nobody in the Ivy League will ever let her live down. No matter how acclaimed her scholarship, she doesn't have the money to live the lifestyle of her peers. And she is the mother of a daughter who, not to be blunt about this, is ashamed of her. It's sort of like Stella Dallas, but even more dramatic. Over the arc of the five Pelletier books, mother and daughter grow closer together, but it is a painful sort of relationship, reminding me of the one between Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann in AUTUMN SONATA.

Ironic then that Karen here is working on the papers of the (fictional) 19th century American Renaissance novelist Serena Northbury, who knew a few things about children and parents herself. Karen attracts the patronage of wealthy feminist Edith Hart, a lovely woman with a giant mansion that houses the archive of her great-great-grandmother, Serena Northbury herself. What do you know, but Karen lucks out and discovers the manuscript of CHILD OF THE NORTHSTAR, an unpublished novel by the one and only Serena Northbury, who was sort of like a Harriet Beecher Stowe except with Anne Sexton-like personal traumas. Next up, Dr. Edith Hart lies dead, the novel has disappeared, and Karen is under suspicion as the secretive millionairess has changed her will and left Karen $12 million, but looking on the bright side, this means that the police, in the person of studly Brian Dennehy lookalike Sgt Charlie Piotrowski, will be coming to call and we all know what happens when Pat meets Mike as it were!

They say opposites attract, and over the course of the books Karen falls hard for Charlie, even despite herself. This book is twice as long as it deserves to be, and has enough characters to fill out a trilogy by Selma Lagerlof, all with bewilderingly cute names like Shamega, Tibby and Sally Chenille, and it's ludicrous what happens in it, and yet I can see why Joanne Dobson has so many fans. We've been waiting years for a sixth book, one that would follow the MALTESE MANUSCRIPT of 2003. No wonder it takes so long for her to complete one of her bestsellers, they must each weigh in at 120,000 words or more of academic nonsense.

Northbury Papers - English professor at the fictional Enfield (the real life area inspiration was probably the Happy Valley in Amherst) Karen Pelletier has decided to write Serena Northbury, an early feminist writer,biography. When she interviews a descendant of Serena's, she becomes involved in a murder mystery, when the woman dies unexpectedly, leaving Karen her papers in order so that a center for women's studies may be founded, she also puts Karen as a suspect. Meanwhile, tensions are heating up over a student who is harassing another one of Karen's students. When she gives the boy a bad paper grade, his father, a college trustee threatens to sue. With Detective Piotrowski's help, she turns to solving the mystery. The author is clearly having fun poking fun at the pomposities of college life.

The Northbury Papers is the second 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 puts 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 abandons him to follow her desire for a career to settle at tony, elite Enfield College in New England. Arriving at Enfield, she's the new kid on the English department block sharing responsibilities for 19th century American literature with an aggressive, pompous womanizer who wants to discuss more than literature with her. She finds herself attracted to all the wrong men, and attracts attention from men she would rather avoid. Ah well, back to those term papers!

Those who liked Quieter than Sleep will probably enjoy The Northbury Papers as well.

I recommend reading Quieter than Sleep before this book because the characters won't make as much sense without having read that book first. Otherwise, you may find this book to be below average for a literary mystery.

Professor Karen Pelletier has had a long-time interest in the neglected popular women authors in 19th century America. When her friend, Professor Jill Greenberg, gives her a gift of Jane Eyre which had once belonged to popular fiction author Mrs. Serena Northbury, her interest is redirected towards Mrs. Northbury's appealing work. Karen tracks down the seller, Dr. Edith Hart, and is delighted to find that the family home contains other books . . . and even personal papers that belonged to Mrs. Northbury. With Dr. Hart's encouragement, Karen begins sorting out the materials.

With this literary beginning, the story also veers into academic infighting over the "literary canon" of what should be taught, racial and sexual harassment on campus, and new motherhood.

The story takes a darker turn when Dr. Hart dies, and the police are suspicious. An intriguing manuscript also disappears . . . along with a mysterious photograph. An unexpected twist of fate puts Karen in the middle of a family battle royal.

Unlike Quieter than Sleep, the mystery isn't exposed in the opening pages. This time, Professor Dobson waits a decent interval before providing the overly clear clues that will probably lead you to identify the evil-doers quiet easily. As a result, the book still isn't very mysterious, but it is an enjoyable and easy read. The Northbury Papers will especially appeal to those who have a feminist interest in literature.

I found the book disappointing in three respects. First, the Karen Pelletier character isn't nearly as interesting as in the first book. She doesn't come alive as much for me either. Second, the Serena Northbury character is totally fictional. It would have been more interesting to speculate about a real literary character from that period who was unknown to me. I found Mrs. Northbury to be a little unrealistically drawn for her time. Third, although there are a lot of momentous events going on in the book, I didn't find myself emotionally engaged by the characters or the events. I felt more like I was reading a book of manners.

The book's primary appeal for me was to have multiple level mysteries of current events against the background of hidden events in the 19th century that foreshadowed today's events. The book seems much better plotted in that sense than Quieter than Sleep was.

As I finished the book, I was reminded of how important it is for us to stay in close communication with our parents and children . . . and to not let disagreements separate us.

Dr. Karen Pelletier is fascinated by the work of Serena Northbury. She was a popular fiction novelist of the 1800's. Other literature professors and students call her stories trash, but Karen feels that she has captured life. A find in an old bookstore leads to her meeting Northbury's great granddaughter, Dr. Edith Hart. Dr. Hart is very frail from age and diabetes, but still a very forceful personality. She answers some of the questions Karen has for her, and promises more info later. Karen is given permission to look through some of her personal papers and finds what looks to be an unpublished manuscript. Not too long after, Dr. Hart is murdered and the manuscript disappears. Dr. Hart has left a strange will, she left 10 million and the mansion to Enfield College with the condition that Karen run the new Northbury Center for Women's Literature. This makes many very unhappy, was one of them the murderer?

This was a very quick moving novel. I liked the characters, for the most part, they were real people, not dry academics, like many of this genre. Karen is not your typical English professor. The author is very good at intertwining the various plots. Very good mystery.

The English department of New England's Enfield College is divided over what constitutes classic literature. The old guard revere Shakespeare and Chaucer. Austen sometimes gets a nod. The new centurions regard just about anything as literature. This war leaves two year professor Karen Pelletier in the wrong camp as the department chair champions Milton while Karen was hired to teach American Women's Literature, an oxymoron amongst her peers.

To make tenure even more tenuous, Karen is fascinated by the works of nineteenth century writer Serena Northbury, who all her colleagues agree wrote trash. She plans to write a biography on the woman in spite of the objections of the people in her department. During her research, Karen finds an unpublished manuscript in the possession of a descendent of Northbury. However, instead of academia triumph, a murder occurs. Karen realizes that she has more to worry about than just the potential demise of her career as someone wants her out of the way too.

The second Professor Pelletier academic mystery is a brilliant entry that will elate the audience. The characters are sharp and in many ways a satirical look at the ole boys network. The who-done-it is interesting and puzzling enough to charm readers. However, what really makes THE NORTHBURY PAPERS grade out as an A+ is Karen's relationships with various and sundry, including the long-deceased author she is studying. Anyone who enjoys a fun mystery, but especially with a college backdrop, should read Joanne Dobson' latest novel and its predecessor, QUIETER THAN SLEEP, because the author has a 4.0 index while majoring in entertaining, well-written literature.

Harriet Klausner

Definitely need to read Quieter Than Sleep to draw the full benefit of this "second in the series." Enjoyed the character development as much as the central story.

Northbury Papers - English professor at the fictional Enfield (the real life area inspiration was probably the Happy Valley in Amherst) Karen Pelletier has decided to write Serena Northbury, an early feminist writer,biography. When she interviews a descendant of Serena's, she becomes involved in a murder mystery, when the woman dies unexpectedly, leaving Karen her papers in order so that a center for women's studies may be founded, she also puts Karen as a suspect. Meanwhile, tensions are heating up over a student who is harassing another one of Karen's students. When she gives the boy a bad paper grade, his father, a college trustee threatens to sue. With Detective Piotrowski's help, she turns to solving the mystery. The author is clearly having fun poking fun at the pomposities of college life.

The Northbury Papers is a good old fashioned mystery. It will not cause your heart to beat faster, but is quite a nice read. I especially enjoyed how she let you in on the not so nice agendas of all the characters. Life is complicated, and she weaves this aspect nicely into her who-dun-it.