Customer Reviews

The Princeton Murders

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like the occasional mystery, and I know the Princeton campus and surrounding area well, so how could I resist _The Princeton Murders_? I couldn't, but you should. The author does have her Princeton details spot on. Clearly, she spent a lot of time on the campus talking to people to get the setting right. Unfortunately, though, that time seems to have been taken away from writing and plotting.

Some things are small, and should have been caught by a copy editor. A character's name is mentioned as John, but when he's introduced (~40 pages later) his name has changed to George.

A larger problem are the characters. They are mostly 2 dimensional caricatures, distinguishable by only by one extreme characteristic - their Marxism, their ultrafeminism, etc. The students mostly blend together, with the exception of the one clearly meant to be the lead student character. The author refers to many characters by an ever changing array of names - their first name, their last name, a nickname - without rhyme or reason. I had to double check a few times to recall which character she meant. She also introduces a character somewhat late in the game whose sole purpose seems to be to confuse things, but even this is not allowed to flourish, as the character is quickly removed from suspicion.

The plot is rather thin. It's pretty clear to us how the first murder victim was killed, but it takes a while for the characters to figure it out, and the decision to investigate seems forced. The second death is almost an afterthought, and the third is telegraphed pages before we get to it. Worst of all, the author commits one of the great mystery sins - she hides the identity of the murderer from the reader by withholding information we logically should have known. There is much emphasis on the amount of gossip that flies among the group of professors, and indeed, we learn the secrets of characters from other professors spilling them. The reason given for the main murder is exactly the kind of information that would have been gossiped about, and information of a very similar kind was a plot point. In addition, there are a few loose ends. Attempts are made on the main character's life, but left unresolved for no good reason, almost as if they needed to happen to indicate that the main character was Getting Too Close, but then the author couldn't figure out how to reveal who was behind them.

Finally, this is a book that isn't sure what mystery subgenre it wants to live in. The front cover and the back summary seem to clearly mark it as academic mystery, but note the small front cover banner "Faculty Brunch Recipes Included". Indeed they are, all four of them. Four, including the one for mimosas. The book is filled with lavish detail of many meals, but it is only the brunch recipes ones that are included. That seems small for a book that seems intent on having a foot in the cooking mystery subgenre.

In the end, the book occupied a day adequately, but I was very disappointed. If you want to read this, go to the library, borrow it, or (as a last resort) get it used. If Ms. Waldron ever chooses to indulge what appears to be a love of hers, food and restaurants, and produces a book on that subject centered in the same location, I might try her again, but not her mysteries.

This is an easy-to-read murder mystery set in Princeton, NJ. A Tallahasse journalist, having won the Pulitzer Prize, is invited to be a guest lecturer at Princeton University for a semester. Almost as soon as she gets there, three professors in the English department are murdered.
This book will mainly be attractive to people who have spent some time in Princeton. It's fun to read about all the local Princeton establishments as the setting through which the plot unfolds. But the plot itself is pretty boring and predictable, and the villain is unconvincing. It also is weird how much time Waldron spends on describing the food being prepared for each meal. There are even recipes in the back. I feel less masculine for having read this.

McLeod Dulaney is invited to teach the fall version of the John McPhee course, literature of fact. A Pulitzer Prize winner, she quickly compiles some clippings to apply for the post. Rent in Princeton turns out to be astronomical by Tallahassee standards. McLeod enjoys walking around Princeton where it isn't too hot looking at the Gothic buildings designed by Ralph Adams Cram.

A friend in the English department, (McLeod participates in a good deal of socializing), seems to have food poisoning, is hospitalized, and dies. Another member of the English department dies after a party given by McLeod. Some of the students in McLeod's class decide to investigate the two deaths.

One of the assistant professors interviewed admits that the second dead man had stood in the way of his goal of being granted tenure. McLeod feels that the supposed hardship, teaching in Georgia or Texas, would be a good experience for many of the people she has encountered at Princeton. When there is a third death, that of yet another professor, the borough police take over and McLeod tells her students to terminate their involvement. One member of the faculty remarks that he or she is impressed that students are taking some initiative.

In Firestone Library McLeod is almost squeezed to death in the stacks. Later she realizes that she could have used some books to protect herself. One of the victims had found evidence of plagiarism from Giddings and Bate in a novel about Keats and Fanny Brawne. It turns out that the author could not have committed one of the linked murders for reason she was in New York City. Someone else tells McLeod that at Princeton all rumors get reported, that it is a great gothic sieve.

I will not disclose the ending and ruin the reader's pleasure. This is good storytelling. It is a good device to have an outsider, McLeod, do the Princeton thing. Also, the portrayal of the student investigators is superb.

Anna Waldron takes the reader on a delightful romp through all the wonderful places that make Princeton such a special place. Anyone who has ever lived in Princeton--or dreamed of living in Princeton--will relish the references to local joints (I miss the Annex) and campus sights. This book definitely fell into the can't-put-it-down category for me.

As addicting as it was to read, the murder-mystery plot is a bit predictable. I guessed the murderer rather early, and I never guess the murderers of well-crafted mysteries. One very implausible (though amusing) aspect of the book is how many parties the heroine attends. As a professor's wife (albeit, not a Princeton professor's wife), I can attest that the social lives of academics are not half as interesting as McLeod Dulaney's.

Even so, I am glad I read it and will likely read more mysteries in the series when I am in the mood for some book candy.

My test for a mystery: The book held my interest from beginning to end and I'd like to re-read parts. As other readers have noted, the plot is derived from the murder of a professor. A few of Delaney's students decide to enhance their investigative skills by some amateur sleuthing.

I thought the plot worked well, although the author follows genre conventions and a serious reader will guess the murderer. And, as others have noted, the characters are not as deeply drawn as they could be but that's okay in this cozy genre.

My only quibbles were the plausibility of the story: typically, a visiting instructor who's called at the last minute won't get accepted so readily. Everyone will know she's a third choice and they'll treat her accordingly.

And I have *never* seen a department that throws so many parties, after so many years in academia. But maybe English departments are different from business!

The recipes could have been omitted. It's not a culinary series and there are just a few not-too-spectacular recipes....but what kind of series will this be? Heroine McLeod goes back to the newspaper world, so we'll need a new heroine or a new setting.

I bought this book because I had recently moved to central New Jersey and I thought the book would be a fun way to get to know a bit about the Princeton area. While I did learn a little about Princeton, the story was hardly enjoyable. I stopped reading "Young Adult" books like this one in 4th grade and, after six years, I remember exactly why I stopped reading them: boring!!! Unfortunately, this story died long before any of its characters did.

First of all, it was clear who would be the first victim shortly after he/she was introduced. It didn't take long to ascertain the method in which the character was murdered and it was even easier to determine who the next victim would be (and why). The characters, however, need several more chapters to figure out all of this information. Before I reached the middle of the book I already knew who the murderer was, yet the characters remained completely clueless until the murderer nearly succeeded in killing off the story's protagonist.

The predictability of the storyline wasn't the book's only flaw. Waldron has absolutely no idea how to develop her characters. There was no depth to them whatsoever. Many of the characters had one personality or physical trait that made them distinguishable but the rest of the characters just blended together. One thing Waldron never fails to mention about a character is how fat they are and if you were left with any doubts about how obese the person was, you could count on another character to mention it later on in the book.

This brings me to another of the book's flaws. I have to give Waldron some credit; she did do her research on the Princeton area and on Princeton University however she failed to capture the manners of the people. In general, people in Princeton have much more class then the characters in her book. It would be very rare to find someone bold enough to say that someone else was "...wriggling with happiness...And when she wriggled, she's so fat that the office shook" (131). This is only one of many comments made on poor Mystique Alcott's weight problems. All of the Princeton University students and the way they talk remind me of my 8th grade classmates in the midwest. College students, especially ones at Princeton University, should seem a little more mature than middle-schoolers.

On the plus side, the characters spoke very good. (yes, I mean 'good' and not 'well' because that's just how well the characters spoke!) One would expect students and professors at Princeton University to have much better grammer (or at the very least good enough that a 10th grader can't pick out their mistakes) It's a good thing that Cliff Kingsley is a fictional character because as a member of the Princton English Department he would be fired rather quickly for saying things such as "...Thursday night they talked to me and Stephanie" (130). And any student aspiring to go to Princeton University would be lucky to be accepted if he/she ever said, "Then she thanked me for lunch and said she really had to run and that I had made her very happy. Me and what we're planning" (123).

Looking back on everything, I think my 2-star rating is VERY generous. The book does have it's good points though: It tells a bit about the Princeton area and its university, it shares some of the more basic rules of journalism, and it contains a few food recipes as well. 'The Princeton Murders' is a fine way to kill a few hours... it also makes a great table leveler!

Who says the Ivy-encased halls of académe have to be stodgy and dull and boring? Not Ann Waldron, that's for sure! This first of a series is entirely entrancing, especially to one who is in any way involved with a university.

McLeod Dulaney has surprised herself and her paper -- the Tallahassee `Star of Florida' -- by winning a Pulitzer Prize. She's even further surprised to be invited to Princeton University to lead a course on "Literature of Fact" to a small, select group of students. And off she goes, with the blessing of her editor.

Once settled in, McLeod discovers her students to be excellent writers, and they're curious about nearly everything, an important ingredient if one wants to be a reporter. They form a tight band, protective of each other, and McLeod.

Quickly assimilated into faculty life, among mostly witty, charming, literate folks, the first tragedy occurs shortly after a party, when a professor falls ill, and despite excellent and prompt medical care, dies within a short time. And if that's not enough, within a month, another succumbs to the same illness. McLeod's students think it might be murder, and after two could-be accidents, or maybe not, McLeod begins to feel the same way. And when she recalls an article she read in a medical magazine, she's sure of it!

There are red herrings here and there, but solid clues as well. The ending came as a surprise, but followed a logical path. I hope McLeod has a good many more such adventures.

McLeod Dulaney is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning Florida journalist who has been offered a great opportunity: teaching a writing seminar at Princeton University for one semester. The Tallahassee "Star of Florida" gives her the time off, and she makes her way north. Who could have predicted that she would shortly witness the murders of three of her new colleagues?

In this series opener, McLeod gets caught up in the new-to-her world of Ivy League academics -- creating assignments for her students, meeting members of the Humanities Council and the English Department, and going to an endless array of dinner parties. Before you know it, one English prof and the head of the English department are gone, and McLeod's best students want to investigate those suspicious deaths. It is only due to the continued pleading of one of her students that McLeod goes along with the impromptu writing project. But her inquisitiveness gets the better of her, and she soon joins her students in "questioning the suspects." She realizes the gravity of their situation only after another English prof dies, possibly because of their inquiries. Will McLeod figure everything out before she's next?

The episodes in this series are like bags of potato chips: you can't stop at just one. Though the general writing style and the unraveling of each mystery won't set the world on fire, the books are entertaining enough -- especially for folks who are connected to Princeton or to any academic atmosphere where similar circumstances could certainly arise.

A setting that matches any English novel, a steel magnolia as the sleuth, an engaging class of student detectives, an interesting interplay between deep south and Yankee culture, and enough murders cleverly executed to arouse concern for the future of the Princeton factulty. What more could one ask for an evening by the fire or a week-end at the beach? When McLeod Dulaney arrives as a visiting lecturer at Princeton to teach a class on "Literature of Fact," a fancy name for journalism, she wonders how she'll challenge twelve gifted students. As it turns out, murder challenges both teacher and students in a dangerous sleuthing assignment.

This book is a joy. Ann Waldron's hero/detective, McLeod Dulaney, is a captivating invention - bright, witty, erudite, hep. The mystery itself takes us through a maze of academic politics and infighting, in its way as riveting, petty, mean as anything one might find in the corporate world. Delicous all of it. A mystery lover's delight.

Added to this Ms Waldron's book contains wonderful descriptons of Princeton -both town and university - lore and mileu. Were I the Dean of Students, I would assign this book as required reading for all incoming freshmen. And were I the Dean of Faculty, I would do the same for all incoming faculty. As an academic Baedeker, it can't be beat. To top it off, the descriptions of meals and food are mouthwatering. Some recipes are included. I for one will be getting out my bundt pan.

I loved this book. Don't miss it. Buy it, read it, tell your friends! I just hope Ms Waldron will hurry up and give us her next volume.