Customer Reviews

a whiff of Death

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4 star:		(1)
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While dated with only hints of sex and no violence, this book is still a good read forty years after it was written. It begins with a graduate student possessing a nasty personality being killed by the inadvertent sniffing of cyanide during a research experiment. Given that the student was meticulous in his work and showed no suicidal tendencies, murder is immediately suspected. As a former and currently part-time academic, I found the description of academic politics and the push for rank advancement to be the most interesting part of the book. It seems clear that Asimov is describing some of his experiences in the academic world.
The main character is a competent instructor of chemistry whose only goal is to rise to the rank of associate professor, an aspiration that he has held for eleven years. It was his doctoral student who died and in an attempt to salvage his career, he embarks on a quest to determine what happened. Most of his actions are those that would normally happen during the course of his professional activity. The only difference is that now he is the logical suspect in what was obviously a murder.
Included in the story is a dictatorial professor nicknamed Cap who is retired, but is legendary as a dictator who demanded that students work long hours, even during holidays. One wonders if this is also a description of someone Asimov encountered as a student.
I lent my copy of this book to a chemistry professor friend of mine and he enjoyed it as well. His comment is an excellent way to end this review. “It was nice to read a story that combines a well-designed mystery with the nastiness and pettiness of academic politics. I t brought back memories of my time as a graduate student.”

This all started with me looking for something to do and and I looked over to see my mom had brought it down stairs. With this book I really could not put it down in the time I was reading it and now I'm up at this godly hour with the book finished and me regretting it in a few hours. As a College student this puts life into perspective of the life for your Professors. A good book and one I hope to remember too and a must for even the Sci-fi reader in me.

A young student has died of inhaling lethal chemicals in his lab. When the police come they are faced with a question: was it an accident or was it cold-blooded murder. The possibility of an accident by such a meticulous young man seems highly unlikely to all questioned. The detective is then led into an intricate net possibilities, logical conclusions and most importantly - human emotions. You'll never be able to put this book down!

I found this at a thrift store in an old ratty paperback edition and, as an Asimov lover, I had to have it. The 25 cents I paid were well worth it. A detalied but not lengthy murder mystery that Asimov approaches like no other. It doesn't have anything to do with robots, which is ok. Asimov's whistful sense of the future and knowledge of science, the cliffhanger, and suspense show true in this find. An excellent read and magnified by the fact by the unique view of Asimov as the diverse writer he was. By far not his best work, but in his 'experiment' into the murder mystery genre, Asimov hits a home run.