Murder at the B-School (Hardcover)

by Jeffrey L. Cruikshank (Author) "SOMETHING LIKE A BUZZING FLY GRADUALLY COMING INTO HIS consciousness: It took Patrolman Mattola a few minutes to pin down exactly what was irritating him..." (more)
Key Phrases: pass card, Professor Vermeer, Captain Brouillard, Dean Bishop (more...)

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.

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

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Press; First Edition edition (October 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892967935
• ISBN-13: 978-0892967933
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,502,215 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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 (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

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)

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.

2 of 2 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

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