Let's Get Criminal: An Academic Mystery - Hardcover

Raphael, Lev

3.79

182 ratings by Goodreads

9780312139995: Let's Get Criminal: An Academic Mystery

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312139993 ISBN 13: 9780312139995

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1996

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Beneath its calm surface, controversy rages at the State University of Michigan. An outsider, Perry Cross, has been brought in to fill a quickly created tenure-track teaching position, a situation that fellow professor Nick Hoffman finds suspicious. But when Nick discovers that his longtime lover, writer Stefan Borowski, shares a past with Cross, Nick's curiosity about Cross begins to verge on obsession. Things only get worse when Cross is found murdered and Nick's jealous behavior and Stefan's past make them both prime suspects.
To clear both their names and resolve the questions surrounding the mysterious Cross, Nick investigates the murder, uncovering unpleasant secrets about his coworkers, superiors, and the university itself. As Nick attempts to unravel the mystery, his suspicions alarmingly turn close to home, and his own life is endangered.

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About the Author:

Lev Raphael has wanted to be an author since he was in second grade, and he’s not only achieved his dream, he’s published 19 books in genres from memoir to mystery; had his books translated into nearly a dozen languages; appeared in two documentaries; won various prizes; done hundreds of invited talks and readings on three different continents; recently sold his literary papers (92 boxes!) to the Michigan State University Libraries (MSUL); been the subject of scholarly articles, papers and book chapters; and seen his work taught at colleges and universities around the country. Which means he’s become homework. Who knew?

Born and raised in New York, he got over it and has spent half his life in Michigan. He’s a pioneer in writing about children of Holocaust survivors, which he’s been doing since 1978, longer than almost any other American author. He frequently tours with his books (check http://www.levraphael.com for his current schedule) and is currently touring with My Germany, a memoir/travelogue exploring the role Germany has played in his family, his life, and his career. After he escaped academe to write full-time, he reviewed extensively for over a decade for the Detroit Free Press, Michigan Radio, The Washington Post, Jerusalem Report, The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Forward, Boston Review, and Lambda Book Report. He now reviews for Bibliobuffet.com and WKAR 90.5 FM/East Lansing Public Radio, and when he’s not busy, he sometimes imagines some graduate student years from now in the MSUL archives puzzling over his handwriting.

A seasoned reader of his own work, with a background in theater and teaching, he loves the performance aspect of touring, as well as meeting people he’d never meet back home. And the sightseeing. And the foreign foods. German fans in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hannover, Magdeburg, Dessau and Halle will get to hear him next fall. Stay tuned to this page or check his web site for details of his next German book tour. For photos and description of previous sones, go to http://www.levraphael.com/europe_photos.html.

From Publishers Weekly:

The ivory tower looks a bit chipped in Raphael's portrayal of a state university set in the fictional town of Michiganapolis. Nick Hoffman has everything he has ever wanted: a teaching job, a nice house, a solid relationship with his lover, Stefan Borowski, a brilliant novelist and the university's writer in residence. But when Perry Cross shows up, Nick's peace of mind is shattered. Not only does he have to share his office with the nefarious Perry, who managed to weasel his way into a tenured position without qualification, he also discovers that Perry played a destructive role in Stefan's past. Nick, who teaches basic writing courses, is a self-confessed gossip and isn't above creating a little drama of his own when Stefan invites Perry to dinner. The next morning, Perry turns up dead. Nick wonders if Stefan might have had something to do with it while the campus security force is wondering the same about Nick. Nearly all the faculty members and a couple of grad students have something unsavory in their pasts they'd rather not broadcast. Despite laying it on a bit thick with his narrating Nick (who immediately thinks of Ceausescu's overthrow in Bucharest when he sees a broken window), Raphael (Winter Eyes, 1992) delivers literate, witty, mildly suspenseful goods.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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