Quoth the Raven

Quoth the Raven

Jame Haddam

Former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian is schedued to give a lecture at a small, private college in the Pennsylvania mountains on Hallween night.

When the school's most eminent professor disappears and the secretary is poisoned with lye in front of a cafeteria full of students and faculty Demarkian gives a lesson in applied investigative skills as Hallween revelers party and prepare the school's traditional annual bonfire.

This was quite a pleasant cozy, and I enjoyed it, though I did have a couple of problems with it.

I found the author's choice of words distracting at times. I'm not referring to the dialogue.

Another thing I found distracting was that although it was set in the 1990's, it seemed dated to the early 1960's in many respects, and many of the students seemed naive and childish, as did much of the Halloween motif. I just can't picture female college students dressed en masse as pumpkins, or male college students in Batman costumes. The repeated mention of girls sewing costumes and making paper crepe decorations was dated and a bit distracting as well.

Even with the problems I had with this book, I enjoyed it and am inclined to give the author and the series another try.