From Publishers Weekly
In her latest jab at academia's underside, New York City literature professor Kate Fansler, last seen in The Players Come Again, team teaches a course in "Women in Law and Literature" at Schuyler Law School while her husband, law professor Reed Amhearst, establishes a student-staffed legal clinic. Among Schuyler's predominantly mediocre and sexist faculty is a lively and mysterious 60-ish secretary named Harriet who models herself on John le Carre's fictional spy, George Smiley. Harriet, like Kate's teaching partner Blair Whitson, voices concern that the recent death of a feminist professor at Schuyler might not have been an accident. Harriet is also interested in the imprisoned Betty Osborne, who murdered her husband for "no reason" (as one Schuyler professor says: "Of course he didn't beat her; he was a member of this faculty."). Just as Kate begins to look into these deaths, she and Blair face a conservative backlash from a surprising quarter, touching off skirmishes sure to shake Schuyler's complacent foundations. While Kate and Reed are as appealing as ever, the real draw of this thinking-reader's mystery is the anger-at the limitations of women's roles in society (imposed and assumed)-that fuels it and its thoroughly disclosed academic setting. Besides posing and solving a neat puzzle, Cross provides a gold mine of stinging quotes for feminist college professors to post on their doors. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Gender issues, culture wars, academic politics, literary criticism, John le Carre, and a mystery comprise this witty but predictable novel. Progressive academics Kate Fansler and her husband are visiting faculty at the reactionary Schuyler Law School. Along with a like-minded professor and a former teacher who enjoys emulating le Carre's most famous character, George Smiley, they energize the student body to challenge their conservative teachers. Also, Kate convinces the secretary's daughter?jailed for killing her abusive husband?to appeal her conviction. However, Cross throws in a red herring regarding Kate's investigation of Schuyler's involvement in the accidental death of a former female faculty member. Narrator Jennifer Mangan does a solid job presenting the story. This will be popular with Amanda Cross (The Players Come Again, Ballantine, 1987) fans and listeners interested in tales in an academic setting.?Stephen L. Hupp, Univ. of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
