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    The Semester of Our Discontent
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    The Semester of Our Discontent
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    The Semester of Our Discontent
    Ebook263 pages3 hours

    The Semester of Our Discontent

    By Cynthia Kuhn

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    English professor Lila Maclean is thrilled about her new job at prestigious Stonedale University, until she finds one of her colleagues dead.

    She soon learns that everyone, from the chancellor to the detective working the case, believes Lila—or someone she is protecting—may be responsible for the horrific event, so she assigns herself the task of identifying the killer.

    More attacks on professors follow, the only connection a curious symbol at each of the crime scenes. Putting her scholarly skills to the test, Lila gathers evidence, but her search is complicated by an unexpected nemesis, a suspicious investigator, and an ominous secret society.

    Rather than earning an "A" for effort, she receives a threat featuring the mysterious emblem and must act quickly to avoid failing her assignment…and becoming the next victim.

    - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    THE SEMESTER OF OUR DISCONTENT by Cynthia Kuhn - A Henery Press Mystery. If you like one, you'll probably like them all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHenery Press
    Release dateApr 5, 2016
    ISBN9781635110104
    Unavailable
    The Semester of Our Discontent
    Author

    Cynthia Kuhn

    Cynthia Kuhn is an English professor and author of the Starlit Bookshop Mysteries and the Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries. Her work has also appeared in Mystery Most Edible, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Copper Nickel, Prick of the Spindle, Mama PhD, and other publications. Honors include an Agatha Award, a William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant, and Lefty Award nominations. Originally from upstate New York, she lives in Colorado with her family. For more information, please visit cynthiakuhn.net.

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    Reviews for The Semester of Our Discontent

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.Give me a cozy mystery with a literature professor as the protagonist, and I'm in, especially when it's one who is researching mystery authors and teaches a Gothic Literature course, going as the woman in the wallpaper (from The Yellow Wallpaper) to a faculty Halloween party.This was a really fun read, full of unique and differentiated characters, a mystery that began almost right away and didn't let up, and lots of great literary and teaching references.Kuhn captures both the fun and the work of being in the teaching profession, and highlights the sometimes-cutthroat (quite literally in this book) world of academia.Lila Maclean, a very likable and strong protagonist, is a new hire at a college, and is immediately thrust into a mystery when she stumbles on the body of a colleague. The mystery is unpredictable, and well-written, and as the bodies pile up, the stakes get higher.This is a series I definitely want to read more books in.
    • 5/5
      This is a shorter-length novel, coming in at only 227 pages, but it was a great read; rather than feeling like it was too short or sparsely detailed, it felt tightly written and evenly paced. Lila is a newly-minted Ph.D. starting her first semester as a junior English Lit professor at a posh University in Colorado. Her desire to introduce a course focusing on the Mystery genre brings her the ire of her department chair - a man so far up his own backside he makes Entitled White Males look tolerant. So of course, he ends up dead. But soon there are more attacks and more deaths, and the wrong person(s) arrested, so Lila finds herself searching for answers. This is the kind of mystery I like best: the protagonist doesn't go all Nancy Drew on our butts, but just does what she does best. She listens, she researches, she might, possibly, go down in the basement, but in fairness, it wasn't in the middle of the night. The author did a fantastic job with the setting and with the characters; I could keep track of them all and I could see the story unfolding movie-like through bonfires, costume parties, jails, etc. So far there's no love triangle, although I was a smidgen disappointed with the direction the almost non-existent romance went in. The murder plot was fun (if you know what I mean); it was well done and I SO did not see that ending coming, but there were some elements here that were a homage to old-style murder mysteries. The throwbacks are what made the story fun. Really an excellent start from a new author and I'm really looking forward to getting the second one.
    • 3/5
      The Semester of our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn is the first book in the new Lila Maclean Mystery series. Lila Maclean is a new assistant professor at Stonedale University in Stonedale, Colorado. Lila just graduated from NYU the previous spring. Lila is going to a faculty meeting with her faculty mentor, Judith Westerly. They enter the conference room to find Roland Higgins dead on the table! He was stabbed with a knife with a pattern on it. Roland Higgins was not well liked (he was pompous, egotistical, rude, and down on women) so the suspect list is long. However, Detective Lexington Archer (Stonedale Police Department) seems to have narrowed it down to Calista James, Lila’s cousin (Lila’s mom raised both girls). The knife (decorative) belonged to Calista. Then Judith Westerly, English professor and Lila’s faculty mentor, is attacked with a book (a very big and heavy book). The book has the same decorative pattern as the knife. The police find the pattern on Calista’s computer and she is arrested. Lila knows Calista did not commit the murder (or attack Judith) and sets out to prove her innocence. Someone, though, does not like her poking around. Lila’s office is trashed and then bookshelves are sent tumbling down upon her in the library. The killer means business. Then Eldon Higgins (Roland’s brother and has the same attitude problems) is murdered (and Calista has a great alibi). Can the killer be apprehended before more people are murdered?The Semester of our Discontent was not as good as I was hoping it would be. The book contained too much about academic life. Professors have to publish or perish which was repeated a few times in the novel. It also discusses the politics of academia which dominated the book. The murder occurred in the first chapter (within the first few pages) of the book which was too early. There was really no lead in to it and then we have the whole novel to get through as the main character tries to find the killer. I thought the killer was extremely obvious. I knew the identity of the killer when the body was discovered. The writer did try to distract the reader and lead them down the wrong path with different theories. The Semester of our Discontent contains many literary references and quotes (from classic literature). I think the book was a little overdone (with the academic life and literary references). The average reader might not enjoy all the references to classic books. I give The Semester of our Discontent 3 out of 5 stars. I think the series has potential. I will be interested to read the next book in the Lila Maclean Mystery series to see if there is improvement.I received a complimentary copy of The Semester of our Discontent from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of the novel.