Bookshop Raphael makes the most of the academic setting of his immensely enjoyable 10th mystery featuring Nick Hoffman, a literature professor at the State University of Michigan (after 2019âs
State University of Murder). After reluctantly accepting an administrative position as the interim chair of the English and Creative Writing Department, Nick must deal with petty faculty rivalries and with an associate chair who proposes that students read digital texts instead of printed texts (âDigital reading puts readers in control and defies the patriarchyâ). Late one night, Nick gets a call from associate dean Boris Hernandez, who wants Nick to meet him at his office right away to discuss an urgent matter. When Nick and his partner, Stefan Borowski, SUMâs writer-in-residence, get to Borisâs office, they find him slumped over his desk with a bloody head wound. This latest murder validates Nickâs fiefdomâs nickname of the Department of Death, and