Joanne Dobson Knihy

When feisty young Professor Karen Pelletier receives a scholarly bonanza in the form of never-before-seen manuscripts and journals by the nineteenth-century poet Emmeline Foster, who is rumored to have killed herself for the love of Edgar Allan Poe, she finds herself going head-to-head with Enfield College's resident Edgar Allan Poe expert, Elliot Corbin, an academic windbag of monumental proportions. When Corbin is stabbed to death in mysterious circumstances, Karen has an airtight alibi, but other academic suspects abound. Then it begins to look more and more as if Corbin's death may be inextricably entwined with the muse of his life--poet of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. State police investigator, Lieutenant Piotrowski, calls on Karen's literary expertise, and she is involved once more in the task of investigating her not-so-collegial colleagues. Will Karen Pelletier ever free herself from the academic mayhem that plagues her as a yet-untenured professor?

The Agatha Award-Nominated Author of Quieter Than Sleep Professor Karen Pelletier has made a name for herself as one of the leading scholars of literature at exclusive Enfield College. But when an offhand comment sets off a firestorm of controversy, she finds herself embroiled in a scandal that began with a notorious novel from the 1950s — and ends with a very real murder.... When a New York Times reporter ends an interview with Karen by asking her to name the best novel of the twentieth century, she glibly picks the steamy potboiler Oblivion Falls , a long-forgotten tome that caused a sensation forty years ago. After Karen’s comment renews interest in Oblivion Falls , the book quickly climbs onto the bestseller charts — and now everyone wants to know what became of the book’s long-vanished author, Mildred Deakin. The reporter who broke the story finally tracks her down — and is rewarded for his efforts by being shot dead in the writer’s driveway. When Mildred is arrested for murder, Karen feels obligated to investigate further. And what she discovers, as she probes the long-forgotten publishing drama surrounding Oblivion Falls , is almost as shocking as the book itself — and far more deadly.