Several years ago, I read a news account of a murder in a small Iowa town. A guy who was locally recognized as a mean bully was killed. The victim had pushed people around for thirty years and laughed about it. He was shot while sitting in his pickup truck. At the time of the shooting, the truck was surrounded by a crowd of townsfolk. No one admitted having a gun or seeing one. No one admitted to seeing anyone shoot a gun. The county attorney didn't prosecute anyone because he had no evidence and no witnesses. It's not exactly Lake Wobegon justice.
I thought about that story from Iowa when I read Amanda Cross' book Honest Doubt. I've liked many of Cross' mysteries and this one was engaging enough to keep me reading.
The resentment and hopelessness of small town Iowa must have been intense. It's hard to imagine as much despair in the Clifton College English Department, but that's what Cross suggests.
It's another of her murder mysteries set in academia. I've only witnessed intra-departmental academic/personality conflicts from afar, and Amanda Cross may know better, but this seems a little far-fetched. In real life, Amanda Cross is Carolyn G. Heilbrun, and emerita professor of humanities at Columbia University. (Heilbrun's book Writing a Women's Life is powerful and excellent. But I told you that long ago.) So, Cross' view of the academic world is an insider's view. Perhaps the story in Honest Doubt is wishful fantasy.
I don't think this book is Cross' best. If you haven't read any of Cross' books, look for Poetic Justice, Death in a Tenured Position, A Trap for Fools, or No Word from Winifred (a literary, not a murder mystery).
Write Tell a little bit of the world what you think.
By Ken Wedding. 08.17.02 Updated 08.19.02.
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