Murder in academia

Amanda Cross wrote a series of books about her academic detective Kate Fansler in the 1980s and 90s. Kate is a feminist who teaches English Literature and who is at the forefront of radical thinking in New York. The novels which feature her character often involve Kate challenging some sort of oppression or discrimination. In A Trap for Fools Kate, who has become known as an investigator because of previous incidents, is asked to investigate discretely the death of a Professor of Middle Eastern studies after he falls from his office window.

Kate feels like she is expected to come up with an answer that will align with the wishes of the university authorities but as she begins to delve deeper she realises that a host of people had reasons to dislike the dead professor – some because he was a white man studying middle eastern studies, some because of the way that he had treated Black students, and some because of his attitude to women.

This is a fairly typical entry in this series, of which I have read a few. Kate investigates mostly by talking to people and forming views as a result of what they say so there’s not a lot of action. Kate has continually to challenge the entrenched power of white middle aged men who want things to continue as they are and then she often has to challenge women who have gained some power and are determined not to relinquish any of it. Kate’s partner is a lawyer who often prosecutes criminals so she has some expert assistance when required and can talk things over with him.

I enjoy these books, and I enjoyed this one, but they are different from many other crime novels that I read in that they deal with motive and intent far more than with timetables and murder weapons. Kate is usually preoccupied with thoughts that are more philosophical than practical and she often sympathises with the culprit and understands their motivation.. Nevertheless she finds her murderer and usually uncovers other misdeeds as well. The books are well written and very readable.