The Maltese Manuscript

February 3, 2003
In her fifth Prof. Karen Pelletier mystery, Dobson (Quieter Than Sleep) offers an academic novel both gutsy and romantic. Sound contradictory? It is, thanks to bestselling feminist author Sunnye Hardcastle, herself a dozen or so contradictions, who comes to Enfield College in Massachusetts with her rottweiler, Trouble, to speak on the hard-boiled women's detective novel at an English department conference. But trouble dogs Sunnye. Lavishly expensive texts and even a manuscript of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon
disappear, despite a tight alarm system at the college library. Karen ends up hiding Sunnye from the local police, even though this brings down the wrath of Lt. Charlie Piotrowski, Karen's he-man lover, who's looking into the thefts. Murder muddles their affair, as well as the criminal investigation, which leads to two houses holding fabulous libraries, including many first editions, signed copies and manuscripts with marginal notes. Dobson's obvious knowledge of, and respect for, mystery and detective fiction is immense. She takes the reader on a glorious tour, describing everything from comic books to anthologies. Even the most moral mystery fans will understand why a person would want to purloin even one or two of these treasures. (Feb. 21)Forecast:Mystery scholars and collectors will eat this one up, while the arresting jacket art—which uses the original cover of Hammett's
The Maltese Falcon—will draw casual browsers.

February 15, 2003
There's no one better than Dobson at playing the politics of academe--not for laughs as much as amused chuckles. Famed crime novelist Sunnye Hardcastle (think Patricia Cornwell) is part of Enfield's Women's Studies conference on crime fiction. Professor Karen Pelletier will serve as Hardcastle's keeper while balancing concern about tenure and her own classes. Meanwhile, some precious books and a Dashiell Hammet manuscript have disappeared from the college library. More rare books disappear, a researcher dies, and Hardcastle, the researcher, and the PI brought in to investigate turn out to have odd connections with each other. Dobson riffs brilliantly and hilariously on academic conferences and the hard-boiled female detective. She allows Karen the complexity of an adult relationship with a police lieutenant while seamlessly inserting graceful asides on food, clothing, music, and teaching styles. She gets the library stuff almost exactly right, too. The best so far in a thoroughly entertaining series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)