A CLASS ON MURDER

An academic cozy about murder.

Oklahoma’s Pursley University, a quiet school in a small town, may not be all that behavioral psychology professor Ronnie Raven once dreamed of for herself, but it’s perfectly good for now—until she finds a Harley-Davidson taking up the whole bike rack. Raven is more annoyed than surprised. Her boorish colleague Dr. Weldon Crutchfield acts as though his status as tenured professor entitles him to a lot of things. But when Raven finds Crutchfield’s body in his office, she’s more surprised than annoyed. The situation is especially delicate because Detective Melvin suspects that Raven’s responsible for the professor’s early demise. Melvin’s assistant, Lt. LeGrand, who’s fairly sure that one of Crutchfield’s many sworn enemies is the murderer, tries to help Raven clear her name. Raven has her doubts about LeGrand, whom she quickly dubs Lt. Kiddie Cop, even though he may be her biggest ally. That is, apart from her closest friend and amateur lothario Terry, who encourages Raven to stay on the good side of LeGrand in more ways than one.

Gibson creates a mystery as laid-back and mellow as her heroine.