The Semester of Our Discontent

This is a shorter-length novel, coming in at only 227 pages, but it was a great read; rather than feeling like it was too short or sparsely detailed, it felt tightly written and evenly paced.

Lila is a newly-minted Ph.D. starting her first semester as a junior English Lit professor at a posh University in Colorado. Her desire to introduce a course focusing on the Mystery genre brings her the ire of her department chair - a man so far up his own backside he makes Entitled White Males look tolerant. So of course, he ends up dead. But soon there are more attacks and more deaths, and the wrong person(s) arrested, so Lila finds herself searching for answers.

This is the kind of mystery I like best: the protagonist doesn't go all Nancy Drew show more on our butts, but just does what she does best. She listens, she researches, she might, possibly, go down in the basement, but in fairness, it wasn't in the middle of the night.

The author did a fantastic job with the setting and with the characters; I could keep track of them all and I could see the story unfolding movie-like through bonfires, costume parties, jails, etc. So far there's no love triangle, although I was a smidgen disappointed with the direction the almost non-existent romance went in.

The murder plot was fun (if you know what I mean); it was well done and I SO did not see that ending coming, but there were some elements here that were a homage to old-style murder mysteries. The throwbacks are what made the story fun.

Really an excellent start from a new author and I'm really looking forward to getting the second one. show less

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

Give me a cozy mystery with a literature professor as the protagonist, and I'm in, especially when it's one who is researching mystery authors and teaches a Gothic Literature course, going as the woman in the wallpaper (from The Yellow Wallpaper) to a faculty Halloween party.

This was a really fun read, full of unique and differentiated characters, a mystery that began almost right away and didn't let up, and lots of great literary and teaching references.Kuhn captures both the fun and the work of being in the teaching profession, and highlights the sometimes-cutthroat (quite literally in this show more book) world of academia.

Lila Maclean, a very likable and strong protagonist, is a new hire at a college, and is immediately thrust into a mystery when she stumbles on the body of a colleague. The mystery is unpredictable, and well-written, and as the bodies pile up, the stakes get higher.

This is a series I definitely want to read more books in. show less

Lila is learning the hard way way that being a junior professor at an exclusive college isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. Her department head is an elitist misogynist. Academic politics are more politics than academia, and, oh yeah, someone is attacking professors at the college with items emblazoned with the symbol of secret society that, of course, no one will talk about. When Lila’s fellow professor, and cousin, is accused of the crimes, Lila sets out to find out who the real culprit is. Of course now the police think she knows more than she does and her boss has indicated that being the first to come across a dead body, is not really behavior appropriate to someone who wishes to gain tenure at some point down the road. I show more mean really, who does that?

Okay so this was a great novel. I dearly loved reading about the staff discussing their pet authors. The setting was fantastic and the insight into the life of the average college professor was profound. The characters, even the unlikable ones, were quirky and fun to read. One has to wonder though why it took so long for someone to do something about the department head, (okay not really, but he was insufferable). The dialogue was witty and the relationships between characters was fun to unravel. I loved that it had a feminist slant without becoming feminazi. It was a fast easy read that was quite enjoyable.

This story is a mystery and Lila is a pretty good sleuth, but I have to admit that this mystery had a Poe-like finish. Though I was beginning to suspect the actual killer, it was only because this person seemed to be written as a more important character than made sense in the story. I read it twice (just as good the second time around) and I still don’t see how the clues tied together to end up at that person. Plus lets face it, This “secret” society wasn’t really worth going to jail over and keeping it secret hampered the investigation more than it should have.

I am looking forward to more from this author and Dr. Maclean. This story was interesting and kept me reading to the end.



4 stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review show less

Lila Maclean is a first-term professor at Stonedale University in Colorado, and happy to be there. After a contentious meeting with her department chair, Roland Higgins, wherein he basically told her to keep her mouth shut and listen, while still expecting her to publish on a regular basis in order to eventually - perhaps - receive tenure. Afterward, her cousin Calista James, who is another professor, tells her not to worry about it and continue on. But a short time later when Lila and her assigned mentor, Judith Westerly, enter department library for a scheduled faculty meeting, they find Roland dead - with a knife embedded in his chest.

It is not too long after that the murder weapon is discovered to be the same one which was once in show more the possession of her cousin. And when Calista is arrested and charged with the murder, Lila knows she's not guilty and decides to help her any way she can. Then Judith is attacked and left unconscious in her own home while hosting a faculty party, and Lila notices the same design on both weapons: the knife and a very heavy book that was used to hit Judith; and starts to question people, although she doesn't get anywhere, and even though she's convinced Calista knows something, no one will tell her anything.

It isn't long before, as they say, the plot thickens, and she's convinced someone is trying to either frame her or kill her, too. With a detective that's suspicious about her involvement, Lila finds she's in a race against time to save her cousin and her own neck...

For myself, I didn't like either Roland or his brother, their misogynist attitudes grating on me to the point where I wanted to slap either of them on the back of their heads; a testament to the writing ability of Ms. Kuhn; who brings us a new protagonist I hope to see more of in future books. The ending was enough of a surprise with a twist that fit believably into the plot, and giving us a satisfying conclusion to a good mystery. Highly recommended.

Full Review: http://joannesbooks.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-semester-of-our-discontent-lila.htm... show less

In an American university, one of those that were founded only the day before yesterday but that pretend to be thousands of years old houses of knowledge, a young teacher arrives, and suddenly everything happen. An old professor, horrible figure, is found with a knife in the chest, other people, including the newcomer, are found injured in varying degrees, the brother of the professor, associate with the previous both with profession and bloody-mindedness, dies as Vampire die, and everywhere turns up a strange symbol in respect of which no one agrees to provide explanations.
Between secret societies, ritual objects, and so on, the riddle is at the end provided by something as simple and as human jealousy.
Written in good English, but by a show more professor of literature I would have expected a better and less predictable management of the plot.
Thank Henery Press and Netgalley for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

In una università americana, una di quelle che sono state fondate l'altro ieri ma che si atteggiano a millenarie case del sapere, arriva una giovane professoressa, e improvvisamente comincia a succede di tutto. Un vecchio professore, figura orribile, viene ritrovato con un coltello nel petto, altre persone, tra cui la nuova arrivata, si ritrovano ferite in vario grado, il fratello del professore morto, accomunato al precedente da professione e stronzaggine, fa la fine del vampiro, e ovunque salta fuori uno strano simbolo riguardo al quale nessuno si presta a fornire spiegazioni.
Tra società segrete, oggetti rituali e quant'altro, alla fine la soluzione dell'enigma viene data da qualcosa di semplice e umano come la gelosia.
Scritto in ottimo inglese, ma da una docente di letteratura mi sarei aspettata una migliore e meno scontata gestione della trama.
Ringrazio Henery Press e Netgalley per avermi fornito una copia gratuita in cambio di una recensione onesta. show less

The Semester of our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn is the first book in the new Lila Maclean Mystery series. Lila Maclean is a new assistant professor at Stonedale University in Stonedale, Colorado. Lila just graduated from NYU the previous spring. Lila is going to a faculty meeting with her faculty mentor, Judith Westerly. They enter the conference room to find Roland Higgins dead on the table! He was stabbed with a knife with a pattern on it. Roland Higgins was not well liked (he was pompous, egotistical, rude, and down on women) so the suspect list is long. However, Detective Lexington Archer (Stonedale Police Department) seems to have narrowed it down to Calista James, Lila’s cousin (Lila’s mom raised both girls). The knife show more (decorative) belonged to Calista. Then Judith Westerly, English professor and Lila’s faculty mentor, is attacked with a book (a very big and heavy book). The book has the same decorative pattern as the knife. The police find the pattern on Calista’s computer and she is arrested. Lila knows Calista did not commit the murder (or attack Judith) and sets out to prove her innocence. Someone, though, does not like her poking around. Lila’s office is trashed and then bookshelves are sent tumbling down upon her in the library. The killer means business. Then Eldon Higgins (Roland’s brother and has the same attitude problems) is murdered (and Calista has a great alibi). Can the killer be apprehended before more people are murdered?

The Semester of our Discontent was not as good as I was hoping it would be. The book contained too much about academic life. Professors have to publish or perish which was repeated a few times in the novel. It also discusses the politics of academia which dominated the book. The murder occurred in the first chapter (within the first few pages) of the book which was too early. There was really no lead in to it and then we have the whole novel to get through as the main character tries to find the killer. I thought the killer was extremely obvious. I knew the identity of the killer when the body was discovered. The writer did try to distract the reader and lead them down the wrong path with different theories. The Semester of our Discontent contains many literary references and quotes (from classic literature). I think the book was a little overdone (with the academic life and literary references). The average reader might not enjoy all the references to classic books. I give The Semester of our Discontent 3 out of 5 stars. I think the series has potential. I will be interested to read the next book in the Lila Maclean Mystery series to see if there is improvement.

I received a complimentary copy of The Semester of our Discontent from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of the novel. show less

As with 95% of all Henery Press books, I enjoyed Semester of Our Discontent. Served with a dash of crazysauce, this mystery was a very fast read.

Lila Maclean is a new professor at a prestigious university, learning the ropes and trying to avoid crossing the wrong people. Unfortunately, one of those not-to-be-crossed ends up dead, discovered by poor Lila herself.

She ends up being the focus of the police detective on the case, and for once, he does not turn into a romantic lead. Not that I mind that terribly, just that when he appeared on the scene, I thought that is where the story was headed.

Some of the supporting characters were kooky, others lacked a touch of depth, but everyone remained consistent, which I appreciate.

A very fast show more and enjoyable read.


**eARC Netgalley** show less