Death in a Tenured Position

I read this book as part of a book group. We were charged with reading something fictional "about academia," and in fairness, the conversation we had as a result of reading the novel was quite strong, especially in considering how the role of women in academia has changed (or not changed) in the intervening 40 years between when the book is set and now. We also laughed a lot, too, because it's really a dreadfully, awfully written book.

Every single character is a type. The protagonist, Kate, is a privileged, married woman with limitless freedom and seemingly no end of money, who is both a respected academic and a keen detective. She is never wrong, and she has almost no self awareness. (She's the sort of character you could only love if show more you were exactly like her, and troublingly, a little basic research reveals more than a few similarities between Kate and the author who created her.) Her former classmate, whom she is called in to assist but doesn't really like, is snooty and career-driven. Her former lover, who is also the classmate's ex-husband, is a hippieish veteran with a guitar and a suitably hippie name ("Moon"). The bigwig tenured faculty member is overweight, red-faced, and suitably parochial. The lesbians who live in the local commune all believe in separatist politics, refer to each other as "sisters," and keep feminine clothing for when they need their driver's license photo taken because of course they do. It goes on, and on, and on. Nobody acts like a real, full-blooded person; everyone's just there to fulfill their little role.

Worse, there's almost no actual mystery, because Kate does so little for herself. She talks to people, certainly, but they tend to bring her her clues on a platter. Toward the end of the book, she makes some absolutely incredible mental leaps based solely on the contents of books she's seen lying around, which requires the reader to either be equally familiar with those works or very, very easily impressed. That type of story - the mystery where the reader is kept from knowing vital information until the reveal - can work when you have really interesting characters or really high tension. Death in a Tenured Position provides neither of these. In fact, I'm not sure what it does provide, aside from 150 pages of text.

I did like the dog, though. show less

When Harvard University reluctantly hires a full-time female professor in the English Department, there are many objections to the move in spite of the unquestioned qualifications of the first appointee, Janet Mandelbaum. So nobody is terribly surprised when she is found drunk and passed out in the ladies’ bathroom; however, when she is subsequently found dead in the mens’ bathroom, it becomes up to Kate Fansler, visiting professor at the Radcliffe Institute, to discover what happened. Throw in a handful of misogynists, another handful of radical feminists and the victim’s ex-husband, and well, there’s no end of suspects to contemplate….This is the sixth novel in the Kate Fansler series, which I’ve been enjoying as I come show more across them. This one was published about five years after the fifth book and is set in 1979; I myself was in university in 1980 (though not, of course, at Harvard) and so find it difficult to believe that at that time, any university would be as against female professors as is exhibited here. However, once past that puzzle, the story itself is quite entertaining and Kate, as ever, is able to get to the heart of the matter with great insight and wit. Unfortunately, these books are not that easy to find and I don’t know when I might obtain a copy of the next book; in the meantime, this one was quite enjoyable on its own. Recommended. show less

Academic sleuth Kate Fansler here has to deal with the problem of Janet Mandelbaum, who's been appointed to a professorship at Harvard, even in the late '70s notoriously unfriendly to women in such a position. She's first put in an embarrassing spot when found apparently dead drunk in a bathtub in the company of a radical lesbian feminist, but then things get worse - she is discovered poisoned by cyanide in a men's room. As usual, Kate's methods are indirect, and complicated by the fact that she and Janet's ex-husband have a history. The more critical reader may feel that her eventual solution is less than conclusively proved, but fortunately this isn't a problem, and in any case the mystery itself is by no means the most enjoyable part show more of the book. show less

Who done it?If you can manage to read past about chapter eight of this leisurely paced Kate Fansler crime novel, you will probably be able to guess the answer to the aforementioned question. About chapter eight is where the story picks up the pace too, for about a chapter and a half. The book has an unlucky 13 Chapters, not by accident I suspect, since there is also a prologue and an epilogue that are not numbered.Did I like this book? I can answer that question with about as much suspense as Death in a Tenured Position. "No."I read this novel as part of the Let’s Talk About It, Oklahoma! reading group series Private Investigations: Hard-Boiled and Soft-Hearted Heroes. While I did not like the book (did I mention that?), I was show more fascinated to learn that the author’s own life experiences eerily mirrored those of the books victim, Janet Mandelbaum. I was floored when I found out that Carolyn Gold Heilbrun (pen name Amanda Cross) met her death in 2003 in the very same manner as that victim. I did not like the book, cannot recommend it, but I am glad that I had read it as part of a learning experience. show less

"It's only because Janet Mandelbaum is no feminist that the stuffy old boys of Harvard agree to make her the first woman professor in the English department. But they're not happy about it. At a sedate and proper afternoon tea, someone slips a mickey into Janet's Campari and she's found by the police in a most compromising position - drunk on the floor in the ladies' room.
That's when Kate Fansler shows up to help her old friend figure out who's after her. But before she does, Janet is found dead - this time in the men's room..." - Ballantine jacket notes
This series is okay, not great. My grandmother collected them. If I read too many in a row I get annoyed with them.

Una profesora de literatura inglesa -que parece haber sido elegida para su trabajo precisamente por no ser feminista- aparece muerta en una universidad del Este de los Estados Unidos. Kate Fansler, protagonista de las novelas de Amanda Cross y también profesora de literatura, se encargará de investigar por su cuenta el caso. Kate Fansler es liberal, feminista, poseedora de una vasta cultura literaria y provista de un excelente sentido del humor, enamorada de su marido y muy aficionada al martini seco cuando termina el día. No es una detective profesional, sino una mujer intuitiva y lógica. Como es habitual en su autora, Muerte en la cátedra no es sólo una novela de crimen, sino, además, una buena reflexión sobre literatura, show more feminismo, o cambios sociales. No podía ser de otro modo con tal protagonista. show less

Death in a Tenured Position, ganadora del Premio Nero, es una novela de misterio que forma parte de la serie Kate Fansler escrita por Carolyn Gold Heilbrun bajo el seudónimo de Amanda Cross.