The George Eliot Murders - Hardcover

Skom, Edith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385312288 ISBN 13: 9780385312288

Publisher: Delacorte Press, 1995

Synopsis

When Professor Beth Austin tires of the harsh, Chicago winter, she escapes to the sun and fun of the Royal Aloha hotel in Hawaii. This top-rates resort hotel with its gardens, its Asian art collection, its magnificent beach, and its dedicated, repeat clientele proves irresistible to Beth who has two glorious weeks of freedom between semesters. Hawaii will be the perfect place to prepare for her upcoming seminar on George Eliot's Middlemarch. But shortly after her arrival, Beth is confronted with the specter of murder and before she knows it, she and some new friends are neck deep in danger, and the closer they get to the killer, the more dangerous the game becomes.


From the Paperback edition.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

or Beth Austin tires of the harsh, Chicago winter, she escapes to the sun and fun of the Royal Aloha hotel in Hawaii. This top-rates resort hotel with its gardens, its Asian art collection, its magnificent beach, and its dedicated, repeat clientele proves irresistible to Beth who has two glorious weeks of freedom between semesters. Hawaii will be the perfect place to prepare for her upcoming seminar on George Eliot's <i>Middlemarch.</i> But shortly after her arrival, Beth is confronted with the specter of murder and before she knows it, she and some new friends are neck deep in danger, and the closer they get to the killer, the more dangerous the game becomes.<br><br><br><i>From the Paperback edition.</i>

Reviews

YA?Introduced in Skom's The Mark Twain Murders (Dell, 1990), Beth Austin, a witty English professor with a penchant for relating contemporary people and motives to those presented in classic novels, continues to solve murders. The locale this time is a swanky Hawaiian resort. Beth's new friends at the hotel include two able sleuthing assistants?and a murderer. The opening chapters grab readers, and the climax is suspenseful. The story moves quickly, since most of it is advanced through dialogue. Teens will appreciate Beth's sense of humor, the short chapters, and the large amount of white space per page. References to Middlemarch are adequately explained. Give this mystery to procrastinating students who must read a novel over the weekend.?Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Straight-arrow English professor Beth Austin, who debuted in The Mark Twain Murders (nominated for an Anthony, an Agatha and a Macavity), takes a midwinter break from Midwestern University at Hawaii's Royal Aloha Hotel, armed with a copy of Middlemarch and a decent backhand. On her first night, she overhears the phone conversation of an award-winning fashion designer who later falls to her death. When another body is found, Beth suspects someone in her tennis group may be the killer and enlists the help of two fellow vacationers, a bestselling author and a semiretired attorney. When their collective brain power falters, Middlemarch comes to the rescue with just the right passage every time. High-spirited, literate fun and a pleasure to read.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Second novelist Skom also makes use of that favorite mystery microcosm?the hotel. While vacationing at an isolated luxury resort in Hawaii, Professor Beth Austin (The Mark Twain Murders, Council Oak Bks., 1989) overhears the disturbing telephone conversation of a fashion designer who subsequently plunges to her death?a supposed accident?in the hotel courtyard. Austin begins sleuthing when a second death?definitley a murder?raises doubts about the first. Spacey dialog and disjointed narrative eventually give way to frequent Middlemarch references and a more substantial?and finally entrancing?plot for those with the patience to wait.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385312288
• ISBN 13: 9780385312288
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 243