DEATH BY DEGREES (Inspector Charlie Salter Novel) - Hardcover

Wright

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684196484 ISBN 13: 9780684196480

Publisher: Scribner, 1993

Synopsis

Distracted by his father's stroke and pondering their relationship, Inspector Charlie Salter investigates a series of anonymous letters concerning the shooting death of a college dean

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Reviews

Rancor runs deep as a committee of academics at Toronto's Bathurst Community College elects a dean in the 10th urbane Inspector Charlie Salter mystery, after A Fine Italian Hand . Two weeks later, amid the fireworks of Victoria Day celebrations, the new dean is killed in an apparent robbery attempt; at the same time, Salter's father, having suffered a series of minor strokes, is hospitalized after a fall. Following up anonymous notes that implicate the victim's colleagues, Salter investigates the death of the much disliked dean and uncovers hypocrisies on various fronts: academic, medical and legal. While his father is subjected to abuses from his caretakers and a local Ojibway Indian is picked up for the murder on circumstantial evidence, Salter uncovers secrets in the dead man's past that point toward premeditated murder. Following Salter as he traces the crime's solution and reconsiders his relationships with his father and his son, Wright produces a deft blend of procedural and psychological elements.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Here, in an outing reminiscent of Final Cut (1991), Toronto Inspector Charlie Salter's personal life is more absorbing than his caseload--which now includes the murder of moderately unlikable Maurice Lyall, a teacher at Bathurst Community College, and the alibis of various of Lyall's colleagues on the Search Committee that had just nominated him for Dean of Related Studies. But the case keeps Charlie distracted from his major worry: the progress, or lack of it, that his father is making since suffering a stroke. Days spent listening to academic backbiting and nights spent in a hospital waiting room, peeking in on his dad between stints of writing up a case-in-progress journal, keep Charlie on edge, but a bit of luck narrows the suspect list--just as Charlie's father's health rebounds. Minimalist plot, and few will care about the faculty and its infighting. As a father-son study, however, there's much to recommend in Charlie's guilt over not liking his dad, and his sensitive son Seth's love and liking of both his father and grandfather. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Canadian police inspector Charlie Salter's dad is hospitalized after suffering a stroke, and suddenly Salter is brooding about his relationship with the old man. To take his mind off the unwelcome welter of feelings, Salter attempts to concentrate on the murder of a college professor. Not buying the notion that a burglar did it, Salter believes the professor's recent bid to become dean of his college might have figured in the attack. The more Salter probes academia, the more he finds that jealousy, infidelity, and blackmail have taken seats in the lecture hall. Salter is a decent, mild-mannered sort of fellow, and his latest adventure is a decent, mild-mannered sort of crime story--without violence or bloodshed and, frankly, with precious little excitement. Salter plods along from one clue to the next, pulling and worrying at the mystery until it finally unravels, and that's about as much action as there is. Still, Salter has an established audience of readers who enjoy watching their hero meander his way through the rigors of police work. Mystery fans new to the series, though, should start with one of the earlier books. Emily Melton

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684196484
• ISBN 13: 9780684196480
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224