Murder in the New Age - Hardcover

Jones, D.J.H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826318134 ISBN 13: 9780826318138

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press, 1997

Synopsis

Fans of Murder at the MLA, also by D. J. H. Jones, will welcome this second adventure of Nancy Cook, a Chaucer scholar with a sharp mind and a taste for Bakelite jewelry. When Nancy arrives in Santa Fe, she's looking for a getaway from her job at Yale--a place to revise her book before an autumn rendezvous with Chicago detective Boaz Dixon. The room she sublets is decorated in black and red, bedecked with herbs and crystals. She is awakened by drumming. The quiet retreat she was hoping for is a crowded household of New Agers dabbling in self-help philosophies, "crystal culture," astrology, and channeling.

Intrigued by the preoccupations of her companions if disgusted by their diets and hygiene, Nancy finds that her sympathy for Nicole, a software whiz with a weight problem, draws her into the increasingly mystifying affairs of the household. The appeal of New Agism--the sorts of people drawn to it and why--becomes a mystery she sets out to solve. When a fugitive cyberthief in the household attempts murder under cover of a peyote ceremony, a surprising arrival alters both the police investigation and Nancy's future--academic and romantic.

With acute observation and acidic wit, Jones provides a hilarious analysis of New Age subculture and its pretensions.

About this title

Review

Every era must have its object of satire, and at the end of the 20th century, New Age philosophy and practice is it. In D. J. H. Jones's Murder in the New Age, protagonist Nancy Cook, a Chaucerian scholar, wields her sharp analytical brain like a scalpel as she dissects the most cherished beliefs of the New Agers with whom she shares the rent while on sabbatical in Santa Fe. However, when affirmations turn to murder, the good professor finds herself putting her scholarly methods to an entirely different use. If one occasionally wonders why Cook stays--or why the New Agers would have her--that quibble is soon forgotten in the flurry of satirical bon mots and sly assaults on fuzzy, feel-good thinking that accompany Nancy Cook's amateur sleuthing.

From the Inside Flap

The sequel to Murder at the MLA.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0826318134
• ISBN 13: 9780826318138
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 189