I am looking for mysteries set in academia or within the world of publishing. I tried googling first and had no luck. Can you guys help? Thanks in advance.
The very first Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker was The Godwulf Manuscript- it’s set in academia.
Dorothy Sayers’*** Gaudy Night ***is a Lord Peter WImsey mystery set at a women’s college.
PD James’ ***Original Sin ***has Adfam Dalgliesh investigating murder at a British publishing house.
The Ben Reese mysteries by Sally Wright, starting with Publish and Perish.
That’s the only one that popped immediately into my head.
Academia: The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez.
Publishing: Foul Matter by Martha Grimes
Toni L. P. Kelner, writing as Leigh Perry, has just published the first of what promises to be a series about an Adjunct Professor who solves mysteries with the help of a skeleton. It’s called A Skeleton in the Family. She has a lot to say about the lousy pay and working conditions of Adjunct Professors.
I also highly recommend the weirdly-titled Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb, who’s written a LOT of mysteries. This one is set at a Science Fiction Convention, and pokes a lot of (affectionate, I think and hope) fun at the people who attend such. The title of the mystery is supposedly the title of a book written by the book’s professorial hero, who solves the murder. There’s a sequel (which is harder to find), Zombies of the Gene Pool
The original edition of Zombies has a great cover.
One of Harry Kemelman’s Rabbi Small mysteries is set at a college: Tuesday, the Rabbi Saw Red.
Almost all of Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse novels are set in or around Oxford- some surely must be set at the University itself.
Amanda Cross wrote a series of fourteen well-received mysteries set in a disguised Columbia University. The first: In the Last Analysis.
P.D. James’ *An Unsuitable Job for a Woman *has Cordelia Gray investigate a murder in an academic setting.
Ellery Queen’s *The Finishing Stroke * has a publisher and his heir as major characters.
These novels count because both of the main characters teach at a college and one of them wrote a popular science fiction novel. (He did not title it Bimbos of the Death Sun. That, and the salacious cover art, can be blamed on the editor.) Both novels mention academia and publishing, but they concentrate on SF fandom. ** Bimbos** explores 1980s fandom and Zombies explores, IIRC, 1940s or 50s fandom from the perspective of the 1980s.
I think I still have a copy of both of them.
Popular Academic Mystery Books
These are mysteries that take place in academia or feature professors, graduate students, etc.
Book & Publishing Industry Mysteries
For mysteries set in any major category, check Library Booklists’ mystery section.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt is a good one set on a college campus among a group of eccentric, intellectual students.
Asimov’s THE DEATH DEALERS, aka A WHIFF OF DEATH, is this for a chemistry prof.
Mysteries lists site Stop You’re Killing Me master job index (c. 85 categories):
Academics:
Books (Book Sellers, Buyers, Publishers, Editors, Agents):
(left rail for indices by genre, location, historical period, and diversity (identity groups), plus “read-alikes”)