cover image The Letter Killeth

The Letter Killeth

Ralph M. McInerny, . . St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (233pp) ISBN 978-0-312-35143-4

In McInerny's rambling 10th mystery set at the University of Notre Dame (after 2004's Green Thumb ), the football coach, an English professor, the provost and the dean of arts and letters all receive alarming bomb threat letters. The university administration doesn't want publicity, so they call upon PI Phil Knight and his brother, Roger, a Catholic studies professor and former detective. Alumni politicking, student muckraking and faculty bickering escalate from a wastebasket set aflame to the firebombing of a professor's car before the tumult culminates in a murder. The Knights put their formidable intellects to the case, with triumphant results that should satisfy series fans. (Dec. )