The Unmasking

Miller’s fun if at times lecturelike third outing for her trio of Austin University professors (after 2006’s Death of a Department Chair) finds Bettina Graf and two of her closest friends and colleagues, Miriam Held and Fiona Hardison, looking forward to a literary festival in Silver City, N.Mex. The three professors and other participants are to take turns onstage playing such notables as Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf. The role of arts patron Mabel Dodge Luhan is to be performed by Barbara Martin, the new wife of AU’s dean of liberal studies. A few months before the festival, though, Barbara’s husband dies in a one-car crash. It’s believed to be an accident, until the police learn that Barbara stands to receive $3 million from her late husband’s insurance policy. Did she commit murder? During the festival, Barbara goes missing, and Bettina, Miriam, and Fiona are drawn into the investigation. The slight mystery plot takes a backseat to extended discussions of feminism, academic shenanigans, and the lives of women who left their mark on literature. English majors will best appreciate this one. (Oct.)