cover image The Mark Twain Murders

The Mark Twain Murders

Edith Skom. Council Oak Books, $12.95 (277pp) ISBN 978-0-933031-17-3

The inaugural title in the new Brown Bag mystery series featuring pocket-sized hardcover books, this exciting story is set at Midwestern University in Illinois where a student is killed after winning a prize for her essay on Tom Sawyer . Convinced that the girl had plagiarized the piece, Professor Beth Austin plunges into the intricate task of unearthing the original. Coincidentally, Gil Bailey, an erudite FBI agent, arrives to investigate thefts of library treasures and establishes an informal partnership with Austin. Suspicion falls on professors and others on the university staff as the amateur and professional detectives cooperate and (soon) fall in love. In the end, an attack on Austin proves fatal to the unlikely killer. Skom provides a literary treat, salted with wit, most notably in her characterizations of eccentric academics. (May)