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| Plot Summary of The Princeton Murders |
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"
Berkley, Jan 2003, 5.99, 272 pp.
ISBN 0425188205
Tallahassee reporter McLeod Delaney of the Star of Florida newspaper is still in shock after receiving notification that she won the Pulitzer Prize for a series of reports on welfare families. Just when she thinks nothing can surprise her anymore she is invited to apply for a lectureship on non-fiction writing at Princeton University. She immediately applies for the position and is quickly accepted. Once she arrives there the faculty makes her feel at home by inviting her to their homes for dinner.
She becomes friendly with a friend of her late husband Professor Archie Alexander, gets along with her department head Dexter Kincaid who is noted for drinking cosmopolitans at every social function, and thinks all her students have a bright future ahead of them. At a faculty party, Archie drinks a cosmopolitan and dies. At a luncheon, somebody makes a cosmopolitan for Dexter and he dies a few days later. McLeod and her students conclude the two deaths are linked but the only person who can tell them who mixed the cosmopolitans is strangled in his own office. They tell their theory to the police who think there is no links between the three deaths but McLeod continues her investigation and almost becomes victim number four.
The theme of THE PRINCETON MURDERS is very creative but the pacing is very slow, which means action readers will tend to lose interest very quickly. McLeod and her students are very likable and interesting characters but the rest of the support cast seen two-dimensional. The mystery itself is well designed and the perpetrator will come as a shock to those readers who stay the entire semester.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Princeton Murders |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 60%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%
Tone of story
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain?
- Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
- present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 60%
Kind of investigator
- skilled citizen investigator
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- life in that culture
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- teacher
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- none
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- killer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- revenge
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths?
- 3-4
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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