An ill wind blows through the groves of academe as English professor Karen Pelletier becomes embroiled in her second homicide investigation--in this sequel to the Agatha Award-nominated Quieter Than Sleep.As the case progresses, Professor Pelletier--intrepid researcher, defender of women's rights, and soldier on the front lines of the fight for academic progress--finds herself doing battle not only with an unknown killer but also with her own department chair; being threatened by the president of the board of trustees; and falling victim to the aristocratic charms of her college president.Any one of these peccadilloes, she realizes, might easily spell academic death to an untenured member of the faculty. And, in an ironic twist on the old professorial adage, it begins to look as if Karen's determination to publish (the biography of a woman whose writing her colleagues look upon as trash) might actually cause her to perish--professionally, and perhaps in the decidedly non-metaphoric sense as well.Joanne Dobson's first novel, Quieter Than Sleep, introduced feisty young Professor Pelletier, the political battle at prestigious Enfield College, and a cast of memorable characters from outrageous academics to local police. With The Northbury Papers, Dobson provides an even more intricate mystery, and a sputtering cauldron of academic warfare that will delight old fans and win her a host of new ones, too.