An Academic Death
Book Tracking
Sign up to add this book to your recommneded, reading, or planned reading list.
Book Covers
Multiple editions, click to view covers:
Book Details
Written by J M Gregson.
Buy this on Amazon
($25.99)
Editorial Review (from Amazon.com)
Lambert and Hook go to university - but it's no ivory tower When Liz Upson reports that her husband, Matthew, has gone missing, he's not exactly top priority for Detective Sergeant Bert Hook - he's just one of thousands of missing persons reported each year. Anyway, Mrs Upson makes it clear that her husband may be missing, but he's not missed. But when his body turns up with a bullet in his head in the Malvern Hills, Hook and his Superintendent, John Lambert, have a formidable and inscrutable case on their hands. Matthew Upson was a history lecturer at Gloucestershire University - an innocent profession and no shortage of people to interview. Still, it's a beautiful summer, so Lambert and Hook want to make the most of relaxing at the golf course. Life at the University of Gloucestershire will be getting increasingly tense - after all, it's exam season.User Reviews (1) Login or create an account to write a review.
Dale Brayden thinks this book is Nothing Special.
Detective Sergeant Hook and Superintendent Lambert investigate the murder of a professor at the Gloucester New University, a man his wife repeatedly described as an 'arsehole' when she reported him missing. She was not alone in her assessment, and in the course of their investigation the police discover a significant drug connection, and a new set of possible motives for the murder.
This was a well-plotted murder mystery, but I can't say I care much for the characters. Neither Hook nor Lambert seemed very distinctive or interesting. Outside of work, Lambert seems mostly to wander aimlessly around his garden, plucking dead flowers (symbolic? I don't think so). There were a few amusing moments when Lambert and Hook golfed together, but overall the characters and their interactions seemed flat - made for TV.