Hughes Community
College in Southeast Texas near Houston is a small college doing its best to
survive. That means the school and its President Dr. Fieldstone can’t afford
and don’t want any scandal. That includes possibly questionable artwork currently
being exhibited on campus.
Dr. Sally Good
has spent six years as head of the English and Fine Arts Division dealing with
budget complaints, political bickering and gossip, and the other stuff that is
the bane of academic heads everywhere. This is the first time she has been
called in over artwork. Dr. Fieldstone has summoned her along with several
other people to his office to deal with a complaint lodged by Roy Talon.
Talon is a local
celebrity having made his considerable fortune as an automobile dealer. There
is a painting of a goat being exhibited on campus as part of deal showcasing
the work of students in the prison outreach program. Bad enough that the goat
itself is a symbol of Satanism, according to Talon, but he believes that one
can also see “666” painted on the goat head. Upon closer examination of the
painting, not only do the staff members not see the sign of the beast, one goes
so far to suggest if there is anything it might be “911” making it a sign to
call the police.
As a taxpayer
and a very important person, Talon wants the painting gone. In any institution,
bosses handle difficult issues by forming committees to study the problem and
make recommendations. Doing so spreads the responsibility around and absolves
the boss from having to upset any one group. Before long, the idea is floated
to have a newly created committee review entire exhibit to consider if any of
the works are Satanic and thus should be removed.
One of those
involved in this mess is the chair of the art department. The same department
head who may have once again been stepping out on his wife. The same department
head who is soon found very much dead in the art exhibit. When the local police
seem to be ignoring key pieces of evidence it is left to Dr. Sally Good to
solve the crime in Murder Is An Art: A Mystery by Bill Crider.
If you have read
very many of author Bill Crider’s books, you will notice that he often starts
with something relatively minor that either directly or indirectly leads to a
murder. This is especially true in his mysteries based in academia whether it
is the Carl Burns series or this one. He also blends in some misdirection with
characters that are a bit out there. There is more than one such character at
work here and Dr. Good’s observations about them are very funny.
My favorite in
this one was Perry “A. B. D.” Johnson who goes ballistic over just about
anything on a daily basis. The “A. B. D.”
nickname stands for “All But Dissertation” as he has done the entire
graduate coursework and everything else required except for finishing the
dissertation. Every campus has at least one. Back in my days at the University
of Texas at Dallas there were at least two such people I knew of in the
Literature and History Departments. Both were very strange guys. One in fact,
who did lose his mind regarding a chair, so when reading the opening pages of Murder Is An Art: A Mystery where A. B. D. Johnson becomes quite agitated over
a chair it made this reader laugh out loud.
Laughing out loud is always a frequent danger with any work by Texas author Bill Crider. Published in 1999, the book may annoy some readers who expect the first body to fall by the third paragraph at the very latest. Instead, that will come later as the author introduces us to our fictional companions and sets the table for the mystery meal to come. First in the Dr. Sally Good series, the read is occasionally funny while taking numerous twists and turns to solve a murder or two and quite a lot more. Murder Is An Art: A Mystery is a solidly good read and one very much worthy of your time.
Murder is an
Art: A Mystery
Bill Crider
Thomas Dunne
Books (St. Martin’s Press)
http://us.macmillan.com/thomasdunne
April 1999
ISBN#
0-312-19927-9
Hardback (e-book
available)
256 Pages
$21.95
Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple
©2016, 2021
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