My Sister's Keeper (Missing Mystery #16)

Rating:
Summary: Getting better
Review: In the reprint of her first novel, In the Shadow of Kings, Nora Kelly offers some curious, almost apologetic prefatory remarks about her protagonist, history professor Gillian Adams. That novel was rough, though admirable in its efforts. This work demonstrates what that preface hinted at: Nora Kelly has learned a lot about writing mysteries.

This time Gillian Adams is back home, chairing the history department at fictional University of the Pacific Northwest in Vancouver. Grassroots efforts to start a women's studies program at the university result in misogynistic reactions in the form of pranks and protests. When the student leader of the feminist movement on campus is murdered, Gillian must confront the possibility that a student, or worse, even one of her colleagues, may be responsible.

This novel is polished and competent, with the same fluid style of Kelly's earlier work, but with a more richly developed characterization of Gillian. If the competence of this work portends a trend, I look forward to reading more of Nora Kelly's work.

Rating:
Summary: Getting better
Review: In the reprint of her first novel, In the Shadow of Kings, Nora Kelly offers some curious, almost apologetic prefatory remarks about her protagonist, history professor Gillian Adams. That novel was rough, though admirable in its efforts. This work demonstrates what that preface hinted at: Nora Kelly has learned a lot about writing mysteries.

This time Gillian Adams is back home, chairing the history department at fictional University of the Pacific Northwest in Vancouver. Grassroots efforts to start a women's studies program at the university result in misogynistic reactions in the form of pranks and protests. When the student leader of the feminist movement on campus is murdered, Gillian must confront the possibility that a student, or worse, even one of her colleagues, may be responsible.

This novel is polished and competent, with the same fluid style of Kelly's earlier work, but with a more richly developed characterization of Gillian. If the competence of this work portends a trend, I look forward to reading more of Nora Kelly's work.