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The Northbury Papers

by Joanne Dobson

It's becoming rather obvious that Joanne Dobson is a feminist. Ms. Dobson's second mystery novel, The Northbury Papers consistently drives that point home. And I have no quarrel with equality for women; it's simply something that should be apparent to all without the necessity of belaboring the fact. Neither do I enjoy reading about the plight of the untenured professors in higher educational facilities – especially when they're women who fear to stand up for their rights when the consequences could easily lead to being passed over for security. As true as that is, the male bastion bastards and strongholds in colleges and universities need females who aren't afraid to make them face reality – and catering to power in fact or in fiction isn't the way to change that. But even with so much emphasis on those two items, The Northbury Papers is still a fine read.

Karen Pelletier is an English professor at Enfield, one of Massachusetts' and New England's most respected colleges. She wants to publish a book on a little-known nineteenth century American woman writer, Serena Northbury. Serena wrote rather emotional stories with perhaps half the talent of her other contemporary novelists, but her stories always sold well, and Karen is busy gathering as much information about her as is available.

Karen is fortunate enough to find a Doctor Edith Hart, who is Serena Northbury's great-granddaughter. Dr. Hart happens to live in the same house Serena did, and when Karen (assisted by two helpers) goes through Serena's papers stored in the attic, she finds an unpublished novel in a hatbox. The novel would have been explosive in its day, and even today the subject matter would still be controversial. The title of the novel is Child of the North Star. Unpublished, written by a woman who wrote for women when such a thing was frowned upon, and with such volatile content, the manuscript is priceless.

But before Karen can make any copy of the work, Dr. Hart is murdered. Edith Hart was a diabetic, and killed by injection which carried an overdose of insulin. Not only was she murdered; the unpublished book is missing. And in her will, Dr. Hart has provided Enfield with the means to create a Center catering to the exploration of women writers – with the stipulation that Karen head the Center. This places Karen on the suspect list for the murder.

Caught between confessions from a pregnant woman, a harassed student, an attractive head of the college, an unpleasant head of her English Department, A sympathetic police lieutenant and his not-so-sympathetic sergeant, her daughter Amanda, and a man called Gerry Novack who acted like Dr. Hart's servant but was evidently more – Karen is buffeted back and forth while trying to deal with the angry protests of Thibault Brewster. Thibault is an influential member of the Board at Enfield – but he's also the father of the student who is harassing another in Karen's class.

Earl Wiggett, who covets old lost or unpublished manuscripts for the money involved, has also learned the existence of Child of the North Star. A sleazy, unprepossessing character, he's attached himself to Karen in spite of her unwilling cooperation, hoping to benefit from her discovery when the manuscript is finally tracked down.

The unpublished book is eventually located and the murderer unmasked, thanks to the revelation of tangled relationships. Earl Wiggett even manages to be instrumental in preventing the murderer from committing still more homicides. This unfortunately results in Karen having to cooperate with him, acknowledging the fact that Wiggett knows more about publishing sensational literature than she does!

The Northbury Papers is a fine mystery, and gets better the further you get into it. Joanne Dobson, an Associate Professor of English herself, has written about an educated woman in a male-dominated environment – perhaps from her own
experience. Whatever the reason for the underlying theme of feminism, Ms. Dobson's second book is well worth your attention.


Alan Paul Curtis

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