Carl Burns Mysteries

Professor Carl Burns knew the new dean wasn't going to work out when she bought the two goats. And that was the least of the problems. Hartley Gorman College was being attacked - with a vengeance - by the forces of political correctness, and the new dean was an unreconstructed hippie. Courses would have to be rewritten, manners watched... and everyone knew Burns should have been the new dean, anyway. As if this weren't enough to contend with, Tom Henderson's fatal fall through a window definitely wasn't part of the planned curriculum. But figuring out whodunit is going to be a lot more interesting for Burns than grading papers for his developmental English class.

Bill Crider, famous for the popular Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series, is back with a mystery novel combining his wry wit, a clever plot, and the usual hijinks - all set against the normally placid backdrop of academia. First, someone steals several valuable toy soldiers from the collection of the dean of a small liberal arts school. The dean asks Carl Burns, Chair of the English Department, to look into things. Then a college board member is killed, and one of the stolen soldiers is found at the scene. After another attempted murder, another soldier is found, making a clear link between the stolen toys and the shooting. Burns begins asking questions and finds himself involved with a varied cast of characters, all of whom appear to have some connection to both toy soldiers and the murder.