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The Edith Wharton Murders: A Nick Hoffman Mystery | 
| Author: Lev Raphael
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $6.95
You Save: $15.00 (68%)
New (7) Used (21) Collectible (3) from $0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 1017820
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 227
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0312155190
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312155193
ASIN: 0312155190
Publication Date: September 13, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: The cool second installment in the Nick Hoffman series
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Amazon.com Review
Whoever said that the pen was mightier than the sword might have had The Edith Wharton Murders in mind. In this campus mystery by the talented Lev Raphael, a conference on Edith Wharton becomes a killing ground when various literary factions carry their war of words a little too far--and someone ends up dead. At the heart of both the hostilities and the mystery is Nick Hoffman, a Wharton bibliographer saddled with the thankless task of moderating the conference. Once the murder has occurred, Nick must switch his focus from panel discussions to investigation, a course of action that provides plenty of opportunities for author Raphael to skewer the academic world he left behind.
Product Description
Chaos hits the State University of Michigan when two bitterly rival Edith Wharton societies are brought together for the same conference. Its reluctant organizer, Professor Nick Hoffman, is desperate to get tenure, and when there's a murder, his only chance of saving his academic career is finding the killer.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Great book, lots of fun June 30, 2008
I really enjoyed this book by a former professor of mine at Michigan State University. I am not a seasoned book reviewer, but I have read a number of mysteries lately after a long stint with non-fiction, and this was a fun read. Nick is a character who isn't a super tough guy, who doesn't take himself too seriously, who doesn't burn through cliches of boot knives and emergency spare pistols taped to the underside of his car. He is a real person with real worries like tenure, his new office-mate, his relationship with his partner, and so on. There were some really funny moments surrounding the constant bickering of the two Edith Wharton factions, and I thought the author had about 5 really good ending possibilities, all of which would have made sense. Having taken two semesters from the author I can see his real-world sense of humor standing out in the book. A great read with some fun characters.
Fantastic Sequel January 10, 2007
Edith who? I enjoyed this book as much as the first Nick Hoffman mystery, LET'S GET CRIMINAL. Nick and Stefan are flushed out more as characters, Nick's sarcastic wit is honed, and the overall effect is to make for a totally fun mystery. Mr. Raphael pens a story full of intriuge, "what if's", and "ut-oh's" that will delight any mystery reader. The fact that he takes broadsides at other contemporary writers is also amusing. And as for the mystery's "solution"...well, suffice it to say that Mr. Raphael does Agatha Christy proud.
Yes, It is a mystery. July 30, 2004
Naturally I expected it was a mystery with murders in the title, but reading it felt like I'd stumbled into a literary novel about writer's Angst. One writer was so obnoxiously obsessed with jealousy and envy that I immediately rooted for her to be perpetrator or victim. A bit over 1/3 of the way into the book, there was a murder and the story evolved into a proper mystery with the appearance of a traditional character, a likeable cop, Lt. Valley, and later, Angie, a criminal justice student who helped with the detecting. Nick's pardner, Stefan, is the practical down-to-earth one. The relationship reminded me of Hall's Stanley Hastings and his wife, Alice. Alice brings Stanley down to earth from time to time, too. Thankfully, there are no details of the men's intimate relations which is as it should be. The largest number of consumers of mysteries are mature women (like me) and the majority of them abhor sex scenes, be they hetero or homo. The book's ending was a very satisfactory wrap-up.
As to Wharton, she serves as catalyst for the gathering, but we are not bombarded with biographical data. If you want more, read a biography, and if you come to southern New England, visit The Mount, Edith's beautiful home in Lenox, MA.
 A new twist on an old genre September 3, 2003
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"The Edith Wharton Murders" has it all---good writing, a bright and charming amateur sleuth, and a fresh and ironic take on those well-worn groves of academe. Wait---before you groan and mutter something about "another campus mystery with cutesy cartoon characters as faculty members," give this one a try. You''ll find plenty of highly UNstereotyped profs---you probably had classes with some of them, maybe even Nick Hoffman himself. New t-shirt motto: I LUV LEV!
 Who Dunnit? Who Cares? Miserable Mystery January 11, 2003
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is most definitely the worst mystery novel I have ever read. The characters are not two-dimentional--but one-dimentional. You will not care about anyone. There is also too much padding of incidental material, and enough red herrings to stock a Shanghai fish market. Though the lead character is supposedly gay, there is only a token gay content. He might as well be a Buddist missionary. The hero and his lover share only a Jewish ceremonial meal, all other forms of intimacy in their relationship seems to have vanished. We read mystery novels to get pleasure in discovering who dunnit before the detectives. It is impossilbe to do this when essential information is not revealed to the reader until after the culprit is caught. I feel I have wasted my time here. With an eternity of reading ahead of you, the time would still be too short to bother with this one. Read Wharton's Ethan Frome instead.
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