The Semester of Our Discontent, published in 2016, is the first in the Lila Maclean Academic Mystery series by Cynthia Kuhn. The book, the first of five in the series, won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel in 2016.
Our Sleuth: Lila Maclean, 30, fresh out of graduate school at New York University, is an assistant professor of English at a liberal arts university southwest of Denver.
The Setting: We’re at the private and exclusive Stonedale University, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, present-day. Most of the action takes place on campus, which has the picturesque appearance — but not quite the entrance requirements — of an Ivy League institution.
The Premise: Lila is excited to begin her academic career but is soon discouraged by her first meeting with English department chair Roland Higgins. Higgins is critical of her idea for a course covering the mystery genre, preferring a focus on the classics. He’s also highly skeptical of her desire to publish a book on a relatively unknown female mystery author. Soon after their encounter, Lila finds the snobby scholar stabbed through the heart.
My Take: I welcomed the opportunity to return to Lila’s world each day, savoring the detailed depictions of her first steps into the academic life. The author, herself an English professor in Denver, assuredly shows us the joy of a life in literature while also making fun of the mind-numbing bureaucracy that accompanies it (hours spent arguing over the font of department letterhead). While we’re clearly in present time, note the Starbucks references, the author also introduces a fun retro note in describing the supporting characters. There’s Lila’s cousin, Calista James, a poet and colleague, who “in her sleeveless beaded silver dress, she could have been a 1920s flapper.” Lila’s mentor, Judith Westerly, is introduced as looking like “an Alfred Hitchcock heroine — cool, collected, and highly capable.” And Detective Lexington Archer has a buzz cut and sharp cheekbones, “the kind of guy you’d see playing a Secret Service agent in the movies.” The book covers also highlight this vintage vibe.
As a writer, I appreciated how the author, Cynthia Kuhn, was able to create such a nuanced world without slowing the action — there’s a murder by the end of chapter one. Kuhn throws in a cryptic symbol, a book as weapon, and a secret society while steering us effortlessly to a satisfactory conclusion. I finished the second book in the series soon after the first. My only regret is that the remaining books in this series aren’t as easy to find as I would like.
Opening Lines:
When summoned by the department chair, one shows up on time. I hurried past the row of faculty mailboxes with minutes to spare and greeted Millicent Quayle, a squarish middle-aged woman whose dull brown hair perfectly matched her suit. As executive assistant, Millicent presided over the front desk that guarded our leader’s inner sanctum. She was practically humming with efficiency as her fingers flew over the keyboard, and I stood quietly until she mustered up the will to drag her attention away from the computer screen.
“And you are?” She frowned, her eyes locked on mine.
Heads Up: A traditional cozy with no violence, sex or profanity on the page.
Etc.: The author is a professor of English at Metropolitan State University of Denver, where she teaches literature, writing, and film. The last installment of the Lila Maclean series, The Study of Secrets, was published in 2020. More recently, Kuhn has begun the Starlit Bookshop Mysteries series.
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