Rating: 
Summary: A Mystery That Raises Fundamental Literary Questions
Review: The Raven and the Nightingale is the third volume in Professor Joanne Dobson's series about Professor Karen Pelletier. In Quieter than Sleep, readers first met the professor. Doctor Pelletier found herself pregnant as a teen in high school, and dropped out of her plans to go to Smith to marry her truck driver lover. After a difficult pregnancy and marital abuse, she put her life together to raise her daughter as a single Mom while pursuing her academic career. Finally finding love with a cop in New York, she abandoned him to follow her desire for a career to settle at tony, elite Enfield College in New England. Arriving at Enfield, she became the new kid on the English department block sharing responsibilities for 19th century American literature with an aggressive, pompous womanizer who wanted to discuss more than literature with her. She found herself attracted to all the wrong men, and attracted attention from men she would rather avoid. Ah well, back to those term papers! In The Northbury Papers, the professor has an unusual stroke of luck that makes her career prospects much brighter.Those who liked Quieter than Sleep or The Northbury Papers will probably enjoy The Raven and the Nightingale as well. I recommend reading Quieter than Sleep before this book because the characters won't make as much sense without having read that book first. Otherwise, you may find this book to be an average literary mystery. Due to publicity about her forthcoming center for the study of women writers, the professor receives a huge box of papers authored by Emmeline Foster sent by an alum who had recently found them. Ms. Foster is connected to Edgar Allan Poe through a personal relationship and her suicide shortly following the publication of "The Raven." The mystery quickly develops as the manuscripts begin disappearing from the professor's office. Why?
Before long, the mystery is compounded by the death of a prominent Poe scholar, known for his book, The Transvestite Poe. Once again, stoic police lieutenant Charlie Piotrowski is asked to investigate, and the professor is up to her neck in mysteries to solve. Ultimately, she will have to unravel the relationship between Ms. Foster and Mr. Poe in order to understand the present murder. Before considering reading this book, please be aware that Professor Dobson does not use the same approach to literary mysteries that Ms. Jane Langton does. Facts and references to Poe are few and far between. You are assumed to know about Poe rather than to become more familiar with him. In addition, the fascinating Emmeline Foster is a fictional character. Had she been a real character about whom these speculations could have been developed, the book would have been a much stronger one in terms of appeal to me. The heart of the book (and why I rated it above three stars) concerns the current academic debate about originality in authorship. While everyone knows that literal copying without credit is plagiarism, when must literary "borrowing" of source concepts be acknowledged? And how? Professor Dobson does a nice job of providing examples of what should and should not be done. Along the way, she provides a larger than previous dose of humor in her use of stilted academic language. As I finished the book, I found myself more aware than ever to give credit to those who have improved my thinking.
Rating:
Summary: Great fun
Review: This was the first book in Joanne Dobson's series that I had read and it did not disappoint at all. I did not feel as though I were thrown in the middle of a series nor did I feel as though Joanne had to repeat everything for her first time readers - her writing skills are deft and strong as are her characters. I love bibliomysteries and there is nothing better than one that focuses on EA Poe! The plot was very interesting, Karen Pelletier, an English professor at a small college in Mass. with a knack for solving literary crimes, is in the midst of a tough semester. She is battling the nasty weather, whiny students and other professors who would like to take over a large grant that she was bequeathed for a new study center when she receives a box filled with papers on an important and yet mostly forgotten poet, Emmeline Foster, who had an important link to Poe. When some of the papers go missing and one of the college's most disliked professors is murdered - Karen is called in to help. Emmeline Foster's death in the 1840's was never really put to rest and Joanne manages to weave both deaths into an interesting and intriguing tale. Can Karen solve a murder, find the lost papers, find a missing student and still enjoy the holiday break? I most enjoyed Karen's relationship with Lt. Piotrowski, a Detective that she has crossed paths with in Dobson's past two novels. I can't wait to see what develops between them. All in all, I was engrossed in the plot and could not put this book down. The story had me so fascinated - I could not wait to start researching Emmeline Foster and her work - but was amazed to discover that she was a fictitious character - that is how well written this book is.
Rating:
Summary: Great fun
Review: This was the first book in Joanne Dobson's series that I had read and it did not disappoint at all. I did not feel as though I were thrown in the middle of a series nor did I feel as though Joanne had to repeat everything for her first time readers - her writing skills are deft and strong as are her characters. I love bibliomysteries and there is nothing better than one that focuses on EA Poe! The plot was very interesting, Karen Pelletier, an English professor at a small college in Mass. with a knack for solving literary crimes, is in the midst of a tough semester. She is battling the nasty weather, whiny students and other professors who would like to take over a large grant that she was bequeathed for a new study center when she receives a box filled with papers on an important and yet mostly forgotten poet, Emmeline Foster, who had an important link to Poe. When some of the papers go missing and one of the college's most disliked professors is murdered - Karen is called in to help. Emmeline Foster's death in the 1840's was never really put to rest and Joanne manages to weave both deaths into an interesting and intriguing tale. Can Karen solve a murder, find the lost papers, find a missing student and still enjoy the holiday break? I most enjoyed Karen's relationship with Lt. Piotrowski, a Detective that she has crossed paths with in Dobson's past two novels. I can't wait to see what develops between them. All in all, I was engrossed in the plot and could not put this book down. The story had me so fascinated - I could not wait to start researching Emmeline Foster and her work - but was amazed to discover that she was a fictitious character - that is how well written this book is.
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