THE SEMESTER OF OUR DISCONTENT

“The best cozy debut I’ve read this year. An engaging heroine, a college setting that will have you aching to go back to school, and a puzzler of a mystery make this a must-read for cozy lovers.” – Laura DiSilverio, National Bestselling Author of the Readaholics Book Club Mysteries

English professor Lila Maclean is thrilled about her new job at prestigious Stonedale University, until she finds one of her colleagues dead. She soon learns that everyone, from the chancellor to the detective working the case, believes Lila—or someone she is protecting—may be responsible for the horrific event, so she assigns herself the task of identifying the killer.

More attacks on professors follow, the only connection a curious symbol at each of the crime scenes. Putting her scholarly skills to the test, Lila gathers evidence, but her search is complicated by an unexpected nemesis, a suspicious investigator, and an ominous secret society. Rather than earning an “A” for effort, she receives a threat featuring the mysterious emblem and must act quickly to avoid failing her assignment…and becoming the next victim.

AGATHA AWARD-WINNER for Best First Novel

“The Semester of Our Discontent leads the reader on a journey worthy of any crime mystery and serves up an ending you are unlikely to see coming regardless of how long you have studied the mystery genre…It may take place in the world of certificates and tweed suits, but it is sharp.” – Criminal Element

“A pitch-perfect portrayal of academic life with a beguiling cast of anxious newbies, tweedy old troublemakers and scholars as sharp as they’re wise. Lila’s Stonedale is a world I’m thrilled to have found. Roll on book two!” – Catriona McPherson, Multi-Award-Winning Author of the Dandy Gilver Series

“A very intricate, cool story featuring the depth of an institution where everyone is dying to climb the ladder of success.” – Suspense Magazine

“College professor Lila Maclean gets an A+ for her detecting skills in this twisty mystery set at a Colorado university. With suspects and motives galore, solving the murder of department chair Roland Higgins won’t be easy, but Lila’s got brains and guts to spare. A great book!” – Maggie Barbieri, Author of the Murder 101 Series

“Cynthia Kuhn takes readers on a mind-boggling safari into the wilds of academia…Only an insider like Kuhn can reveal the savagery behind the mask of scholarship and collegiality with such acuity and grace.” – Lev Raphael, Author of Assault With a Deadly Lie

“I have a real fondness for academic mysteries and this one is first rate.” – For the Love of Books

“Takes the reader into higher education’s secrets and shadows, where the real lesson is for the new professor—how to stay alive. If you’re smart, you’ll read this book.” – Lori Rader-Day, Anthony Award-Winning Author of The Black Hour

“Binge reading this first novel in a new series will be almost impossible to resist. The wealth of suspects will keep readers cramming just a few more pages in before bedtime.” – BOLO Books

“Cynthia Kuhn is phenomenal at conveying the tension-filled atmosphere that inundates higher institutions, where one’s fate rests entirely on a few out-of-touch, pompous faculty members.” – Kings River Life Magazine

Related subjects include: women sleuths, cozy mysteries, amateur sleuth books, murder mysteries, whodunit mysteries (whodunnit), academic mysteries, book club recommendations.

Books in the Lila Maclean Academic Mystery Series:

• THE SEMESTER OF OUR DISCONTENT (#1)
• THE ART OF VANISHING (#2)

Part of the Henery Press Mystery Series Collection, if you like one, you'll probably like them all.

Author Bio:

Cynthia Kuhn is a professor of English at MSU Denver, where she teaches literature and writing. Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Literary Mama, Copper Nickel, Prick of the Spindle, Mama, PhD and other publications; she also blogs with Mysteristas. The first book in the Lila Maclean series received a William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant.