Of Doggerel and the Dean: A Phil and Paula Oxnard Mystery

by: Patrick O'Donnell

Published by: iUniverse

Reviewed by C.L. Rossman

Dean Crawford is leaving the campus of Garwood College one night, but stops to fill his car’s gas tank on site, and turn in the required usage slip. Suddenly he is murdered. Discovery of his body the next day sets off alarms all over the campus, because the dean wasn’t very popular there.

Everyone wants it to be a simple case of murder by a transient worker, but there are too many people (half the staff) who disliked the dean. A local P.I. Phil Oxnard (who used to be an English teacher) takes on the case after he solves a minor mystery on campus: the case of who has been stealing small personal objects from students and then returning them in odd places a day or two later. The petty thieves have been using bad poetry to announce their scores.

The author offers a relatively new place for mysteries–a college campus, and a new kind of detective, a former professor. In fact Phil Oxnard uses his knowledge of English poetry to solve the doggerel crimes, which I thought was a great touch.

The author writes well and handles dialogue nicely in this start book for a new series. The only slightly offsetting note came when the “prologue” featured the dean’s death, but was set into the near future. So you began Chapter One in the past and kept wondering why they haven’t found the body yet. But that is a concession to modern audiences and their demand for “instant action,” no matter how it’s assembled.

And the publisher needs to correct the book spine, which read, “Of Doggerel and the ___,” leaving out the word “Dean.”

I found this an interesting, readable book in which mystery fans can discover a new setting for their favorite genre.

Armchair Interview says: Nice cozy mystery set on a college campus.