cover image Murder at Markham

Murder at Markham

Patricia Houck Sprinkle. St. Martin's Press, $15.95 (218pp) ISBN 978-0-312-02257-0

A delightful new sleuth makes her debut here. Sheila Travis, young widow of a diplomat, goes to work for the Markham Institute, a graduate school for foreign service officers. She finds that the school, once renowned and influential, is on the skids, coasting on its reputation, with only a fraction of its former student numbers and with those remaining highly dissatisfied. Then in a room off the school's library, she discovers the decaying body of Melanie Forbes, rich and spoiled model, former girlfriend of student Quint Barringer and by all accounts a highly unpleasant human being. With the aid of her rich and indolent aunt, Sheila begins to investigate, despite being warned off by the detective in charge of the case. The near death of a school official and the murder of Melanie's best friend, who had preceded Sheila in her job at the Markham and had been fired for theft, increases the atmosphere of tension at the school. An attempt on Sheila's life eventually leads to a denoument. Sprinkle writes a pleasant tale with some acid observations on life in diplomatic circles and on academic infighting. Romantic touches round out a pleasant read. (Nov.)