cover image Foiled Again: A Sarah Deane Mystery

Foiled Again: A Sarah Deane Mystery

J. S. Borthwick, . . St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (350pp) ISBN 978-0-312-36655-1

Offstage drama threatens the production of a gender-bending play, Romiette and Julio , at Maine's Bowmouth College in Borthwick's entertaining 13th academic cozy starring Sarah Deane, English professor and sometime sleuth (after 2004's Intensive Scare Unit ). While sparks fly among the talented young cast (two women clobber the arrogant male lead), interdepartmental politicking escalates between the English department head, Danton McGraw, and the director of the drama school, Sarah's friend Vera Pruczak. Miraculously, the production itself goes off without a hitch, but after the curtain falls Sarah discovers a faculty member critically injured, and later, a student is found dead. She brushes off police warnings not to get involved in her quest for the truth. With natural dialogue and lively characters, the imaginative plot unfolds at a leisurely pace with enough twists to keep the reader guessing. (Mar.)