Oxford Mourning: A Kate Ivory Mystery

Stallwood, in her fourth Kate Ivory mystery (after Oxford Exit, 1995), assembles a quirky cast backed by solid plotting and wicked humor. Kate, 30, blonde and fiercely independent, is a historical romance writer somewhat out of place in the snobby world of Oxford academe. In pursuit of a new angle for her latest novel about Charles Dickens and his mistress, she turns to Dr. Olivia Blacket, who, in the course of her research at Leicester College, has been handed a treasure trove of uncatalogued Dickens papers. Olivia is ""difficult."" She is also hostile, secretive and, above all, intimate with Liam Ross, Kate's lover. But someone else is desperately seeking Olivia. Angel, a lovely 22-year-old amnesiac, has suddenly recovered her memory of some tragic events--and decides that murderous revenge upon Olivia is called for. When Olivia is discovered in her office, bludgeoned almost beyond recognition, the investigation sets off a chain of events involving Kate's chicanery, the machinations of a group of enterprising yet disturbed street people (Angel is one of them) and the tepid investigations of the local police, led by Kate's good friend, the rather pallid Detective Sergeant Paul Taylor. Kate, who is not above breaking, entering and dissembling when it suits her, puts herself at great risk. This lively, acerbic book gives new meaning to the term ""publish or perish."" (Aug.)