When Matthew Upson, a popular history lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire, mysteriously disappears in this middling police procedural from British author Gregson (An Unsuitable Death), Upson's wife, Liz, makes it clear to Det. Sgt. Bert Hook and Supt. John Lambert that she doesn't care whether or not they find him. It seems to be a standard missing person case—until three young boys find a disfigured body with a bullet in its head, and Liz confirms it's Upson. In their search for the killer amid the author's generic halls of British higher education, Hook and Lambert discover that the victim had indulged in an adulterous affair or two. At the same time, the pair are guilty of numerous oversights: they fail to ask what Upson was wearing when he vanished; they don't consider who profits from his death; and they neglect to look closely at Liz's financial position. Eventually, after uncovering a sizable balance in a bank account that Upson concealed, they learn that he dealt drugs to students. More violence ensues—a student who was a pusher is murdered, and Hook and Lambert must interrogate the drug-dealing hierarchy's top dogs, who may be responsible for both murders. While Gregson develops the characters of Hook and Lambert, he skimps on the unsavory collection of faculty members they investigate, none of whom is sympathetic. The action moves swiftly, but will be quickly forgotten once readers turn the last page. (Feb.)
