Student Body: An E.J. Pugh Mystery

Cooper’s exuberant 13th E.J. Pugh mystery (after 2015’s Dead to the World) takes the romance writer and amateur sleuth from her home territory of Black Cat Ridge, Tex., to Austin, where her son, Graham, a student at the University of Texas, is in trouble. After months of putting up with his irritating, bullying roommate Bishop Alexander, Graham awakes one morning to find Bishop dead on their dorm room floor. His first thought is to phone his mother. As he subsequently says, “I don’t need Mom right now, I need E.J. Pugh, the woman who finds out who did what. That’s who I need!” Handling the official murder investigation is Austin police detective Nate Champion, who’s distracted by his recent divorce and who sees E.J. only as the hysterical and bothersome mother of his prime suspect. Stymied and ignored, E.J. calls on homicide detective Elena Luna, her next-door neighbor, to sift through the vast array of suspects. Those looking for a fast-paced escape will be rewarded. [em]Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary Agency. (Aug.) [/em]