Guthrie's Writing Cottage. Blog

Review for Murder at Cold Creek College

By Christa Nardi

The new school season is approaching at Cold Creek College. Students are starting to arrive for the new semester. Instructors are bomarded with course schedules, syllabi, text books, administrative directives, personality clashes and --- murder.

With all this going on, the psychology department feels the stress about losing one of their own and after the State and local police get involved with investigations they discover this man hasn’t just had his academics on his mind, he’s had scores of students as well as female instructors and ex-wives in numerous capacities. That leads to heartbroken ladies and suspects.

Psychology assistant professor Sheridan Handley is one who escaped his clutches, but some of her friends weren’t so lucky. A few are now on the “prime suspect” list and Sheridan is determined to clear their names.

Joining up with State Police Detective, Brett McMann, Sheridan profiles and explores the victim and suspects to find the murderer.  

Most of the book is slower paced than most ‘who dun its.’ This books not only gets involved with solving the crimes from a psychologist’s standpoint, but shares with us the lives of academics on and off campus, with some lovely descriptions of Cold Creek College. We don’t find all the clues we might need. No magnifying glasses in this book. Just a circular idea chart with the suspect in the center connected with all the people (and wives) in his life.

And connect the dots, Sheridan does to such an extent that she gets closer to the truth than even she knows, until she, too, is confronted by the killer.

The book starts out slowly and is written through Sheridan’s eyes in first person. You might find too much description and narrative when you’re used to the usual suspense novels. But soon, you get so into the academic life and personalities you forget all about that, you relax and wonder ‘who dun it?’

Well done.