This is the fourth book in the Crime with the Classics series, but the first one I have read. I do wish I had read the others as I know I missed a lot of background, but still enjoyed the story. Professor Emily Cavanaugh is on sabbatical from Bede College, prior to her soon to be retirement. She has recently inherited a large sum of money as well as a huge Victorian Mansion that she wants to turn into a writer's retreat. She heads to the library to do some research on her book she hopes to publish. She meets up with a favourite student, Daniel Razumov and his girlfriend in the library working on his thesis on Dostoevsky. During a conversation it is revealed that Daniel is a target of sexual harassment by one of his professors and in turn, she is also failing his girlfriend. Emily and some of the other professors are trying to get her sanctioned or even fired and begin a clandestine investigation. During this time, they hear some information that implicates her and others in some other questionable activities. When she ends up dead, Daniel is the main suspect and is arrested. Emily is adamant that Daniel is innocent and she plans on proving it with the help of some of her friends.

This was an enjoyable mystery, that was well-plotted and paced. I enjoyed the characters, both MCs and secondary ones. The characters were well-developed, even though I am sure there was a lot more development in the books I missed. This crime had several suspects and I enjoyed the way Emily put the clues together. She worked with a junior detective, who wanted to continue the investigation, even though his superior was sure they were wasting time and resources. I thought I had it figured out, but near the end realized I was on the wrong track. There were enough clues to be able to figure out the murder, just before the final reveal. I will definitely be going back and reading the previous books in this series

In Death with Dostoevsky, Katherine Bolger Hyde serves up another enjoyable mystery starring former literature professor Emily Cavanaugh. Emily is back at her college temporarily, researching for her book on Dostoevsky. But she is distracted by a troubled former student, Daniel, who is the target of unwanted sexual advances from another professor. When that teacher ends up dead, her head bashed in, the police arrest Daniel. But Emily doesn’t believes Daniel is guilty, and knows that he’s not the only person with a motive to kill Prof. Curzon. With the help of her fiance Luke’s nephew, a Portland police detective, Emily sets out to prove Daniel’s innocence.

Several recurring characters play significant roles in this book. Luke, Emily’s policeman fiance, appears occasionally, but since his job is in Windy Corner, we see less of him than usual. On the other hand, Emily’s friend Marguerite is very helpful throughout the investigation. Emily’s recently discovered half-brother, Oscar, an adjunct professor at Bede, is now dating another professor, and Emily tries to smooth his way. Luke’s nephew (introduced in this book) is charming, and will make a fine detective someday. Hyde’s secondary characters are always well-drawn and realistic rather than caricatures, pushing the series toward the “traditional mystery” rather than the “cozy-lite” end of the cozy-mystery spectrum and helping to make it one of my favorite newly-discovered mystery series.

All the books in the Crime with the Classics series reference the work of classic or well-known authors: Austen, Bronte, Christie, and now Dostoevsky. I haven’t read Dostoevsky, so I’m sure I missed a number of the subtler allusions to his work. But even without that background, the book reads like a tribute to Russian novels generally. The bleak winter setting, some of the personalities and relationships, and the Russian background of several of the important secondary characters all contribute to that impression. (Not incidentally, the author has a degree in Russian literature.)

Hyde brings Emily’s Orthodox Christian faith out a little more in this book. Personally, I found it refreshing — it’s rare to come across a main character in a cozy series whose faith is so clearly part of who she is. The world is full of people of various faiths as well as more secular individuals, after all, and fictional worlds should reflect that diversity. I don’t think readers of other religions, or none, will find it detracts from their enjoyment of the books. Any reflection of Emily’s beliefs occurs within Emily’s POV, making it part of her character rather than preachiness on the part of the author.

A final note: If you’ve read the previous books, you may notice that the name of Emily’s college has been changed in this book. Earlier books had her teaching at (or rather, on sabbatical from) the real-life Reed College. In this book, that institution has become Bede, a fictional college heavily based on Reed College. An author’s note explains that the change allowed Hyde to structure the college both physically and institutionally as she needed to for the plot, rather than trying to make the plot fit the real-life college. (I suspect it also avoids any potential legal unpleasantness.)

You could certainly read Death with Dostoevsky as a stand-alone, but the other books in the series are good, and the relationships develop over time, so why not start at the beginning with Arsenic with Austen?

Enjoyable take on the campus novel, with a literary twist and evidently much fondness of Russian literature. Some of the side characters did feel a little one-dimensional, but overall a very charming and intriguing story.

Princess Fuzzypants here: I have enjoyed the previous Crime with Classics where professor Emily discovers she has both a literary mind and a penchant for solving murders. She is back at her home campus researching for a book on Dostoevsky when a particularly abhorrent predatory professor meets an unpleasant demise. She had been harassing one of Emily’s former students trying to sell sex for grades and when Emily tries to help, she becomes engrossed in the investigation. Her former student, of course, is the prime suspect as he had the greatest motive and a statuette of his is the murder weapon.
Emily believes he is innocent and through hard work and instinct she is able to convince one of the detectives, who happens to be a nephew of her fiancé, that the killer is still at large. I do enjoy Emily as she is a smart, intelligent woman who does not blunder into dangerous situations. She uses her brain and her observation skills. I confess I suspected the bad guy from very early on but the entire mystery and its resolution is handled well. It turned out to be a page turner and highly enjoyable.
Five purrs and two paws up..

Review Edit....

Thank you netgalley for my advance copy of the book. This is book 4 in a series which to be honest I had never read. I didn’t not like it - it was just not what I was expecting in cozy mysteries. I'm rereading it, only because I don't believe I was fair with the book.... I did jump around a lot. It's a little slow, but it is an easy read.

Professor Emily Cavanaugh must solve the death of a colleague together with her students the colleague was a predatory cougar named Taylor Courzan who had her sights set on Emilys student Daniel.

I still feel that maybe if I had read the previous stories I’d be more into the book and the characters. I do intend to read at least book one
And can see myself picking up this series

Overall it is a nice cozy and if you follow the series you will most likely enjoy this book - as I did. I still skipped a few pages and the murderer was obvious but it was an easy read

Even if it's quite and enjoyable read I found it quite slow and sometimes skipped pages to get to the point.
The setting, the characters are well written and interesting, the mystery is solid and there's plenty of suspects making the read guessing till the end.
The plot was well crafted and, even if it's slow paced in the first part, enjoyable and entertaining.
I look forward to reading the next instalment.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Book four in the Crime With The Classics series of mysteries. Professor Emily Cavanaugh is intent on finalising her work on Dostoevsky when events take a murderous turn and she soon finds herself hunting down a campus killer. Engaging mystery, well written and plotted with some cleverly placed red herrings and a likeable protagonist in Emily. An enjoyable read.

Academia is tough but murder? Well, Taylor Hansen is (was) a professor who harassed young men she found attractive until someone hit her over the head and killed her. Emily, who is back at her university working on her Dostoevsky book during the winter break, is certain that Daniel, one of her students and a main target for Taylor, didn't do it. Who did? Well, this is a cozy so you know there are multiple suspects, all of whom had a reason to want Taylor gone. Emily sorts through it all with the help of her friends, including a love interest. It's a nice done mystery that includes some interesting info about Dostoevsky. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A nice read for cold winter evenings.

Professor Emily Cavanaugh is spending part of her sabbatical researching information for her passion project – a definitive English-language work on Dostoevsky’s tormented relationship with his Orthodox faith as it played out in his fiction. But her work is side-tracked when she has to deal with an annoying co-worker, Taylor Curzon, who Emily suspects is sexually harassing/assaulting male students.

I was mildly surprised as I reading this story because the requisite murder didn’t happen for quite a while. The first half of the story did a great job in setting up the scene (without ever losing my interest) and once the murder happened, the action continued at a good pace. Because there were several candidates for “who is going to die”, I stayed up reading way past my bedtime to find out who the victim was. And then of course, I had to keep reading to find out who the killer was! I rarely read books in one sitting anymore, so to say that this one had me hooked is an understatement.

There’s also a great cast of supporting characters, including Margot Grenier, Emily’s long-time friend and a member of the French department; Oscar Lansing, Emily’s long-lost brother and a adjunct professor; and Lt. Sheriff Luke Richards, Emily’s fiance, an old flame who is now back in her life. The personalities are as varied as you would expected for a mystery series set on a college campus.

Emily is a great main character – she’s interesting, smart and capable, but doesn’t over-estimate her sleuthing skills or take crazy risks. She’s also had some trauma in her background, which comes into play during this story. I’m not sure if it has been resolved fully so it will be interesting it if comes up again in a future book.

I’m so glad I took the chance on this Death with Dostoevsky because I LOVE that this is a cozy mystery series based on classic literature. I can’t wait to go back and start this series from the beginning!

* Thank you to the publisher, Severn House, for providing me with a e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Professor Emily Cavanaugh is back at Bede College, working on a book about Fyodor Dostoevsky and the effect his faith had on his writing. Her life has changed so much since she inherited money and a large Victorian home and moved away from her old life of teaching. The college has no classes during the entire month of January, so it's a good time for her to work on her book. No murder mysteries to solve....just a lot of library time.

Wrong.

Emily meets a student named Daniel and his girlfriend in the library. Daniel is working on a paper about Dostoevsky. Soon Emily is pulled into an issue concerning a female professor who is sexually harrassing Daniel. When the handsy prof is found dead in her office -- her head neatly bashed in -- Emily is on the case to prove Daniel isn't a murderer. So much for a peaceful month of writing and research.....

Death with Dostoevsky is the fourth book in the Crime with the Classics series. Katherine Bolger Hyde has also mixed murder in with Jane Austen, the Brontes and Agatha Christie. I enjoy each book in this series. The plots are always interesting....and the story is sprinkled with many literary references.

This newest story is engaging. The mystery moves along at a bit slower pace, but it still kept my interest. There are plenty of suspects, tangents and clues. The ending had a few surprises.... All in all, another enjoyable book in this series! I'm definitely eagerly awaiting the next book!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Severn House via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

A Crime with the Classics Mystery #4

Professor Emily Cavanaugh is back at Bede College, not as a Professor, but on sabbatical and trying to work on her book on Dostoevsky.

On her first day in the library, Emily runs into a former student, Daniel Razumov, and his girlfriend Sveta. Daniel is also researching Dostoevsky but from a different point of view than Emily. Emily has always thought Daniel was one of her more promising students, but he seems unwell and distracted.

Emily's new brother, Oscar is here as well as Richard McClintock, the sketchy chair of her division. And the fabulous Marguerite, one of my favorites!

When Emily finds out the reason for Daniel's misery, she confronts fellow professor Taylor Curzon. Taylor is a predator and a very unlikeable person! Taylor could care less about what Emily or anyone else has to say about her shady behavior. She has dirt on everyone and uses it as a weapon.

But someone is tired of her wicked games and soon her job is open! Emily finds her dead on the floor of her office. And the shady people start coming out of the woodwork.

There was no shortage of suspects in this one. Some pretty nasty folks. But also some new characters! Luke's nephew, Colin, also a cop and Oscar's girlfriend Lauren.

When Daniel is arrested for the crime, Emily will try her best to figure out who the real killer is. Hopefully, before he/she realizes that Emily is on to them.

Another great one from this author. Always a pleasure and there is always something to learn!

Well Done!

NetGalley/ Severn House Release December 03,2019

This a fun series and I like how the characters move on in their lives, so reading in order makes the books more enjoyable. The characters are interesting as is how they go about solving the crime. Emily doesn't have Luke with her for help, but she does have a relative of his on the force.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an hones review.

An interesting book with an unusual cast of characters. I liked the intellectual dort of mystery this book brought to the table and appreciated the author's way of introducing possible subjects and then letting the reader be the sleuth. I hate it when mystery books give away the ending before the book has really even had a chance to start because they offer too many clues, and this book was not like that. There were enough clues to keep you curious without solving it for you before you had time to think.

Although this book has a decent group of characters, the author did not stuff so many in that they were impossible to keep up with, so it made for enjoyable reading. Whilst there were sections of this book that I thought could have been fleshed out a bit more, such as the character backgrounds, ultimately, I thought it was a good afternoon read and am happy to recommend it to other readers who enjoy mysteries that are a bit more literature-based.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

When a reader encounters an amateur sleuth I think they must accept a few liberties on the part of the author. Clearly, the person taking an aggressive interest in the investigation is behaving in an unnatural manner and the police "acceptance" of their help is beyond imaginable. I readily accept these conventions in most books, but Ms. Bolger Hyde's academic sleuth pushes boundaries that just drove me to distraction.

.. . .. her ready acceptance by the police force stretched my suspension of disbelief to its limits;
. . . her incredibly unprofessional behavior as a gossipy tenured professor was beyond "off-putting" and
. . . her overly intimate relationships with the student population just plain stymied me.

I am a great fan of academic mysteries and, while the references to Dostoevsly and the psychology of his novels was interesting, the main action of the book didn't feel "smart" or engaging at all. If any author decides to use a workplace of any kind as a setting for their book, I feel they need a touch of verisimilitude---this was totally missing in Ms. Bolger Hyde's campus mystery. I found it lacking on all fronts and was very disappointed in this novel.

Netgalley provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is my first time reading this author. This is a good mystery. It's a little convoluted but that made it fun. It is part of a series so there is a little history that you don't know but it still reads well as a stand alone. This university has some major ethic issues going on!! Emily just seems like a nice lady not nearly tough enough but she manages it! Fun read 4 stars

Emily Cavanaugh is slowly becoming one of my favorite protagonists.
I love her generous attitude and her ability to be compassionate to people that she meets.
When Emily arrives in Portland to do some work on a book she is writing, she becomes involved in a previous students private life, only to become involved in a murder investigation, which includes professors she has worked with.
Emily has much experience with these types of investigations, so she eagerly begins asking questions.
Why? Because someone close to her is at the top of the suspect list.
The murderer plans a nefarious deed, very well planned and played out to perfection.
The murderers only mistake? Committing the crime while Emily Cavanaugh was in town.
I enjoyed this book very much and rate it a definite 5 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for approving me to read this book.