There?s nothing new under the sun, not even evil, when Nick Hoffman?s tropical island vacation turns into an investigation?of murder. The chaos at the State University of Michigan had reached an all-time high when strange and threatening changes in Nick?s department revealed hidden alliances and mysterious conspiracies. Regretting a promise to help a graduate student who professed to know what was really behind it all, Nick left under a cloud for the clear skies of a Caribbean getaway. But his winter vacation in paradise becomes a nightmare as he learns the truth of the warning that ?You can run, but you can?t hide.? And on a tiny island, there?s nowhere even to run....

Lev Raphael?s five academic mysteries have garnered critical raves, such as ?a genuinely funny modern comedy of manners? (Washington Post); ?the Borgias would not be bored at SUM, that snake pit of academic politics? (NY Times); ?impeccably written? (Mystery Review); ?the groves of academe have never been bitchier? (Denver Post); ?a witty and devastating backstage view of college life? (San Diego Union-Tribune); ?delightful take on death in academe? (San Francisco Chronicle); ?full of wisecracks, wit and pithy observations... I love this series!? (Murder Ink). Raphael?s series has even been the subject of an academic journal article: ?Sunrooms, Starbucks, and Salmon Steak: Academic Nonsense and Domestic Sensibility in Lev Raphael?s Nick Hoffman Mysteries? by Katja Hawlitschka (The Journal of American Culture, vol.26, no.1, March 2003).

Raphael says: ?Who says academia isn?t the real world? It?s got the vanity of professional sports, the hypocrisy of politics, the cruelty of big business, and the inhumanity of organized crime. A perfect setting for murder and satire!? [from www.levraphael.com]