Author: Cynthia Kuhn

In The Subject of Malice, Lila leaves campus for a convention at nearby Tattered Star Ranch. The small press that will be publishing her book is there and she's meeting with her editor, in between attending panels, tours, and odd jobs as a member of the planning committee. Her rival, Simone, and Simone’s twin sister, Selene, are also attending the conference and apparently co-writing a book on the same author as Lila, which is both bad for Lila and unprofessional on Simone's part. It's all stressful and the keynote is maybe a jerk, even if he's an incredibly popular writer. And then one of the editors ends up dead. Lex is on hand to investigate. Time passes between the books in this series and Lila and Lex have been dating for over a year now. Anyway, he actually asks Lila to consult for the department, since she knows the people and has a better grasp on potential motives. Yeah,...

I've been reading the Lila Maclean mysteries this month. Each can work as a stand-alone, but like most series, reading them in order will give you a better feel for the characters, especially the ones in supporting roles. In The Spirit in Question, Lila has taken on (or perhaps been dragged into) helping with the production of another professor’s play, Puzzled: The Musical, a barely comprehensible mixture of detectives and dancers. The student actors and crew are having a ball - until the director is murdered during a rehearsal. At the request of Detective Lex Archer (the love interest), Lila (mostly) stays out of the hunt for the murderer, but plenty of other problems keep her busy. The play is being staged in the Stonedale Opera House, which the university owns but doesn't seem to maintain. The Historical Society is protesting the use of the building, multiple accidents happen during practices, and, to top it all off, the building might be haunted....