Mysteries featuring specific themes have proven to be very popular in recent years. One classic setting or theme for mystery fiction that has remained in the public eye has been academia. Whether the hallowed halls of a venerated old British university like Oxford or Cambridge, a tony Ivy-league school on the eastern seaboard of the U.S., or a small community technical school, murder and mayhem in the classrooms and labs of educational institutions never goes out of style. Many, if not most, of the books on this list also feature teachers, professors, or other educators as the primary sleuths. In this list, you will find numerous examples of "series" entries -- volumes in ongoing series featuring recurring characters. Not all books in each series feature an academic setting, so only those appropriate for this list appear here. If the entire set of books in a series is listed here, a notation to that effect is made. All books in this list which are owned by Lincoln City Libraries are hotlinked to their entries in our library catalog, so that you may check on their current availability. Some titles not owned by the libraries are included in this list due to their classic nature, or their position as part of a series. If you see a title on this list that is not hotlinked to our collection, please consider ordering it through our Interlibrary Loan department. This is, by no means, a "complete" list, but focuses primarily on books still owned by the Lincoln City Libraries.

Catherine Aird	The Inspector Sloan series -- Parting Breath [1977] -- Some Die Eloquent [1979]
Susan Wittig Albert	The China Bayles series -- Hangman's Root [1994]
Irene Allen	Quaker Witness [1993]
Jeffrey Archer	Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less [1976]
Charlotte Armstrong	The Witch's House [1963]
Robert Barnard	The Case of the Missing Bronte [1983] Death in a Cold Climate [1981] Death of an Old Goat [1977] Death of a Literary Widow [1979] School for Murder [1983]
Linda Barnes	The Carlotta Carlyle series -- Deep Pockets [2004]
K.K. Beck	The Body in the Volvo [1987]
Lloyd Biggle	Interface for Murder [1970]
Nicholas Blake (a.k.a. C. Day Lewis)	The Nigel Strangeways series -- A Question of Proof [1935] -- The Head of a Traveler [1949] -- The Whisper in the Gloom [1954] -- The Widow's Cruise [1959] -- The Sad Variety [1964] -- The Morning After Death [1966]
Miriam Borgenicht	Booked for Death [1987]
J.S. Borthwick	The Sarah Deane (Deane is a graduate student who becomes a teacher) -- The Case of the Hook-Billed Kites [1982] -- The Student Body [1986] -- Bodies of Water [1990] -- Dude on Arrival [1992] -- The Bridled Groom [1994] -- Dolly is Dead [1995] -- The Garden Plot [1997] -- My Body Lies Over the Ocean [1999] -- Coup de Grace [2000] -- Murder in the Rough [2002] -- Intensive Scare Unit [2004]
Gail Bowen	The Joanne Kilbourn series (Kilbourn is a college journalism professor) -- Deadly Appearances [1990] -- The Wandering Soul Murders [1992] -- Murder at the Mendel [1993] -- A Colder Kind of Death [1994] -- A Killing Spring [1996] -- Verdict in Blood [1998] -- Burying Ariel [2000]
James Bradberry	The Seventh Sacrament [1991]
Leo Bruce	Death at St. Asprey's School [1967] Jack on the Gallows Tree [1960]
W.J. Burley	Death in Willow Pattern [1969] The Schoolmaster [1977] The Charlie Wycliffe series -- Wycliffe and the Schoolgirls [1976]
Gwendolyn Butler	A Coffin for Pandora [1973] Coffin in Oxford [1962] Dine and Be Dead [1960] Olivia [1974]
Meg Cabot	The Heather Wells series -- Size 12 is Not Fat [2006]
Paulette Callen	Charity [1997]
David Carkeet	Double Negative [1980]
Sarah Caudwell	Thus Was Adonis Murdered [1981] The Shortest Way to Hades [1984] The Sirens Sang of Murder [1989] The Hilary Tamar series (Hilary is a professor of Medieval Law at Oxford) -- The Sibyl in Her Grave [2000]
Agatha Christie	The Hercule Poirot series -- Cat Among the Pigeons [1959]
Anna Clarke	The Paul Glenning series -- Last Judgement [1985]
Carol Clemeau	The Ariadne Clue [1982]
Victor Clinton Clinton-Baddeley	Death's Bright Dart [1967] My Foe Outstretch'd Beneath the Tree [1968] Only a Matter of Time [1969] No Case for the Police [1970]
Beverly Connor	The Lindsay Chamberlain series -- Dressed to Die [1998]
Stephen Cook	Upperdown [1985]
Thomas H. Cook	The Chatham School Affair [1996]
Desmond Cory	The Mask of Zeus [1992]
Michael Craft	The Claire Gray series -- Desert Autumn [2001] -- Desert Winter [2003]
Philip R. Craig	The Jeff Jackson series -- The Woman Who Walked Into the Sea [1991] -- A Case of Vineyard Poison [1995]
John Creasey	A Rabble of Rebels [1971]
Bill Crider	One Dead Dean [1988] Murder is an Art [1999] The Professor Carl Burns series -- Dying Voices [1989] -- ...A Dangerous Thing [1994] -- A Knife in the Back [2002] -- Dead Soldiers [2004] [LT edition only]
Edmund Crispin	The Gervase Fen series (Fen is a crime-solving Oxford Don) -- Obsequies at Oxford [1945] (U.S. title) -- The Case of the Gilded Fly [1945] (U.K. title) -- Holy Disorders [1946] -- The Moving Toyshop [1946] -- Dead and Dumb [1947] -- Love Lies Bleeding [1948] -- Buried for Pleasure [1948] -- Sudden Vengeance [1950] -- The Long Divorce [1951] -- Beware of the Trains [1962] (short stories) -- The Glimpses of the Moon [1978] -- Fen Country [1980] (short stories)
Deborah Crombie	The Scotland Yard series -- Dreaming of the Bones [1997]
Amanda Cross (a.k.a. Carolyn Heilbrun)	The Kate Fansler series (Fansler is a professor of English at Harvard) -- The James Joyce Murders [1967] -- Poetic Justice [1970] -- The Theban Mysteries [1971] -- The Question of Max [1976] -- Death in a Tenured Position [1981] -- Sweet Death, Kind Death [1984] -- No Word From Winifred [1986] -- A Trap for Fools [1989] -- Players Come Again [1990] -- Imperfect Spy [1995] -- Puzzled Heart [1998] -- Honest Doubt [2000] -- In the Last Analysis [2001] -- Edge of Doom [2002]
D.A. Crossman	Murder in a Minor Key [1994]
Jeffrey L. Cruickshank	Murder at the B-School [2004]
Diane Mott Davidson	The Goldi the Caterer series -- The Cereal Murders [1993]
Dorothy Salisbury Davis	Shock Wave [1972]
Mildred B. Davis	Tell Them What's-Her-Name Called [1975]
David Delman	Death of a Nymph [1985]
Jane Dentinger	The Jocelyn O'Roarke series -- The Queen is Dead [1994]
Colin Dexter	Last Bus to Woodstock [1975] The Riddle of the Third Mile [1983] The Daughters of Cain [1994]
Peter Dickinson	Hindsight [1983]
Joanne Dobson	The Karen Pelletier series (English professor) -- Quieter Than Sleep [1997] -- The Northbury Papers [1998] -- The Raven and the Nightingale [1999] -- Cold and Pure and Very Dead [2000] -- The Maltese Manuscript [2003]
Stephen Dobyns	Boy in the Water [1999]
Ruth Dudley Edwards	The "Jack" Troutbeck/Robert Amiss series -- Matricide at St. Martha's [1994] -- Ten Lords a Leaping [1995]
Aaron Elkins	The Gideon Oliver series (Oliver is a Professor of archaeology) -- Fellowship of Fear [1982] -- The Dark Place [1983] -- Murder in the Queen's Arms [1985] -- Old Bones [1987] -- Curses! [1989] -- Icy Clutches [1990] -- Make No Bones [1991] -- Dead Men's Hearts [1994] -- Twenty Blue Devils [1997] -- Skeleton Dance [2000] -- Good Blood [2004]
Terence Faherty	The Owen Keane series -- The Lost Keats [1993]
E.X. Ferrars	The Andrew Basnett series -- Root of All Evil [1984] -- Something Wicked [1984] -- The Crime and the Crystal [1985] -- The Other Devil's Name [1986] -- Murder Too Many [1988] -- Smoke Without Fire [1989] -- Thy Brother Death [1993]
Dorothy Fiske	Academic Murder [1980]
Kate Flora	The Thea Kozak series -- An Educated Death [1997] -- Death in Paradise [1998]
Antonia Fraser	The Jemima Shore series -- Oxford Blood [1985]
Elizabeth George	The Inspector Thomas Lynley series -- Well-Schooled in Murder [1990] -- For the Sake of Elena [1992]
B.M. Gill	Death Drop [1979] Seminar for Murder [1985]
Christopher Golden	Bodies of Evidence series -- Bodybags [1999]
Carol Goodman	The Drowning Tree [2004]
Joe Gores	A Time of Predators [1969]
Paula Gosling	Monkey Puzzle [1985]
Linda Grant	Lethal Genes [1996]
Stephen Greenleaf	Beyond Blame [1985]
Susanna Gregory	The Matthew Bartholomew series An Unholy Alliance [1996]
Robert Grudin	Book [1992]
Batya Gur	Literary Murder: A Critical Case [1993]
Patricia Hall	The Yorkshire series -- A Skeleton at the Feast [2000] -- Deep Freeze [2001]
Cyril Hare	An English Murder [1951]
Charlaine Harris	A Secret Rage [1984]
Will Harriss	The Bay Psalm Book Murders [1983]
Carolyn G. Hart	The Rich Die Young [1983] The Death on Demand series -- A Little Class on Murder [1989] The Henry O series -- Death in Lover's Lane [1997]
Tim Heald	The Simon Bognor series -- A Small Masterpiece [1982]
Joan Hess	The Claire Molloy series Strangled Prose [1986]
Reginald Hill	The Dalziel/Pascoe series -- An Advancement of Learning [1971]
John Buxton Hilton	The Superintendent Kenworthy series -- The Innocents at Home [1986]
Isabelle Holland	Grenelle [1976]
Hazel Holt	The Mrs. Malory series -- Mrs. Malory Investigates [1989] -- The Cruelest Month [1991] -- Mrs. Malory: Detective in Residence [1994]
Susan Holtzer	The Anneke Haagen series -- Curly Smoke [1995] -- Bleeding Maize and Blue [1996] -- The Black Diamond [1997] -- The Silly Season: An Entr'acte [1999]
Doug Hornig	Foul Shot [1984]
Michael Inness	The John Appleby series -- Death at the President's Lodgings [1937] [audio only] -- The Weight of the Evidence [1945] [audio only] -- The Long Farewell [1958] -- Hare Sitting Up [1959] -- Picture of Guilt [1969]
Jane Isenberg	The Bel Barrett series -- Death in a Hot Flash [1999] -- Mood Swings to Murder [2000] [LT edition only] -- Midlife Can Be Murder [2001] [LT edition only] -- Out of Hormone's Way [2002]
P.D. James	An Unsuitable Job for a Woman [1972]
Marshall Jevons	The Henry Spearman series -- Murder at the Margin [1978] -- The Fatal Equilibrium [1985]
D.J.H. Jones	The Nancy Cook series -- Murder at the MLA [1993] -- Murder in the New Age [1997]
Cathleen Jordan	A Carol in the Dark [1984]
Rob Kean	The Pledge [1999]
Nora Kelly	The Gillian Adams series (Gillian is a professor, her boyfriend is a Scotland Yard detective) -- In the Shadow of King's [1984] -- My Sister's Keeper [1992] -- Bad Chemistry [1993] -- Old Wounds [1998] -- Hot Pursuit [2002]
Harry Kemelman	The Red Mask mystery series -- The Nine Mile Walk [1967] The Rabbi Small series -- Tuesday the Rabbi Saw Red [1973] -- The Day the Rabbi Resigned [1992] -- The Day the Rabbi Left Town [1996]
Susan Kenney	Graves in Academe [1985]
Laurie R. King	A Darker Place [1999]
Fern Kupfer	Love Lies [1994]
Laurence Davis Lafore	Nine Seven Juliet [1969]
M.D. Lake	The Peggy O'Neill series (O'Neill is a campus cop) -- Amends for Murder [1992] -- Cold Comfort [1990] -- Poisoned Ivy [1992] -- A Gift for Murder [1992] -- Murder by Mail [1993] -- Once Upon a Murder [1995] -- Grave Choices [1995] -- Flirting With Death [1996] -- Midsummer Malice [1997] -- Death Calls the Tunes [1999]
Jake Lamar	If 6 Were 9 [2001]
Jane Langton	The Homer Kelly series (Homer is a Harvard professor) -- Dark Nantucket Moon [1975] -- The Memorial Hall Murder [1978] -- Natural Enemy [1982] -- Emily Dickinson is Dead [1984] -- Good and Dead [1986] -- Murder at the Gardner [1988] -- The Dante Game [1991] -- God in Concord [1992] -- Divine Inspiration [1993] -- The Shortest Day: Murder at the Revels [1995] -- Dead as a Dodo [1996] -- The Face on the Wall [1998] -- The Thief of Venice [1999] -- Escher Twist [2002] -- The Deserter: Murder at Gettysburg [2003]
Janet LaPierre	Children's Games [1989]
Emma Lathen	Ashes to Ashes [1971]
Wendi Lee	Angela Matelli series -- Habeas Campus [2002]
Jim Lehrer	The Franklin Affair [2005]
Elizabeth Lemarchand	The Pollard and Toye series -- Death of an Old Girl [1967] -- Light Through Glass [1984]
Michael Z. Lewin	The Leroy Powder series -- Night Cover [1976]
Frances Lockridge	The Mr. and Mrs. North mysteries -- Murder is Suggested [1959] The Drill is Death [1961]
Richard Lockridge	The Captain Heimrich series -- Accent on Murder [1958] -- Murder Can't Wait [1964] Twice Retired [1970]
M.K. Lorens	Sweet Narcissus [1990]Sorrowheart [1993]
Peter Lovesey	The Sergeant Cribb series -- Swing, Swing Together [1976]
Mike Lupica	Extra Credits [1988]
Amanda Mackay	Death is Academic [1976]
Charlotte MacLeod	The Peter Shandy series (Shandy is a professor at an agricultural college) -- Rest You Merry [1978] -- The Luck Runs Out [1979] -- Wrack and Rune [1982] -- Something the Cat Dragged In [1983] -- The Curse of the Giant Hogweed [1985] -- The Corpse in Oozak's Pond [1987] -- Vane Pursuit [1989] -- Exit the Milkman [1996]
Jessica Mann	The Thea Crawford series Troublecross [1972]
Robert Bernard Martin	Death Takes a Sabbatical [1967] Deadly Meeting [1971]
Guillermo Martinez	The Oxford Murders [2005]
J.C. Masterman	An Oxford Tragedy [1933] The Case of the Four Friends [1957]
Wendell McCall	Concerto in Dead Flat [1999]
Val McDermid	The Lindsay Gordon series -- Report for Murder [1987] The Distant Echo [2003]
Jill McGown	The Lloyd and Hill series Gone to Her Death [1989]
Ralph McInerny	The Search Committee [1991] The Notre Dame mysteries -- On This Rockne [1997] -- Lack of the Irish [1998] -- Irish Tenure [1999] -- The Book of Kills [2000] -- Emerald Aisle [2001] -- Celt and Pepper [2002] -- Irish Coffee [2003] -- Green Thumb [2004] -- Irish Gilt [2005]
N.J. McIver	Come Back, Alice Smythereene! [1985]
James Melville	Death of a Daimyo [1984]
Barbara Michaels	Houses of Stone [1993]
Valerie Miner	Murder in the English Department [1982]
Gladys Mitchell	Spotted Hemlock [1985]
Maureen Moore	Fieldwork [1987]
Ian Morson	The William Falconer series -- Falconer's Crusade [1995]
Marcia Muller [editor]	Dark Lessons: Crime and Detection on Campus [1985] [813.08 Mul]
Janet Neel	The Wilson and MacLeish series Death Among the Dons [1993]
Leslie O'Kane	The Molly Masters series -- When the Fax Lady Sings [2001]
Karen E. Olson	The Annie Seymour series -- Sacred Cows [2005]
Sister Carol Anne O'Marie	The Sister Mary Helen series -- A Novena for Murder [1984]
David Osborn	The Margaret Barlow series Murder on the Chesapeake [1992]
Katherine Hall Page	The Faith Fairchild series -- The Body in the Bonfire [2002]
Robert B. Parker	The Spenser series -- The Godwulf Manuscript [1973] -- Hush Money [1999]
Iain Pears	An Instance of the Fingerpost [1998]
John Penn	Mortal Term [1984]
Elizabeth Peters	The Emerson Radcliffe series -- Crocodile on the Sandbank [1975] The Vicky Bliss series -- Borrower of the Night [1973] The Jacqueline Kirby series -- The Seventh Sinner [1972]
Audrey Peterson	The Claire Camden series -- Dartmoor Burial [1992] The Jane Winfield series -- Nocturne Murder [1987]
Stella Phillips	Hidden Wrath [1982]
Christine Poulson	The Cambridge mystery series -- Stage Fright [2003] [LT edition only]
Ian Rankin	The Inspector Rebus series -- A Question of Blood [2003]
Lev Raphael	The Nick Hoffman series -- Let's Get Criminal [1996] -- The Edith Wharton Murders [1997] -- The Death of a Constant Lover [1999] -- Little Miss Evil [2000] -- Burning Down the House [2001]
Robert Reeves	Doubting Thomas [1985]
Gillian Roberts	The Amanda Pepper series -- Caught Dead in Philadelphia [1987] -- Philly Stakes [1989] -- I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia [1992] -- With Friends Like These -- [1993] -- How I Spent My Summer Vacation [1994] -- In the Dead of Summer [1995] -- The Mummer's Curse [1996] -- The Bluest Blood [1998] -- Adam and Evil [1999] -- Helen Hath No Fury [2000] -- Claire and Present Danger [2003] -- Till the End of Tom [2004] -- A Hole in Juan [2006]
Robert Henry Robinson	Landscape With Dead Dons [1956]
Beth Saulnier	The Alex Bernier series -- Bad Seed [2002]
Dorothy L. Sayers	The Lord Peter Wimsey series -- Gaudy Night [1936]
Margaret Scherf	The Banker's Bones [1968]
Sarah R. Shaber	The Simon Shaw series -- Simon Said [1997] -- Snipe Hunt [2000] -- The Fugitive King [2002]
Edith Skom	The Beth Austin series -- The Mark Twain Murders [1989] -- The George Eliot Murders [1995] -- The Charles Dickens Murders [1998]
Joan Smith	The Loretta Lawson series (Loretta is a feminist academic) -- A Masculine Ending [1987] -- Why Aren't They Screaming? [1988] -- Don't Leave Me This Way [1990] -- What Men Say [1993] -- Full Stop [1995]
Taylor Smith	The Best of Enemies [1997]
Richard H.R. Smithies	An Academic Question [1965]
Kurth Sprague	The Rusty Coulter series -- Frighten the Horses [2003]
Patricia Sprinkle	Murder at Markham [1988]
Susannah Stacey	A Knife at the Opera [1988]
Veronica Stallwood	The Kate Ivory series -- Death and the Oxford Box [1993] -- Oxford Exit [1994] -- Oxford Mourning [1995]
Aaron Marc Stein	A Body for a Buddy [1981] The Elsie Hunt/Tim Mulligan series -- The Sun is a Witness [1953]
Sarah Strohmeyer	The Bubbles Yablonsky series -- Bubbles Unbound [2001] -- Bubbles Ablaze [2003]
Julian Symons	The Delting Secret [1982] The Name of Annabel Lee [1983]
William G. Tapply	The Brady Coyne series -- Death at Charity's Point [1984]
Edith Taylor	The Serpent Under It [1973]
Elizabeth Atwood Taylor	Murder at Vassar [1987]
L.A. Taylor	Footnote to Murder [1983]
Sarah Stewart Taylor	Mansions of the Dead [2004]
Josephine Tey	Miss Pym Disposes [1947]
Donald Thomas	Mad Hatter Summer [1983]
Pamela Thomas-Graham	The Ivy League mystery series -- A Darker Shade of Crimson [1998] -- Blue Blood [1999]
June Thomson	Rosemary for Remembrance [1988]
Michael Underwood	Victim of Circumstance [1980]
Lea Wait	The Antique Print series -- Shadows on the Ivy [2004]
Ann Waldron	The Death is Academic series -- Unholy Death in Princeton [2005] [LT edition only]
Jill Paton Walsh	The Imogen Quy series -- The Wyndham Case [1993]
Lilla M. Waltch	The Lisa Davis series -- The Third Victim [1987]
Elizabeth C. Ward	Coast Highway 1 [1983]
Hillary Waugh	Last Seen Wearing [1952] Pure Poison [1966]
Rubin Weber	The Grave-Maker's House [1964]
Theodora Wender	The Glad Gold series -- Knight Must Fall [1985] -- Murder Gets a Degree [1986]
Morris West	Masterclass [1988]
T.H. White	Darkness at Pemberley [1978]
David Williams	The Mark Treasure series -- Treasure by Degrees [1977]
Colin Wilson	Necessary Doubt [1964]
James C. Work	A Title to Murder: The Carhenge Mystery [2004]
Eric Wright	The Inspector Charlie Salter series -- The Night the Gods Smiled [1983] The Joe Barley series -- Death by Degrees [1993] -- The Kidnapping of Rosie Dawn [2000]
James Yaffe	A Nice Murder for Mom [1988]
Margaret Yorke	The Patrick Grant series -- Dead in the Morning [1970] [LT edition only]
Mark Zubro	The Tom and Scott mysteries (Tom Mason is a high school teacher)s -- A Simple Suburban Murder [1989] -- Why Isn't Becky Twitchell Dead? [1990] -- Only Dead Priest [1991] -- The Principal Cause of Death [1992] -- An Echo of Death [1994] -- Rust on the Razor [1996] -- Are You Nuts? [1998] -- One Dead Drag Queen [2000] -- Here Comes the Corpse [2002]

Original printed list from Oct 1986
Adapted and expanded for the Web June 2006 sdc