Death in Lovers' Lane (Henrie O Series #3) »

An accomplished master of mystery, Carolyn Hart is the author of more than forty books, including eighteen Death on Demand novels. Her books have won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards. She is also the creator of the highly praised Henrie O series. One of the founders of Sisters in Crime, Hart lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning ex-reporter and journalism teacher at ivy-covered Thorndyke University, Henrietta "Henrie O" Collins demands of her students the same steadfast dedication to the truth that was the cornerstone of her own illustrious career. So when beautiful, ambitious Maggie Winslow decides to investigate a trio of hitherto unresolved local crimes, Henrie O urges her to pursue the story with uncommon vigor.

But the gifted future journalist's zeal may have cost her her life. The next day Maggie's corpse is discovered in Lovers' Lane—the very site of one of the unsolved mysteries the extraordinary young woman was exploring at the time of her brutal, premature death. The police and the Thorndyke powers-that-be are rabidly against Henrie O's involvement in the case. But, for Maggie's sake, the stubborn, sixtysomething investigator is determined to dredge up a past everyone seems to want to keep buried even if it means placing herself firmly in a relentless killer's path.

Publishers Weekly

A talented journalism student is murdered because of her investigation into three old, unsolved crimes in this third, fairly routine Henrie O mystery (Scandal in Fair Haven, 1994). Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins, a widowed newspaperwoman, teaches journalism at Thorndyke University in Missouri. Her student Maggie Winslow is found dead in the Lovers' Lane where two undergraduates were murdered 10 years earlier. Henrie O decides to find Maggie's killer but first must discover which of the old crimes Maggie was probing led to her murder: the 1988 Lovers' Lane murders; the shooting of local businessman Curt Murdoch in 1982; or the 1976 disappearance of Dean of Students Darryl Nugent. Following Maggie's trail, Henrie O searches through newspaper files and interviews old witnesses and new suspects, including a womanizing journalist and his angry wife; a high-living English professor and his father-in-law, a novelist; and the cold, controlling president of Thorndyke. Henrie O makes accusations in a process of elimination and places herself in jeopardy before she solves the crimes, to the embarrassment of the university powers-that-be, an eventuality that strongly suggests that Henrie O's next adventure won't be set in Missouri. Henrie O fans will surely enjoy this latest adventure, although Hart's Death on Demand series, featuring bookstore owner Annie Darling, better illustrates her light touch and humor. 35,000 first printing; author tour. (Feb.)