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Black economics Harvard professor Nikki Chase and her best friend Jessica Lieberman head down to Princeton for a weekend conference, at which Nikki hopes to unwind and have some serious discussions with her mentor Earl Stokes. Princeton is perhaps the most conservative of all the Ivy League universities. (The standard definition of a bore is a Texan who has graduated from Princeton and joined the Marines.) In winter, under a blanket of snow, the campus looks like a peaceful southern estate. However, looks are deceiving. Professor Earl Stokes, head of Princeton's economics department and also head of its Afro-American studies program, is Nikki's mentor. He asks her to meet him at his home so they can go to the reception together. When she arrives, she meets Eula, Earl's wife, who appears to be going to the formal party dressed in a house dress. Nikki cannot understand why Eula seems to want to undermine Earl's illustrious career. There are rumors that Earl is being considered by Harvard to become head of Harvard's African American studies program. In fact, Percy 'Butch' Stoles (called 'Sportin' Life by students and faculty alike), the Oxford-educated current acting head of the Harvard program has also come to Princeton for the weekend. Stokes would be quite a catch for Harvard. His book on urban economics was a best seller. He is a charismatic teacher as well. The major drawback to his moving from Princeton to Cambridge is his wife, who comes from a family that has lived in Princeton for many generations. She does not want to move. The point becomes moot the next morning. A fire overnight has destroyed the new African American department building that is under construction. The body of Professor Earl Stokes is found in the ruins. The Princeton police department puts it down to either accident or suicide, but Nikki doesn't believe either conclusion. She again interferes against her own interest, as she did earlier at Harvard and Yale, to prove that Stokes was murdered. The author, Pamela Thomas-Graham, knows whereof she writes. She is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Business School, so she has been around universities long enough to understand the sniping and sabotage done in the name of academia. I guess her position as president and CEO of CNBC precludes her writing more than one book every couple of years. That's too bad. I like her slightly off-center characters.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, October 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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