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Susan Lombardi has just received tenure as a Professor of Education at Metropolitan University in Connecticut and she is asked to be a member of the Department Evaluating Committee to help vote another teacher, Abby Gillette, tenure. Susan isn't thrilled with the task. Working on committees isn't a pleasant job at best, and this one won't be easy. Though she has published books and meets all the requirements, Abby is an egocentric woman and has more than a few student complaints against her. Having been on other committees with her, Susan knows that Abby would rather argue than do any work. The tenure committee runs into problems right away. The file on Abby's professional past that the members of the committee have to read suddenly goes missing, and the whole college is interested in the vote. With her support, some of Abby's students put together a website which calls for campus-wide protests until Abby is given what she wants. Susan, along with some other professors, can't shake the thought that Abby herself took the file in order to bring about just that type of notoriety. The file is found in a janitor's bathroom and is then stored under lock and key in Nanette Lehman, the department chair's office. Suddenly a fire breaks out and Nanette is badly hurt when she rescues the file. The police say that the fire was arson and even more publicity falls on the department. Susan can't believe that such doings could happen in her college and decides to investigate on her own, but then she finds the dead body of another member of the committee. In order to stop another tragedy, including any threat to her own well-being, Susan begins to investigate in earnest. At the same time, Susan's friend Elaine has met a mystery man. He is handsome and witty and seems to be wealthy, but Elaine can't find anything about him, so she uses Susan's friend, Mark, a student and PI to investigate. Also, Susan's husband Swash is called to the funeral of a relative, and all of his family's problems come through full force. DEATH BY COMMITTEE is the second in the Susan Lombardi series. I wish I could give it a better review. The writing is smooth but almost all of the book is a string of dialogues along with asides about what the characters are eating and drinking. The overall read is choppy, there's almost no tension and the reading drags on and on. I didn't have an emotional link with anyone in the book. Susan is pleasant enough but there isn't much internal thinking included to give the readers much insight into the woman herself. Her stay-at-home husband's only role here is to be her sounding board over the many dinners he prepares and they share. The scenes with his family and the funeral don't add anything to the main plot and I guess it is simply a setup for a future story. DEATH BY COMMITTEE is only 170 pages in length but seems longer. I won't be on the lookout to find or read any of the others in this series.
Reviewed by A. L. Katz, January 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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