When Susan Klein arrives in Oxford  England to direct an adult summer school, she finds in the idyllic setting  of the Thames  River a floating corpse   It’s the College  Bursar , and that’s just the beginning. Nelson Sinclair, a Southern restaurateur and prospective donor to the College, is experiencing attempts on his life   Some of those encounters mirror the events in the class he is taking, “The English Detective Story”. Could the death of the Bursar be connected to Nelson’s peril?  Nelson insists that Susan enroll in the same class, and together they attempt to find the source of the crimes. In that pursuit, with wit and verve, a romance is kindled and a Chair of English Gastronomy born.

This latest of several intriguing mysteries set in historic Oxford on the printed page and the big screen presents the ‘dreaming spires’ through distinctly American eyes. Lynne Kaufman ran The Oxford/Berkeley Summer School for 25 years.