Pamela Thomas-Graham's beguiling and atmospheric Ivy League novels simmer with hot button issues -- and unveil layers of malice and murder inside the life academic. Harvard economics professor Nikki Chase is intent on becoming the first tenured African-American woman in her department. But with her affinity for solving crimes, she may make her name in a place where the highest levels of human intellect can court the lowest impulses of the human heart.

PUBLISH OR PERISH

A working weekend at a Princeton conference is just what Nikki needs to deflect the pre-holiday pressures --...