Breakaway Books

Authored by Amy Bloom; Published June 2026; Mystery

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️

I must be trying to break a record this year with the number of novels I’ve read about the dangers of academia (see Katabasis, History Lessons, Son of Nobody, among others). Blunt Instrument is yet another featuring the death of a professor and the intense politics of universities.

In Blunt Instrument, failed academic turned private investigator Dell Chandler has been hired to look into the murder of a highly successful professor of literature at Cromwell University. Stepping on the police’s toes, she starts to retrace their investigation of Oliver Bullfinch’s murder and discovers almost immediately that there is no love lost between him and the other professors, especially those who needed his support to get tenure. As Dell sorts through the tangled web of rivalries, romances, and frenemies, she also has to keep her eye on her safety and loved ones, who appear to be imperiled.

I’m not sure I’ve ever read about a PI like Dell Chandler. Recovering from a dramatic fall from grace in her academic career, she almost seems to take pride in her status as an amateur. As I listened to this novel, it struck me that, while she is depicted as caring more about justice more than the local cops, she doesn’t appear at all invested in improving her investigatory skills. Her personality is a strange mix of blasé and cynical, and as the story progressed, I found myself blowing hot and cold on her. I appreciated her honesty; I was annoyed by her sarcasm; I felt for her as she discovered that her father isn’t at all who she thought he was. I chuckled at how many times she took her investigatory cues from episodes of Law & Order. 

I guess my question is: Are professors this petty in real life? There is so much drama at Cromwell University, and Professor Bullfinch fills the role of grumpy, old-fashioned, possibly misogynistic professor. One of the junior professors is a casanova of sorts, making a pass at every woman who walks by, and the prime suspect is a stuttering female professor who raises hell at everything she finds objectionable. It’s a lot of big personalities in one place. The vivacity of their personalities is strongly contrasted with the–frankly–laziness of the police, who seem willing to accept that they will never find Bullfinch’s murderer and are annoyed at Dell’s repeated attempts to solve the mystery.

A Blunt Instrument may be just one more book depicting the horrors of academia than you can handle–I’d understand if you skipped it.