Damaged goods - Ann Waswo

Akiko Sugiyama, an art fraud investigator based in Tokyo, responds to an urgent request from an old friend and soon arrives at Thaddeus Hall, Exton University in England. When one of the college fellows is found dead in his room the following afternoon, she becomes aware of the tensions that have been generated within the fellowship by recent government efforts to curb ‘curiosity-driven’ research and replace it with ‘useful’ research that is deemed to be of measurable benefit to the nation’s economy and society.Whilst Akiko plays no direct role in solving the mystery of this death, her observations about it attract the attention of James Baxter, the Detective Chief Inspector assigned to the case. They work together, using Akiko’s lateral thinking, to solve the mystery of a second death, which occurs just days later. A part-time employee of Thaddeus Hall who also does secretarial work for a dozen Exton dons careens off her bicycle into the River Thames. The paramedics who attempt to revive her suspect poisoning and they are proven right. But who would have poisoned her, and why? The mystery unfolds further...A sharply-written and occasionally witty novel, Damaged Goods provides an accurate representation of British university life whilst giving an insight into the ill-judged, clumsily implemented initiatives by government that threaten the viability of higher education. Author Ann is inspired by her favourite crime fiction authors: Rex?Stout, Dorothy Sayers and P.D. James.