Good, but not great; I thought the first book showed a lot of potential because I liked the setting, I liked the characters and I liked that the author wasn't trying to make everything cute. It exceeded my expectations, which have, admittedly, been lowered dramatically by the dreck published en masse the last few years.

What I liked about this, the second one:
* It's a mystery, but not a murder mystery. This isn't uncommon in the mystery genre, but it's not mainstream either so it feels fresh.

* The continuation of a narrative that doesn't feel overly melodramatic: Lila is just trying to get through her days.

* No TSTL stuff. Lila isn't running around trying to act like Nancy Drew and interrogate everyone; she just pays attention and thinks.

* I liked the plot twist; when I read it I started to think "same old, same old" but she did something a tiny bit different that really didn't matter much in the scheme of things, but again, gave it that tiny bit of freshness.


What wasn't so great about The Art of Vanishing
* What's up with this trend of needing to have an over-the-top nasty nemesis? How is it that in the current age of anti-bullying authors seem so hot to include cartoonish bullies in every book? And Lila gets two of them - two nemesis (nemesii?) is surely two too many.

* Love triangle setup. 'nuff said.

These are short and I think, better written than most of what's out there currently. I hate the cliche of the love triangle but I'll give it one more book to see if - hopefully - the author is just dangling it there as a red herring. ( )

Author's guest post at my blog:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2021/10/foodfic-please-welcome-cynthia-kuhn.html

Things start going wrong for Professor Lila Maclean when she is sent to interview author Damon Von Tussel - warning received, items go missing,and accidents start to happen.
Disappointed as I didn't find the mystery very interesting or any of the people.
A NetGalley Book ( )

I'm a little surprised I requested this book from Netgalley. That cover looks an awful lot like the style used on so many not-to-my-taste cozy mysteries – I really don't like that style. It might have been the "Academic Mystery" that got me – and I'm glad it did, because I really enjoyed this. The main character, Professor Lila Maclean shares several of the characteristics cozy mystery authors often give to their characters – she's klutzy, smart, and beleaguered by her boss for no reason that is sensible to a sensible person. She has a colorful (to put it mildly) mother, with a past that serves as a great basis for this and future stories. What differentiates this book from others I've seen is that it's believable. It's – what's that really annoying adjective? Organic. Lila isn't klutzy to further the plot, or to make her an Extra Quirky Cozy Heroine – she just is. In fact, it makes sense that there's a psychological basis for it. Her boss's antagonism is somewhat out of the blue, but there is a seed of "because" in there. He hasn't taken against her randomly – and that antagonism feels really familiar. We've probably all known, and God help us worked for, people just like him. and beleaguered by her boss for no reason that is sensible to a sensible person.

The story is twisty and – yay! – unpredictable. At one point I was just waiting for one character to get knocked off – I was sure of who the next victim was going to be – and I was completely wrong. And the author did that on purpose. It was a great fakeout.

It was just a lot of fun. And I will absolutely read more by this author. This is Netgalley doing what Netgalley's supposed to do.

"You should pat the gryphon too."
"I’m not going to—"
"Pat the gryphon, Lil," she commanded sternly.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review. ( )

This is lovely cozy mystery where nobody dies. Instead, there are shenanigans taking place in the cut-throat world of academia. The stakes are raised when the ivory tower intersects with personalities from the literary world. The book’s plucky hero is required to navigate the mine-field of campus politics and save the day—not to mention her career.
This is an easy book to get absorbed into. The writing style is crisp, the story engaging, and the characterizations are nicely done. There’s a lot going on, and at times I was tempted to keep notes just to keep up with who was doing what to whom. Then I surrendered and simply let the story take me along for a most enjoyable ride and a satisfying conclusion.
Recommended for lovers of cozies who want something little different.
Why 4 stars instead of 5? To me, 3 stars indicates something worth reading, 4 stars indicates that a book that has something special going for it in addition to being a good read, and 5 stars is reserved for books with a richness and depth that totally blow me away (eg. "Dune" or "Lord of the Rings").
DISCLAIMER : I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review as part of Mystery Thriller Week.
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