At St. Mello's College in Santa Fe, the egghead mainly-male faculty who teach the Great Books List curriculum are dying, one each month, in horrible accidents. The college administration and the local police are satisfied with that verdict, but new Writing Tutor Jack Nowan isn't. At 35, with a fresh-minted Ph.D. and his first university job, he's on the bottom rung. With the help of the cool and lovely Mercy Torcher, the Egyptian-eyed Assistant Director of Admissions and Relations, and Artemisia Parse, a retired lady professor from England, East Coast transplant Jack Nowan slowly realizes that someone is murdering the tutors of St. Mello's, and sets about figuring out who, and why. Every person connected with St. Mello's seems to be idiosyncratic or bitter enough to be the culprit, as Jack stalks his colleagues, stumbling through a wickedly outrageous mix of Anglos, Hispanics, and Indians.