A review by mareich
Academic Curveball by James J. Cudney

2.0

I didn't like this book much at all, and am actually surprised I finished it. The plot didn't engage me and I found the writing to periodically border on sappy. The story surrounds Kellan who lives in LA and has an inexplicable job working for a reality TV producer who has no redeeming qualities. Kellan is sent to visit his parents in Pennsylvania college town, where his father is college President. His father also has few, if any, redeeming qualities. Kellan's task is to meet with someone who has been researching material for the reality TV show to obtain the material. Before he can have the meeting, the researcher is murdered on campus. There is a second murder which seems unrelated, as well as a number of other "pot-boiler" activities on campus during the ensuing investigations. My overall impression was the book was tedious, pretentious, and mostly banal and if I'd known it was categorized as a "Cozy Mystery," I wouldn't have picked it up. I generally find something to like in everything I read, but in this case, there wasn't anything to be had. The most intriguing aspect of the book was the last sentence, a teaser for Braxton Campus Mysteries #2.