Final Exam

October 12, 2009
Going back to dorm life isn't much fun for Alison Bergeron in Barbieri's uneven fourth puzzler to feature the reluctant crime magnet (after 2008's Quick Study
). Alison, an English professor at St. Thomas University in the Bronx, becomes the temporary resident director of Siena dorm after Wayne Brookwell, its popular RD, fails to return from spring break. Det. Bobby Crawford of the NYPD, Alison's faithful boyfriend, helps her move into her new digs, Wayne's small, less than spotless “suite.” When the toilet overflows after Alison flushes it, Crawford cleans up the mess—and discovers a brick of heroin hidden under the bathroom floor. Adding spice is a love triangle involving Wayne and Amanda Reese, a Siena RA who's engaged to a Princeton student. Less entertaining is a subplot about Alison's bitchy best friend, whose estrangement from her detective husband has gone into overkill.

October 15, 2009
English professor Alison Bergeron (Quick Study, 2008, etc.) gets stuck with dorm duty when a residence director goes AWOL.

Having best friend Max Rayfield moping around her house while recovering from a busted-up marriage has Alison on the verge of looking for new digs. But the residence director's"suite" (one bedroom, plus a bump-out"living area," plus a bathroom with nonworking toilet) is not her idea of grown-up quarters, especially not with a curfew that prohibits overnight visits from her sexy guy, Detective Bobby Crawford. So Alison, assigned by smarmy Dean Merrimack to take over Wayne Brookwell's stint at Siena Hall, is frantic to find the missing RD so that she can go back to the'burbs. What she finds instead is a huge stash of drugs, enough to pique Alison's curiosity about why all Wayne's resident assistants think he's the coolest thing since rap. Is it his small-business sideline? The fact that he let Bart Johannsen snooze through desk duty? Or his winking at Michael Columbo's after-hours visits from scantily clad Mary Catherine Donnery? Whatever his appeal, he's got Amanda Reese questioning her commitment to her Princeton fianc Brandon Tsagaris, and Amanda's stepdad Costas Grigoriadis foaming at the mouth. Will Alison find the missing Wayne before the police—and before Crawford arrests her for frustrating an officer?

Though the puzzle her author sets has all the suspense of a Shakespeare sonnet, Alison has enough charm to earn Final Exam a passing grade.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2009
When a resident director vanishes from St. Thomas College in Westchester County, NY, Alison Bergeron ("Quick Study") takes his place to mind the dorm, but she can't resist looking for the missing man. VERDICT In her third outing, Barbieri mixes chick lit with a cozy mystery for a lively tale that fans of Susan Kandel will appreciate. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 9/1/09; library marketing campaign.]

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2009
Teaching English at St. Thomas College, north of New York, is always full of surprises for Alison Bergeron, Barbieris professor-sleuth in search of both romance and tenure. In her fourth outing, the college president, who is not at all happy with Bergerons investigative pursuits, insists that she move into a dorm to serve as a resident director after the incumbent goes missing. Maggie is not pleased. Since she cannot find a way out, she is determined to find the missing director and bring him back to the college. When a search of his room leads to a stash of drugs, Alison calls her boyfriend, Detective Bobby Crawford, to take on the case. In addition to tracking down missing staff members and tangling with drug dealers, Maggie is trying to help her friend Max with her romantic woes while caring for her faithful dog. Alisons fans will enjoy this latest rompsort of chick lit goes to college and solves crimes. Not surprisingly, Kristin Davis of Sex in the City has optioned the series for television.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)