Trouble at the U

It’s one of the coldest winters on record in Iowa City, Iowa, with snow still on the ground. The dean of one of the colleges is missing after Thanksgiving break, but even worse, two vans full of returning students are involved in a fiery crash. Soon the media and parents are frantically calling the university. President Barlow and his trusted administrative assistant Mary Lou stand united in their duty, but it’s not too long before things get even more complicated. 

The dean’s murdered body is found, state police worry that drug cartels are behind the crash, and someone has warned Mary Lou about becoming involved. The body count continues to rise, as does the number of connections between the university and drugs. It will take a cooperative effort of law enforcement, both the two-legged and four-legged kind, as well as a resourceful secretary and her family to unravel the mystery.

Drawing on the sixteen years she spent as a faculty member at the University of Iowa, Margery Wolf has crafted a tale that leads readers down a path of intrigue and suspense. Trouble at the U weaves in details of the world of a large university from academic politics to relationships between a small town and professors. The mystery reflects Margery’s ethnographer’s eye in portraying different kinds of people and what makes them unique as Hawkeye state residents.