Professor Karen Pelletier is about to realize her dream; after six years in the English Department at New England's exclusive Enfield College, she is up for tenure. Then Professor Joseph Lone Wolf, her rival for the one tenured spot in the department, whose ethnicity gives him minority-preference status, is found dead from an overdose of Peyote buttons. First on the list of suspects, Karen is harassed by a homicide cop with a grudge against his colleague, the love of Karen's life, Lieutenant Charlie Piotrowski. On campus, political passions rage. Two of Karen's favorite students, Khalida Ahmed, a hijab-wearing Muslim, and Hank Brody, a coal-miner's son on full scholarship, are caught up in the furor. Without the presence of her beloved Charlie, now serving a tour of duty with the National Guard in Iraq, will Karen be able to survive the investigation, protect her students, and find a permanent niche in the world of academe? And what if the killer feels the need to strike again?