Interest/Grade Level: Grades 4-8

Synopsis:
Two high school students, Peter Christopher Hawke (aka PC) and Mackenzie Riggs (aka Mac), are taking an AP Calculus course at Columbia University. Their teacher, Professor Dunaway, is a no-nonsense woman who takes her teaching very seriously. As PC and Mac work through their course a number of incidents happen in the course and with their classmates. Professor Dunaway and Harry Lello are having an argument that is observed by PC and Mac. Mr. Lello has a child in Professor Dunaway’s class and he also has a business investment with the university. Dunaway is suspicious of the return on investment Lello has realized for the university. Lello’s daughter, Bernie, is 12 and considered a genius by her I.Q. test. She is also in Dunaway’s AP Calculus class but finds her creepy and not that smart. At the next class meeting, it is discovered that Professor Dunaway has been murdered shortly before class is to begin. She was killed by an arrow that pinned her to the board. As PC and Mac have acted as detectives in the past with a local police officer, Lieutenant Krakowsi, they join forces to solve who killed Dunaway. PC and Mac discover the murder weapon, a crossbow, downstairs outside the window of the classroom. On the board next to Dunaway is a math problem, X = √9 x .0257906 written in her handwriting. PC and Mac know it could be a clue, but haven’t figured it out. Interviews include faculty members, classmates, and local business people. As the mystery is pursued, a number of inconsistencies arise for PC and Mac to explore. When solving the equation, X equal to .07737. PC and Mac discover when turned upside down, it spells LELLO. Mr. Lello and Bernie turn out to be the prime suspects but PC and Mac do not know who did it. They head up to the same Columbia classroom to set a trap and finally catch Bernie as the murderer. Clever girl, but caught in the act.
Review:
This was an appealing book as the main characters involved were smart and engaging. This is book five in the P.C. Hawke Mysteries series. While there is a death in the book, it is not gruesome or inappropriate for middle school readers. The “whodunit” mystery is nicely paced giving each character depth. The main characters, PC and Mac moved through a series of hypotheses and systematically remove one suspect after another. I wonder if Paul Zindel was conscious that his protagonists’ nicknames could refer to computers. I found it an interesting sidebar although there is no reference in the book to this point. Students will enjoy the ins and outs of how the mystery is solved. Math and physics are the underlying tools in which PC and Mac solve the mystery. Being a math teacher at heart, I hope students see the value in mathematics even if they are not solving a mystery. The plot line and ending is appropriate for this age group. At the end of the book is a preview of the next book in the series. No doubt this is done to whet the appetite for the next mystery PC and Mac will solve – a good marketing move. ( )

When the Grim Reaper strikes the math department at a nearby university, P.C. and Mackenzie do some homework of their own and discover that almost everyone--parents, teachers, and students alike--had a motive to get this unpopular professor out of the way.