Quit Monks or Die!

by Maxine Kumin

Set in a small town that houses little more than a research lab and an engineering school, the body of the lab's director is found in a pit used for maternal deprivation experiments with monkeys. A few days later, a graduate student is found murdered as well. Are these deaths connected? And who's responsible for these murders? Written by one of America's greatest poets, this mystery is a scathing social commentary with a criminal twist.

Maxine Kumin is the author of poetry, novels, short stories, essays and a number of children's books. She has received several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Poets' Prize, the Levinson Prize, and most recently, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. She lives in Warner, New Hampshire.

Genres: Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2000

About the author

Maxine Kumin's 17th poetry collection, published in the spring of 2010, is Where I Live: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010. Her awards include the Pulitzer and Ruth Lilly Poetry Prizes, the Poets’ Prize, and the Harvard Arts and Robert Frost Medals. A former US poet laureate, she and her husband lived on a farm in New Hampshire. Maxine Kumin died in 2014.

Reviews

[Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vivsector is loathed by his family and community, thrown into an isolation pit used for his primate experiments, and dies. There's more to it than this, so a person would probably enjoy the title even if that turn of events itsself doesn't hold sufficient appeal. Try it.

[Greta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maxine Kumin is a loyal friend of Anne Sexton's and an accomplished poet, but as a novelist she needs more intrigue especially in this mystery. Oh well, guess ya can't be great at everything you write.

[Robin]

This additon was a mistake but it does look intriguing so guess I'll keep it on the list.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This mystery novel by poet Kumin is deeply satisfying. Its cracker-jack plot is complex but lucidly and expertly laid out. It's not just who done it, but WHAT was done.