Campus Casualty

by Marcia Dove

Finding a dead body feels like Deja vu to Maggie McManus. Her first-semester teaching at PSU was already off to a deadly start. While taking her students on a field trip to the River Town Hotel and Conference Center, Maggie discovers the dead body of the Director of Sales and Marketing in the hotel boardroom. While working together to find the killer, Maggie and Hotel Manager Trip Evans's friendship evolves into a budding romance. But Trip's housewarming party with unexpected events leaves Maggie wondering if their blossoming romantic relationship is doomed?
Adding to her troubles, Maggie finds the dead body of her nemesis, Dr. Harrison, in his office-- directly across the hall from hers. The same detectives who had bungled the murder investigation of the director of sales and marketing are assigned to Harrison's murder-- looking no further for possible suspects; Maggie is the only one on the clueless detective's list.
Faced with finding the killer herself, Maggie discovers that Harrison had harassed faculty and students alike when their race, gender, religion, or nationality were offensive to him. Who had finally had enough of this oppressive bigot to kill him? How could he get away with bullying, intimidating, and enlisting fear in so many people for so long?

Genres: Mystery

274 pages, Paperback

Published November 7, 2022

About the author

Marcia is a new novelist who has published three novels in the Maggie McManus Mystery series: Fatal Field Trip, Campus Casualty, and Wedding Woes, the final book in the trilogy. She is currently working on a new River Town series.

Writing consumes much of her time, but she is actively involved with her church and is a member of the Ocala Friends of the Freedom Library. She is also a " Red Hatter," which adds levity to her life.

Marcia resides in Ocala, Florida, with her three out-of-control ginger cats, Cupcake, Pumpkin, and Freddie,

Reviews

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shout out to Goodreads and the publisher for choosing me for this giveaway! Also to Marcia Dove for the endearing card and handwritten note inside the book in support of her writing!

Things I liked about this book:
+ I liked the main character Maggie McManus. She was spunky, intelligent, and cared about her profession and her students. She was also a very empathetic character dealing with the loss of her mom and what the grieving process looked like for her.
+ I liked that the author included all of the mundane daily tasks and routines that Maggie engaged in, from preparing for classes, to what she ate and how she dressed, to running for exercise/pleasure and cuddling with her cat.
+ I liked that the killer wasn't obvious, and Maggie's internal thinking kept the reader guessing whodunnit.

Things I didn't like about this book:
- *Disclaimer* I acknowledge that this was an uncorrected proof. However, there were a lot of blatant typos and errors that could have been avoided before even printing. Small errors like improperly used punctuation (mostly quotation marks) and disagreements between POV (using "Maggie" instead of "I" when the book clearly is written in first person narrative and not third person descriptive). This is nitpicking but it took away from thoroughly engaging in the story.
- I wasn't a fan of the love story, and felt that it took precedence over the main storyline: the murder mystery. There was more attention paid to developing the relationship between Maggie and Trip and their past and present involvement in solving cases than the development of the murder case itself (this book is a sequel, and in the previous book, they solved another murder mystery at Trip's place of employment).
- There was an excessive use of expository language that was just unnecessary. Being that this book is a sequel and that I haven't read the first book, I did expect a degree of explanation and referencing events that happened in the preceding book. However, after establishing who the main and supporting characters are, how certain characters relate or connect to other characters, or even minor details about characters, there is no need to continue elaborating on those details. Example: in chapter 24, when Maggie and Trip go to Trip's hotel for her birthday dinner party, it is written out in its entire name (the River Town Hotel and Conference Center). After 24 chapters, the reader should be aware of the name of the hotel; it doesn't need to be named as often as it was.

I would recommend this book because it is a fun and easy read.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wil start by saying I enjoyed the plot. I thought it was clever and the overall mystery was interesting and unexpected. What I didn’t enjoy was the dialogue. It reads as a weird cross between stream of consciousness, a diary entry and incredibly overly formal. I mean who says commences to instead of starts or begins unless you’re talking about a graduation ceremony? There was even a paragraph that ended with nothing of consequence happened well then why was this included as part of the story? The idea, the mystery very good, but this books suffers from either not enough editing or too much of it.

[Rose Frazier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am rereading this book now that it has been published. I am still on the edge of my seat as I don't remember who did it!
Maggie is such a smart woman that I love to follow her thought process. Marcia makes it easy to follow Maggie's thoughts as she tries to solve the murder(s) on campus and clear her name. I feel like I am right there with her all the way. Great entertainment! Marcia knows how to write a murder mystery/romance!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this on Goodreads, but that did not influence my opinion. However, it was so kind of Dove to inscribe my book and send me a gracious note with it.
What wonderful descriptions! Marcia Dove is a master at describing food, clothing, and scenery. A murder mystery/romance that was easy reading.

[James Thomas Lynde · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Mystery Solving Puzzles

A well written mystery! A mystery with a mix of romance between characters Trip and Maggie. The suspense kept me turning the page. Maggie is a relatable character very clever. If you love mysteries with clever plot twists then this one’s for you.

[Rena Soverns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read. Keeps your interest all the way to the end.

[Onthe farm2114 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very compelling read. I received this through a Goodreads giveaway, and fell in love with the cover immediately.
Campus Casualty will definitely be on my list of top 10 books of 2023.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads giveaway.

Apart from some very odd product placements this book was a joy to read. I read it in one day but not in one sitting. The pacing was perfect. No long pages of internal monologue that I had to skim through like in other books. The breaks in the pages made it very easy to read for my older and sometimes uncooperative eyes (and kept me from wanting to sleep like I do when faced with a long unbroken page of text).

The dialogue was mostly natural, but at times it was too "perfect". I wondered sometimes who would be able comport themselves that way in real life. Life is a bit messier with emotions often getting the better of people in my experience; but I didn't really see much of that with the protagonists. The attention paid to visual descriptions were just right, not too fussy or too detailed, but enough to get a clear mental picture. I write this part because the other books I have read recently (also giveaways) caused some frustration with the areas I mentioned.

For fiction I read mostly mysteries and thrillers. Overall the story and plot was not necessarily obvious. Although other mysteries/thrillers had more action in the final scenes, this one seemed to have wrapped up the final mystery quickly. I like that other than the timing of the arrival of the "cavalry" it seemed more realistic and not perilous to the protagonist.

The last chapter is after the wrap up and seems to be a lead in to another book. Maybe it's not, but I would like to know what happens with the ex.

I am keeping this book because I really liked it. I am not donating it like I did with other books that I won and wasn't particularly happy with. The author included a nice note in this signed copy. I won another book like that, but that one I did not keep.