William Urban 
Why the Dean Is Dead 
#5 in the Briarpatch College Series

Briarpatch College has all the problems of American higher education in the nineties, at least as many as can be packed onto one small semirural campus. Unfortunately, Briarpatch also has had a multitude of other problems the administration would rather not admit. In the last few years, the academic dean has drowned, the president has died suspiciously, and one scandal after another has rocked the collegeall events allegedly instigated by the late dean. Now with a new president in place and the college operating on a somewhat normal routine again, no one has any idea that in just a short time, the discovery of the librarians body will upset everything and everyone.
Mirabel Gates was a person with no friends, but also no particular enemies. Consequently, she appeared unlikely to be at the center of scandals that threaten President Flora Boaters plans to push the college off the bottom of the US News popularity poll. As Professor Donahue and Chief Biggs begin investigating the librarians death, they begin to suspect once again that the late dean is somehow involved.
In this continuing mystery, murders, scandals, and the complications of academic fads shake the foundation of a small college as everyone wonders who will be the next victim.

About the author

William Urban has more than forty years of experience in higher education, mostly at Monmouth College in Illinois where he is currently the Lee L. Morgan Professor of History and International Studies. He has published twenty histories and translations on the Baltic crusades and military history.