This novel was written many years after the first mystery with Kate and Reed. They are fully fashioned characters who have developed during the course of the series of novels. There have been changes in the world of academe and the world in general in the nearly twenty years between the publication of the first in the series and the latest entry.

1. How have the characters of Kate and Reed changed? Or have they ?

Have they matured? Has their relationship altered?

2. What insight into professional societies does Cross/Heilbrun provide the reader? Is it an accurate picture? If it is, why would Heilbrun continue to associate with that world?

3. Kate maintains her amateur status as a sleuth. How does she compare to the new women sleuths like V. I. Warshawski and Kinsey Malone?

4. Kate has several relationships with women in this novel. Why has Cross detailed...