Death of the Ayn Rand Scholar

When Ayn Rand scholar, Professor Nelda Siemens, is brutally murdered in her office, Detective Sergeant Jillian Warne is assigned to the case, her first major crime investigation in a new job with the university’s campus police department. She is reunited with her mentor, Tempe Homicide Detective Wes Webb. They soon learn that Professor Siemens was embroiled in a web of disputes, which generates a long list of suspects among faculty colleagues, university administrators and staff, former lovers, even undergraduate students. The investigation is hampered by nervous administrators pushing for a quick arrest, by campus politics, and because of protests by an off-campus group whose extreme views Professor Siemens championed. Both academic mystery and police procedural, Death of the Ayn Rand Scholar is set on the campus where Jillian Warne attended university. Indeed, one of her favorite professors had numerous run-ins with Professor Siemens and is a suspect. Jillian values her education but realizes that there is a lot more than scholarship and learning at play on the campus. You can read more about Detective Sergeant Warne in a book of short stories, The Pandemic Casebook of Jillian Warne.