The Hamlet Investigation

Reminiscent of The Da Vinci Code, The Hamlet Investigation harkens to historical fascinations. Shakespeare's tragedy. Sir Walter Raleigh's 'œSchoole of Night,'� with its Tobacco & Boies. Coded messages. Murder and blasphemy. Flash forward to Helsingor, California, 1998. Dr. Roland Waterson, a dreamer with his head up his literature, covets tenure at Hamlet College. His son gone, and his marriage and reputation on the line, a quiet pause would suit him fine. Bingo! Karen Dent is found dead. Rumors link her to Utah Station, a truck stop where coeds pursue sexual abandon. Roland leaps to her defense and is soon up to his essays in puritanical flak. Archie Speare and Bailey Jane Miles throw him lifelines. Invoking the detective motif in Hamlet, they expose funeral home fraud, communion in a pipe and deans cavorting in Bishop Skylark's holy retreat. Mainly Waterson is on the spot, does what he must, and winds up in a cauldron of student and faculty promiscuity. Now, that's hell.