Goodbye Hawai’i, hello dream job . . . in Nebraska??Ambitious Cassandra Sato traded her life in Hawai’i for a dream position at Morton College in rural Nebraska. She expected the Midwestern church casseroles, land-locked cornfields, and face-freezing winters would be her biggest challenges, but it’s her job that’s rapidly becoming a nightmare.A deaf student is dead and the investigation reveals a … rapidly becoming a nightmare.
A deaf student is dead and the investigation reveals a complicated trail of connections between campus food service, a local farmer’s beef, and the science lab’s cancer research.
Dealing with homesickness, vandalism, and a stalker, Cassandra is trapped in a public relations disaster that could cost her job, or more. No one said college was easy.
If you like academic cozy mysteries with funny BFFs, hilarious student shenanigans, and small town drama, you’ll like this series. Get it now!
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Death by Dissertation is the first book in the Cassandra Sato series written by Kelly Brakenhoff. It was published in 2019, and since this is a relatively new series with only a couple of books published to date, you can jump in early to experience this great collection. I love that it’s set on a college campus and brings some much needed diversity to the sub-genre. The main character is from Hawaii but moved to Nebraska a few months ago, and she comes from Japanese ancestry.
Cassandra is in her late twenties, and after finishing up three degrees in Hawaii, she took a job working for the president of a college in Nebraska. He often tells her he selected her specifically because she was a different ethnicity and wanted to bring something new to campus. That tells us a lot about him, especially the way he drops a few odd lines and somewhat offensive sayings around her. Luckily, he is off on a trip to China, and Cassandra has a chance to run parts of the college while he’s gone. Then a student dies. It appears like an accident, but of course, it isn’t. Someone pushed him down the stairs. Adding to the drama and curious sub-plot, the student is deaf and had a deaf roommate. I am impressed with how well this piece of the story is integrated into the overall book.
Brakenhoff uses lots of ASL (sign language) and translators to help the dead student’s roommate communicate what happened in the preceding days, especially when the local police bumble the investigation from the beginning. Throw in some very intriguing science experiments, blood plasma transfusions, financial donations, caged rats, and a strange preacher who yells a lot… this was quite baffling — all in a good way. Readers have to pay close attention to the details to understand all that’s going on. We also see Cassandra’s romantic interests begin to develop as there are two or three suitors, all who seem like a good fit. Her mother will be very excited to meet them… I can’t wait ’til she comes for a visit. That will bring a lot of levity!
The supporting cast is well-rounded; she has a friend who went to school in Hawaii but lives in the Nebraska area, grounding Cassandra. She’s well liked at the college, though a few people dislike her very detailed approach to solving the crime. The best part – she brings out her culture / amazing attitude to kick-start a difficult student into waking up from his delusions. Though I only understood 50% of what she was saying, the writing style makes the words and emotions come across quite easily. I loved feeling a bit of Hawaii again (haven’t been there in years… but stayed for two two-weeks trips, and I enjoyed it).
This is the beginning of a well-written and very promising series. Cassandra is extremely likable. I think the college setting will be very strong. I think a certain character in another book I know well might need to meet Ms. Sato at a college conference one day in the future. If you’re looking for an academic setting with a nice balance of culture and side stories, this will be a great series to start. I’ll be reading book two before the end of the year. Can’t wait!
Dollycas’s Thoughts
There are many cozy mystery series set on college campuses, so authors have to work hard to make their stories unique. In Death by Dissertation, our protagonist Cassandra Soto have left Hawai’i for a job in Carson, Nebraska. I know winter there is milder than in the Upper Midwest where I live, but come on Hawai’i!!! It was that hook that first caught my attention.
As Student Affairs VP at Morton College, I am sure Cassandra can handle the weather and cornfields instead of the ocean, but I bet she never imagined finding one of her students dead. A deaf student that was working in a science lab doing cancer research.
His death is suspicious and Cassandra finds herself in the middle of the investigation while trying to do her job and her boss’s job because he has traveled to China and stay on top of all the homecoming week festivities. Worried that she could lose her position she keeps pushing forward but is put to a real test as she tries to discover who killed her student and why.
Cassandra Sato waded through everything that was thrown at her like a rockstar. To take the job of Student Affairs VP it is a given that she is ambitious and smart, but she is having a hard time fitting in in small-town Nebraska. She looks different than anyone else in town and she dresses more formally. Her home is vandalized and she is threatened and told to go back where she came from. But she handles it because this is her dream job and if she is ever going to be a college president she needs to stay calm and deal with all types of people.
Meg O’Brien is Cassandra’s longtime friend and an ASL interpreter at Morton College. My daughter uses American Sign Language at work, in fact, my grandsons can sign and understand many words too, although it is not part of their daily lives. I have always been interested in it. The author is an ASL interpreter herself and I like the way she puts that part of herself into the story and the character of Meg while raising an understanding of what deaf students encounter in college and going into the workforce.
I did enjoy some of the unique phrases of speech used by Cassandra, some were easily translated but some left me scratching my head. The interactions between Meg and Cassandra were realistic and some were laugh out loud funny. Their shopping trip to get Cassandra proper clothing for Nebraska was full of humor.
Ms. Brakenhoff is a very detailed writer which I felt was very necessary for this story due to the scientific theme. Many parts of the college and community are connected and play into solving the mystery with a wide variety of suspects. Her details also helped me to get a clear picture of all the characters. The pace she sets is relaxed until it starts to ramp up as more and more clues start to fall into place,
This series is off to a marvelous start. I can’t believe this is Kelly Brankenhoff’s first novel. She is an author to watch.
Death by Dissertation is the first in the Cassandra Sato mystery series by author Kelly Brakenhoff and it is a delightful story set in the halls of a Nebraska college. Brankenhoff’s engaging Dr. Sato is a fish-out-of-water character on many fronts—geographically, culturally, and in her new position—and her coping strategies reveal the depth of her intellect and the size of her heart. The author’s experience as an ASL translator is expertly transferred to ASL interpreter Meg O’Brien, Dr. Sato’s best friend. The chemistry the women share is warm and believable. Deaf students hold two prominent roles in this story—the first as the unfortunate victim. The second is the victim’s roommate who plays an active role assisting Dr. Sato. I found myself engrossed in the administrative workings of the college as well as how deaf students navigate college life through the use of technology and interpreters—without it ever impeding the pace of the mystery. The best endorsement of a book is deciding to read the next in the series. I’m fortunate that I have two more to go!
Accidental death or murder? Is the difference worth your job or life?
Death by Dissertation by Kelly Brakenhoff is a fresh take on the cozy mystery genre. I truly enjoyed the college life, and the cultural and social differences brought to light along with the intriguing puzzle.
Dr. Cassandra Sato
Cassandra is such a different type of sleuth. She is the vice president of Student Affairs at Morton College in Nebraska. Cassandra recently moved there from Hawaii to her dream job. Although she isn’t alone as Meg, her friend of many years also works at Morton. Cassandra has had a cultural shock but seems to be figuring it out.
Likes
• Cassandra is almost always put together. She takes great pride in appearing as the administrator in charge.
• Integrity and putting the students first are the main thing that Cassandra thinks about.
• She doesn’t make friends easily, but she has strong friendships with those she does have.
• Cassandra loves her family but realizes that she needs to step out of their shadow to grow more
Things about the book that I liked:
• Cassandra’s character growth throughout the story is refreshing. It seems like most detectives come fully formed and don’t grow much.
• Meg and Connor’s family keep Cassandra going when things get tough.
• Showing the diversity of people in higher education and how it affects each of them.
• The appearance of the hearing impaired students and learning how they cope with life’s day to day struggles. I enjoyed that; it gave me something to think about.
• The recognition of the number of people with military backgrounds who assist Cassandra with her security issues was nicely done.
• The love triangle and the fact that Cassandra doesn’t even realize that there is one, yet.
• The snapshots of the college students and how they deal with college life, in general, was nicely written.
• The descriptions of Hawaii and the knowledge of the islands and the people. I enjoyed Cassandra’s family calls.
• The mystery was well planned, and I saw some of the clues, the aha moment was a surprise though.
4 Stars for Death by Dissertation by Kelly Brakenhoff
My rating for Death by Dissertation by Kelly Brakenhoff is four stars. I enjoyed the characters and the setting. The author’s attention to detail is superb. I liked the way the mystery brought out the growth of the characters and how things could go wrong with big money pharmaceutical companies, colleges, and student welfare.
This book is an excellent start to a new cozy mystery series, and I highly recommend this book.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Great Escapes Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Death by Dissertation by Kelly Brakenhoff.
Anyways, until next time,
Karen the Baroness
Happy Reading
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Excellent debut novel, with a well crafted mystery plot.
The first I’ve ever read by Kelly Brakenhoff and the first book in this series. Cassandra Sato is a college administrator who has been tasked with holding down the fort while her boss is away on a business trip. Dr. Sato believes that if she does well doing her boss’ job as well as her own she will be offered a permanent position at Morton. Unfortunately, things do not start off well for Cassandra when the body of a student is discovered on campus. Cassandra enlists her best friend Meg, as well as other colleagues, in her investigation because the student was deaf and Meg is the college interpreter.
There are other challenges as well, and Cassandra wonders whether she should move back home to Hawaii or continue on her chosen path to become president of the whole college.
I enjoyed this book, although I felt it dragged a bit. The climax was exciting, as it should be. I was interested and invested enough to continue reading. I enjoyed this book enough to pick up the next in the series to see what happens in Cassandra’s life from this point on.
I have been trying to broaden my reading horizons and get out of my comfort zone, reading new authors and trying out new genres. Death by Dissertation is a cozy mystery by debut author Kelly Brakenhoff that is a a slower pace than I’m used to. With deep character development, especially with main character Cassandra Sato, and a great story line with decent writing, Ms. Brakenhoff has written a wonderful first novel.
In saying that, I will admit for me that the book dragged considerably, which took away from the charm of the story. I do not believe this has anything to do with the novel itself but more about my preference of faster paced mysteries. I also found it difficult to engage with the characters and the situations they faced as a whole. I did, however, love the ASL (American Sign Language) aspect, and admired the author’s choice to make this a major part of the story line.
Though predictable, and a little too drawn out for my taste, Death by Dissertation is a great start for a debut author and I can’t wait to see what other adventures await Cassandra Sato.
*I have reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher through Great Escapes Book Tours. All opinions are completely honest, and my own.
Kelly Brakenhoff’s new amateur-sleuth mystery, Death By Dissertation, is not an action-oriented mystery. Hers is more a cozy-like tale strong in character development and in the exploration of culture – in this case, the culture of the deaf. The latter is not surprising given that Brakenhoff is herself an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter and knowledgeable about this culture.
Our protagonist is Cassandra Sato, a Japanese-American and Hawaii born-and-bred, who has just taken an administrative position at a college in a small town in Nebraska. She is deeply ambitious – she wants to be a university president someday – and this job is the first step toward that goal. She is also desperately homesick for her Hawaiian home and family. We watch her character develop as she goes from engaging in sometimes snarky and immature interactions with students to a maturing young woman who sets aside her ambition in favor of doing the right thing on behalf of the students she represents.
The exploration of deaf culture is a real strength of this story. Cassandra has a best friend, Meg, who is an ASL interpreter. When a deaf student is found dead (murdered?), his roommate, also a deaf student, gets involved in trying to determine what really happened to his friend. Perhaps the best scene in the book occurs when the police come to question the deaf roommate. They don’t seem to understand that the deaf student isn’t being uncooperative. He simply cannot hear them, and that’s why he’s not answering their questions. Cassandra and Meg arrive, they see what’s happening, and then Meg stops verbally explaining to the police what’s she’s signing to the student. Only then do the police begin to understand that all that hand waving isn’t really hand waving – it’s a real language and real communication is happening.
Cassandra is pulled into the emerging mystery regarding the deaf student’s death. She begins to suspect that there may be something questionable about relationship between college scientists who are cooperating with corporate interests to develop an enzyme that may contribute to human health. As a result of her interest, Cassandra becomes the target of racist and sexist harassment, home vandalism, stalking, and finally she is threatened with physical violence.
Suspense builds especially in the final chapters of the book as we learn about to what extent greed and corruption can pervert academic research. Unfortunately midway in the novel, we are too often forced to detour away from this suspenseful story because we are subjected to professors jockeying for position (academic politics are likely only interesting to academics); too lengthy interactions with students that don’t contribute to the overall arc of the story; and a deep dive into excessive descriptions of foods, home decoration, and most especially women’s clothing and shoes, including brand names. This detour explains why this novel gets four stars rather than five.
My wish for Cassandra is that while she’s solving mysteries, she also sets aside those pointy-toed high heels that she thinks she has to wear for the job but that hurt her feet. I hope she’ll put on some hiking books and allow that handsome fellow Fischer to take her on a trek through the ocean of light and wind we know as the great North American prairie. Four stars