Treasure by Degrees

University College, Itchendever, Hants, is long on brains, short on funds and up for grabs. It seems to be facing a take-over either by the American Funny Farms Foundation or by the calculating Crown Prince of Abu B'yat.Banker sleuth Mark Treasure tries to adjudicate but finds baffling murder on his hands.Of course the vital question is who did it, not to mention other knotty problems that have a bearing on the case. Who sent the gory sheep's head – and worse – to the eccentric American matron with millions of dollars in her gift? Was her neurotic attorney entirely to be trusted ? Was the celebrated Dr Goldstein, senior tutor and TV personality, behind the Arab bomb scare? Why did the Arabs kidnap the lecturer in English Literature?Readers of David Williams's first book, Unholy Writ, which Patrick Cosgrave in the Spectator called 'by far the best written detective story I have read for months', will not be surprised to find the college housed in a stately home with an impeccable architectural provenance and peopled by a wealth of memorable characters. A tantalizing choice of suspects and a pervasive humour make this indeed a Treasure for the connoisseur.