MURDER IN ACADEME

A 1951 Philip Bryce story

By: Peter Zander-Howell

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The Master of a Cambridge college is killed – in an unusual way. Because of the man's links to the Secret Intelligence Service, a very senior officer with security clearance is required to lead the investigation. Chief Superintendent Bryce, an old Cambridge man himself, is the obvious choice.
The time of the murder, and the design of the old college buildings, make it almost impossible for the killer to be an outsider. But that still leaves some two hundred and fifty students and staff.
Bryce's logical mind leads him to concentrate on the college's eleven remaining fellows and four graduate students. But few had the opportunity, and nobody has an obvious motive.
As in most closed academic institutions, bickering (sometimes over some quite trivial matter) was almost the norm in the College Council, the governing body of the college made up of the Master and Fellows. But however strongly the parties felt, could any such disagreement have really led one man to kill another?

Truly Unusual

Close-up of university faculty life post-WWII and before women were admitted. Beginning of the end for the "boy's clubs". Logical procedure to crack the murder of a progressive Master in a conservative setting.