Murder in the New Age — D.J.H. Jones

Fans of "Murder at the MLA," also by D. J. H. Jones, will welcome this second adventure of Nancy Cook, a Chaucer scholar with a sharp mind and a taste for Bakelite jewelry. When Nancy arrives in Santa Fe, she's looking for a getaway from her job at Yale--a place to revise her book before an autumn rendezvous with Chicago detective Boaz Dixon. The room she sublets is decorated in black and red, bedecked with herbs and crystals. She is awakened by drumming. The quiet retreat she was hoping for is a crowded household of New Agers dabbling in self-help philosophies, "crystal culture," astrology, and channeling.

Intrigued by the preoccupations of her companions if disgusted by their diets and hygiene, Nancy finds that her sympathy for Nicole, a software whiz with a weight problem, draws her into the increasingly mystifying affairs of the household. The appeal of New Agism--the sorts of people drawn to it and why--becomes a mystery she sets out to solve. When a fugitive cyberthief in the household attempts murder under cover of a peyote ceremony, a surprising arrival alters both the police investigation and Nancy's future--academic and romantic.

With acute observation and acidic wit, Jones provides a hilarious analysis of New Age subculture and its pretensions.