Great Plots in an Academic Setting

[GuyRien]

As much as I liked the Chair, I think it would have been more riveting with other premises.

How about a Grisham style thriller, were all the old faculty are killed off one at a time and surprise surprise, it's not the Dean that is doing it, its the disgruntled students with huge loans :-)

Or how about Robin Williams (RIP) like character reading papers from faculty that are neither cited or funded. We can call it, "The Dead Wood Society"

[Parasaurolophus]

Kelly Oliver has the Jessica James mysteries about a Jessica Jones clone who's a grad student. They're truly awful. As much as reading them lowered my opinion of Kelly Oliver, actually talking to her about them lowered it a lot more.

They might be someone's cup of teea, though.

[Puget]

If you haven't already read it, I'd highly recommend Straight Man by Richard Russo. Although it shares some elements with his other books, it is much lighter, and often very funny.