"Sin as a concept has nothing to do with right or wrong. It has to do with obedience. You have to submit to the transcendent authority, God, the church, whatever. Sin is deviance." Not the kind of statement one normally finds in a mystery story. This is from The Crown of Columbus by Michael Dorris and Louise Erdrich, both esteemed novelists (or so I'm told). [The tragic story of Michael Dorris's suicide after being accused of child abuse by Louise Erdrich in their bitter divorce is awful. see http://www.salon.com/april97/dorris970421.html for more details]The story revolves around Vivian Twostar, a native American and professor of native American studies at Dartmouth, and Roger Williams (pun intended no doubt,) who is a tenured professor of English. Vivian discovers some old manuscript pages which are desperately sought after by the descendants of an early Dartmouth student. The suspicion is that the pages hold the key to the location of a valuable crown brought over by Columbus. The narrative is unusual in that the perspective varies between Roger, Vivian and their son. It's also too literate for me. Any novel with 3 pages of poetry is over my head; but I did finish it, and many of you more literate types will no doubt enjoy it immensely. The book does contain many humorous illusions to academic life. Reason enough to make it worthwhile reading
