The Mike McCall series by Ellery Queen is a lesser known series in the world of classic mystery fiction. This series introduces Micah (Mike) McCall, a Special Assistant to the Governor, who is not afraid to dive into the murky waters of bizarre crimes and political corruption, setting it apart from other classic mystery series.
Unlike the more famous Ellery Queen detective stories, which often revolve around cerebral puzzles and intricate plotting, the Mike McCall series relies on a lot of action and intrigue. McCall, as a troubleshooter for the state government, is always in the thick of things. The Campus Murders is the first book in this series.
Plot Synopsis
Laura Thornton, the daughter of the governor’s political opponent, has vanished from Tisquanto State University. This disappearance, occurring amid political tension, prompts the governor to enlist the services of a special investigator, Mike McCall, in a gesture of goodwill.
The campus, a hotbed of political unrest, sexual promiscuity, and rampant drug use, is on the brink of outright revolt against the college’s administration. But amidst this chaos, a more sinister threat looms. Is there a murderer stalking co-eds on campus, and could Laura’s disappearance be the first sign of a deadly pattern?
The Review
The Campus Murders is a vehicle for the author using the Ellery Queen pseudonym to vent all of his anxieties about the sexual and political revolutions spreading across America, for which students lead most of the charge. There’s a lot of contempt for the white male students who are all portrayed as speed freaks, with their long hair and unkempt rooms. One paragraph goes by without the author lamenting how needlessly destructive and disaffected students are and how they need to straighten up and “fly right.”
The Campus Murders makes overt references to the unrest at Berkeley and other American campuses. The students in the book and in real life have nothing to complain about and really love causing chaos because they’re all high.
The author wants everything to go back to the good old days and for men to be like Mike McCall, a dutiful government lackey who shamelessly flirts with college secretaries and remarks on the beauty and sexual appeal of each co-ed. Every woman is just an object to bed, and we are privy to all of his sexual fantasies. McCall spends so much time cataloging appearances and flirting about whether consensual sexual encounters are rare that I was beginning to wonder if this book even had any plot.
Eventually, a young black student discovers Laura’s body and reports it to McCall, and then racist cops needlessly harass the student. McCall doesn’t want this innocent student to get railroaded by the police. Remembers- oh, yeah- I’m supposed to be detecting and gets around to interviewing all of Laura’s boyfriends- who are all detestable revolutionaries and Laura’s sorority sisters. He does a cursory mental inventory of Laura’s room
Then the book meanders into McCall being kidnapped and beaten by a rabid group of students- they’re all naked for some reason- and we get to hear about their bodies in detail, and then McCall finds a clue and unravels the mystery of who killed Laura. Unfortunately, he pieces things together too late to prevent the death of another young woman who is in cahoots with the murderer.
The Campus Murders isn’t much of a mystery- there’s barely any detective work, very few clues, and the reason for the killing is eye-roll inducing. The campus setting was so underdeveloped and unrealistic that it was painfully evident that the author just ripped some sensational headlines from the newspapers so the author could rail against “dirty hippies.”
The Campus Murders is very of its time and hasn’t aged well. I don’t recommend picking up this book- even if you’re a fan of other books written with the Ellery Queen Nom de plume. This is a far cry from the Ellery Queen Detective series and is different from the more famous series.
Golden Age of Detective Fiction 
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