Craig Kennedy Stories

Chemistry professor Craig Kennedy wants to bring laboratory methods into detective work, and his roommate Walter Jameson has doubts. Jameson, a reporter for the Star, narrates their conversations and accompanies Kennedy when a troubling message interrupts their plans for a weekend at Atlantic City. An old college friend asks them to come to an Adirondack camp after a mysterious death, setting scientific confidence against family anxiety and the pressure of newspaper attention.

These short detective stories turn on questions that call for close examination of physical evidence. In another case, an insurance representative seeks Kennedy's help over a jeweller's sudden death and a diamond robbery involving a hole in a strong steel safe. The exchanges between clients, Kennedy and his skeptical companion give the investigations a conversational pace. Readers interested in the meeting of science and crime fiction can follow how an academic argues for a practical role beyond the university.