Murder mysteries are not just a form of entertainment.

The murder mystery “Death in a Tenured Position” offers an insight of the status of women in academia.

The book, written by Amanda Cross, tells the story of a character named Janet Mandelbaum. The male professors harbor dislike for her after she becomes the first female professor hired in Harvard University’s English department.

Penka Skachkova, coordinator of Eastern’s Women’s Studies program, said Janet faces problems common in academia.

“Women and minorities have traditionally been marginalized in academia and quite often academia is still a ‘mystery’ to them; they do not fully understand how it functions,” she said. “Women’s Studies is committed to ‘uncover(ing)’ this mystery from a feminist and multicultural stand and eliminate the sense of victimhood among vulnerable groups on campus.”

The problems Janet faces in the book illustrate “victimhood.”

“How does she (Janet) cope with the prejudice of her colleagues?” Skachkova said. “Is she able to relate to women students and colleagues as well as the women in the community? And how and why does she finally lose the battle? This is what the novel is about.”

The first signs of Janet losing the battle is in spiked tea.

She attends a departmental tea where someone spikes her drink and is later found drunk on the floor of the women’s restroom. Janet enlists a friend and fellow colleague, Kate Fansler, to find the culprit who spiked the tea.

However, spiked tea becomes a second priority, as Kate then must find out who murdered Janet after she is found dead in the men’s restroom.

The murder mystery is just an excuse to portray the university setting and its problems, said Charles Delman, mathematics professor and president of the Eastern chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois.

“Death in a Tenured Position” is the first book of the murder mystery reading group series, sponsored by Women’s Studies, the College of Arts and Humanities, the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity and the Eastern Chapter of University Professionals of Illinois, has read and will discuss.

The group will analyze the book and the status of women in academia at 5 p.m. in Room 4440 of Booth Library.

“(It is) a good way to reach out to a wide range of groups on campus and start the conversation on the academic climate for women and minorities,” Skachkova said.

Delman encourages student attendance at the reading groups.

Students will gain an understanding of issues that pertain to universities, he said.

Skachkova would also like to see students there.