Downloading Shade

A new, exciting murder mystery set in the Ivy League. Assistant Professor Marcus George, a young, gay Harvard faculty member looking to find his way, is drawn into investigating the murder of one of his former students, the son of an elite Massachusetts family. Centered on the tense, competitive world of academic politics, the narrative vividly captures the publish-or-perish standards of the Ivy League, the strictures of life in exclusive enclaves in Boston and Kennebunkport, and the gay subculture along the New England coast. As he investigates the murder, Marcus stumbles across academic and financial corruption that could ruin several lives—even as he falls into a tender and heartwarming love affair that will change his own. Hirsch’s first novel is a beautifully realized, gripping tale in the classic style of the murder mystery genre.