Murder at the Waterfront (The Academic Mom Mysteries)
Traditional Mystery/Amateur Sleuth
3rd in Series
Setting – Washington D.C.
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Speaking Volumes, LLC
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 19, 2026
Print length ‏ : ‎ 230 pages

Synopsis

She’s mastered the art of work-life balance—until murder tips the scales.

Assistant professor Cara Knight juggles raising two preschoolers, teaching social work, and chasing tenure, with a dean intent on derailing her hopes. When one of her students is arrested for murdering Washington D.C.’s chief medical examiner, and Cara inserts herself into the investigation, she risks far more than her career. Convinced of her student’s innocence, Cara stumbles into a tangle of city politics, grieving families, and secrets someone would kill to keep buried.

Can she diagnose the cause of death before she too ends up in the morgue?

Murder at the Waterfront is Book Three in the Academic Mom Mysteries. If you like clever sleuths, dry humor, and twisty whodunits, then you’ll love Jacque Rosman’s well-plotted puzzle.

Amazon * B&N * Bookshop * Kobo

Character Guest Post

Sgt. Arnie Bronson, Homicide Investigator, is an ongoing character throughout the Academic Mom Mysteries. This blog post is his retirement speech, reprinted here after Murder at the Waterfront concluded. ~Jacque Rosman, author

Thirty-one summers of D.C. humidity, thirty-one Christmas Eves somebody decided was a good night to shoot somebody, thirty-one years some professor or politician or reporter telling me how to do my job better than I do it.

They asked me to say a few words tonight. I decided to pass on my rules for the job of a homicide investigator.

Rule one: most cases aren’t mysteries. People act like every dead body is a locked-room puzzle waiting for some genius to crack it. Ninety-five times out of a hundred, the guy standing over the body with his hands still shaking did it. You don’t need a theory. You need eyes. And a good stomach. I’ve walked into more autopsies than half the M.E.’s own staff, because somebody’s got to actually watch, not just read about it in a report later. That’s not a personality flaw. That’s the job.

Rule two: close the case. I know that sounds cold to the people who like to sit around asking “what if” all day. “What if it’s the wife?” “What if it’s the coworker?” “What if it’s a conspiracy involving three people and a green card.” Meanwhile, I’ve got a stack of open cases as tall as my ex-wife’s lawyer’s bill, and actual families waiting on answers. You want to chase every coincidence to the end of the earth, be my guest: go get a badge. Until then, I’ve got real work with the nine out of ten cases that end this way.

Rule three: the world’s changing, and I’m not going to pretend it isn’t. I’ve watched the department bring in new blood, new priorities, folks who came up different than I did. I’ve got opinions about some of it, but I stuck around. A lot of guys my age cashed out, saw where the wind was blowing, and retired early. Say what you want about me, I showed up—every shift, every heat wave, every snow storm, every 2 a.m. call. That’s got to count for something.

Rule four: don’t let a professor talk you into overthinking it.  She knows who she is. She’s not wrong that I liked having somebody to talk to about my ex. And I’ll say this for the record: sometimes the “overactive imagination” turns something up. Doesn’t mean I have to enjoy admitting it. A man’s allowed to keep some pride on his way out the door. But you can overthink anything, mountains and ant hills, something like that. Just close the damn case. That’s the priority. That’s all the bosses care about. Once we send it to the District Attorney’s Office, then it’s their problem. Move on to the next one because there’s always going to be a next one, day after day.

And rule five: you can’t save everybody. You can’t stop somebody who’s hell-bent on the path they’re on. All you can do is show up, do the job in front of you, and try to leave the paperwork a little less of a mess than you found it.

So that’s thirty-one years: no parade, no gold watch, just cake in the break room and a badge I’m handing back tomorrow. I’ll let you buy the drinks at Kelly’s tonight!

— Sgt. Bronson, D.C. Metro Police (Retired)

About the Author

Jacque Rosman writes the Academic Mom Mystery series, featuring Cara Knight, a social work professor whose research instincts keep pulling her into investigations that are decidedly off-syllabus. With wry humor, Jacque mines the absurdity of academia and motherhood for a series that’s equal parts twisty and true-to-life, set in the nation’s capital. When she’s not plotting murders, Jacque can be found juggling her own version of the academic mom life. Join the newsletter for updates on Cara’s next case and the meals that she can get all her family to eat.

Website * Facebook * LinkedIn