Being young, gifted and black at Harvard has always been difficult. For Rosezella Maynette Fisher, outspoken sister girl and controversial Dean of Students at Harvard Law School, it was murderand the debonair new President of Harvard is a prime suspect.
A Darker Shade of Crimson is the story of how Ella Fisher ended up dead on the first day of the fall semester, and how her friend Veronica "Nikki" Chasea smart, ambitious, attractive and well-connected black economics professor sets out to solve the crime, and in the process uncovers some of Harvard's most deeply-buried secrets.
With the occasional tip from Raphael Griffin, a Harvard policeman, Nikki learns that plenty of people could have wanted Ella dead. There is the new Harvard President Leo Barrett, whose rise to the top Ella helped engineer. Or Leo's high-society wife Victoria. Or perhaps the sleek university comptroller, Christian Chung. Or it could have been the Chairman of the Economics Department and Nikki's mentor, Ian McAllister. With the help of a few close friends, Nikki sets out to unravel simultaneously the mystery of Ella's death and the complications of her own love life as she drives toward the shocking conclusion that will turn all of Harvard on its ear.