Set in the 1970's at a small college in Pennsylvania, April Cruel proves T.S. Eliot right: "April is the cruelest month." When the rigid and rather unpleasant professor, Erica Berne, discovers that her fiance has been murdered, she not only is grief-stricken, but she also becomes the victim of several murder attempts that misfire and kill or harm others. Two young professors in the English department, Jim Strand and David Stein, attempt to uncover the perpetrator of the crimes, along with one of David's students, Jill Lake, with whom he has fall in love and Susie Marsh, a departmental secretary for whom Jim has a growing affection. Detective Norman Halloway is also seeking the killer, and since so many have grudges against Erica Berne, there are motives aplenty. Are the murders connected in any way with the death of Professor Berne's former fiance? Has she so offended other students and teachers that they have decided to eliminate her? What kind of hold does she have over the chariman of the department, Wilfred Black? Will hysterical parents force the closing of Huston college so near the end of the semester? And why does Jill Lake feel that she is herself in terrible danger?