Rosamund Lehmann's Dusty Answer is partly set in Cambridge, and I suspect might be your kind of thing. And PD James's An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (which I didn't think was brilliant, but it was OK). And Porterhouse Blue, but that may well not be your kind of thing.

topicaltim suggests The Glittering Prizes although he thinks it only begins in Cambridge. And The Common Pursuit by Simon Gray (not the FR Leavis one!), although that's a play.

Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency has a lot of Cambridge in, too.

In return, can you think of any Northumbrian books for me to take on holiday?