Master Class Mystery

It was a truth universally acknowledged: Marcia Deaver's untimely death elicited very little grief from her colleagues at Valerian Hills High School. Some staff members speculate the cause of death was a heart attack, or perhaps a suicide, but Liz Hopewell knows no self-respecting English teacher would kill herself without leaving behind a perfectly penned suicide note, complete with detailed footnotes and obscure literary references. After the police begin investigating the death as a murder, Liz finds Marcia's mysteriously coded lesson plans. Convinced they hold the key to the killer's identity, risk-averse Liz finds herself obsessed with the crime. Against the wishes of her husband and the handsome detective assigned to the case, she embarks upon a quest that takes her down a sordid trail of infidelity, blackmail, and Shakespeare conspiracy theories. When additional staff members are also poisoned, Liz realizes her clandestine pursuit has spooked the killer, and she is likely next on the list. Can Liz expose the murderer before she becomes the next victim?

Murder has no place in Liz Hopewell's perfect suburban life. She left her complicated past behind when she moved from Brooklyn to New Jersey, and she's determined to forget the violence that shadowed her early years. As an English teacher, wife, and mother, Liz now confines her fascination with existential dread to classroom discussions about Frankenstein and Hamlet. But violence follows her from the mean streets of her childhood home to the manicured lawns of suburbia when Elliot Tumbleson's head has an unfortunate and deadly encounter with a golf club. Her golf club. A second murder, a case of mistaken identity, and a rollicking trip back to her childhood home all point to one prime suspect in each crime. Liz embarks upon a double investigation of homicides past and present, using her gift for literary theory to unearth clues that she finds as compelling as forensic evidence. But the killers, like her students, don't always read to the end.