Product Description

When a young girl drowns at a private New England high school, tough businesswoman Thea Kozak faces what may be her most tragic mystery yet. The death rocks the world of privileged academia, and Thea is called in to counsel the students and faculty and to reevaluate the school's questionable safety procedures. But when Thea discovers that the young victim was pregnant, all hell breaks loose. the deeper Thea digs, the more nasty secrets she finds--the type of nasty secrets that "perfect" people can't admit to.

And this time, the truth won't set anyone free....

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1525480 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

From Library Journal
Educational consultant Thea Kozak investigates the drowning death of a young girl at a private New England high school after learning of the girl's hitherto unknown pregnancy. As usual, Thea's interrogations lead to personal danger. Fourth in a fine series.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Who says the life of an educational consultant has to be dull? When beautiful, manipulative Margaret Delaney Taggert takes an indefinite leave of absence from New England's semi-exclusive Bucksport School by drowning in an icy lake, headmistress Dorrie Chapin, feeling on thin ice herself, calls on Thea Kozak (Death at the Wheel, 1996, etc.). She asks Thea to run an audit of the school's safety (anti-homicide?) protocols for the benefit of the surviving students and their nervous families, and urges her more and more forcefully toward the role of Sherlock Holmes--a step not likely to sit well with Dorrie's lover, Sedgwick police chief Rocky Miller. In no time at all, Thea's managed to antagonize not only Miller, and her off-again lover Det. Andre Lemieux, but several suspects who don't even work in law enforcement--Laney Taggert's closemouthed advisor Chas Drucker, Laney's listless preppie houseparent Kathy Donahue and her equally unhelpful husband Bill, swaggering groundskeeper Chris Fuller--and to dig up the kinds of secrets about Laney that made an awful lot of people want to kill her. Evidently, they also make at least a couple of them (``How many murderers and attempted murderers do we have on this campus?'' Dorrie protests in amazement) want to kill Thea (and others less provoking) as well. But trust Thea, whose full-speed-ahead attitude makes her less like Jane Marple than Jane Russell, to goad the killer, like everybody else at Bucksport, into going too far. A triple order of dirty linen, with nary a boring character in the bunch--assuming that almost 400 pages of hothouse intrigue is what you're in the mood for. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
"Thea Kozak is a terrific, in-you face, stand-up gal....Stephanie Plum and Thea Kozak have a lot to say to each other."--Janet Evanovich

"Kate flora does what all great writers do; she takes you inside unfamiliar territory and makes you feel right at home."--Michael Connelly, New York Times bestselling author of Blood Work

"If a sleep-losing page-turning is your thing, keep an eye on Thea. She's one of the good guys."--Richard Barre, Shamus Award-winning author of The Innocents and Bearing Secrets
-- Review

Customer Reviews

A great read
I loved this book--not for the plot, which comes across as immature a good deal of the time--but for the interplay between the main characters. Yes, the author tends to make Thea describe her feelings too us way too much (we don't need half the details we get!), and yes, she ends up chosing having her way over listening to her boyfriend's VERY REASONABLE concerns for her, but I still loved it. Thea is bright, sassy, has a great sense of humor, and doesn't let anybody walk on her. Don't expect too much depth or heart string tugging, but a great read if you want to laugh a lot.

Promising Beginning Leads to Nancy Drew Behavior
This book began well, with an intriguing chapter from the point of view of the murder victim, but rapidly went downhill, to the point where I wouldn't have finished it if I hadn't been traveling in Italy and unable to get my hands on anything else in English. As the murders pile up, the heroine behaves more and more like Nancy Drew, doing foolish and unprofessional things so that she has to be rescued - and with constant references to similar behavior in past books that put her in the hospital. Well, duh.... Ultimately, a real let-down.

This is a must-read mystery.
Thea Kozak is one of the most unusual female amateur detectives in existence. She is a consultant for private schools and often becomes involved in murder with her signigicant other, a policeman fearing for her safety. Bad things happen to the people in the book. The initial victim is a teenage girl with few scruples, but one the reader begins to warm to and sympathize with as Thea probes her background. Buy this book, but only after reading the three proceeding this title which are available in paperback. See the author's note and keep Thea in print.