I composed this novel shortly after moving out to a small town in rural eastern Connecticut, and beginning to teach part time at the University of Connecticut. I wanted to try another detective, and came up with Alice Bertram, mother of two, an underpaid adjunct instructor divorced from her charismatic, professor husband Max.
It was fun to use the rural setting, though I discovered New York editors have some wierd stereotypes, as I was told that the handsome local plumber, would not do as Alice's new romantic interest. Clearly these were not people who had ancient wells and septic systems to cope with!
Alice doesn't have much love lost for her ex-husband, the philandering writer and scholar, Max. But when Max, his new lover, and her child are found dead in the family's rustic cabin, ostensible a case of murder-suicide, Alice doesn't believe he was to blame for a minute.
Distressed for her two children, Alice pushes the police to look into the case more thoroughly. When the powers that be are content with the verdict, she begins her own investigation and finds that all is not lovely in charming eastern Connecticut.
"The appropriately crisp opening sets the stage for a compelling, literate mystery whose low-key portagonist finds herself up against high power evil." Drood Review of Mystery, Nov 1991.
"Cleverly plotted, swiftly paced escapism that holds the reader to the last page and marks a leap forward from the author's Anna Peters series", Kirkus Reviews, September 1991 9/18/77
"This is a fresh, well-plotted story from a writr swho mixes venerated clue-chasing techniques with current political dynamite, such as toxic wastes in our years."Hartford Courant, December 1991