THE TWISTED THREAD

Murder is added to the curriculum at a posh boarding school.

Claire was beautiful, smart and rich. Everybody at Armitage Academy knew that. But no one admitted to knowing she was pregnant until she lay dead on her dorm-room floor, her head bashed in and her body revealing that she had recently given birth. Why did she die, and where is her infant? These questions become the problems of local cops Vernon Cates and Matt Corelli, who are also saddled with the conflicts between patrician students and working-class townies. Matt, who attended Armitage until a trumped-up charge of plagiarism led to his dismissal, is attracted to Madeline Christopher, a new teacher who’s guilt-stricken for not having noticed Claire’s pregnancy or known about an old-school tradition of rather mean-spirited hazing, led most recently by Claire and a cadre of her snobbish friends until Claire did a turnabout and tried to democratize the group. Claire remained close-mouthed, however, about the father of her child, although most observers suspect her boyfriend Scotty. The scandal threatens the academy’s reputation and fund-raising efforts among well-heeled parents who insist on removing their children or blanket them with lawyers. Claire’s journal, which finally provides the reason for her death, reveals her determination to cause the utmost embarrassment to the school and its staff.

A long-winded tome whose creator (Split Estate, 2008, etc.) excels only in proving that uninteresting characters make uninteresting reading.