A popular teacher at an exclusive teaching academy is found dead in his classroom by two 10-year-old girls, who are traumatized by the event. Lt. Eve Dallas is assigned the case and soon discovers the teacher was poisoned by his ricin-laced cocoa. Quickly ruling out the victim's wife, Eve concentrates on others who might be the culprit, such as staff members or parents. When another teacher, one who's a prime suspect, is also murdered, the investigation becomes even more bizarre and shocking.
In the meantime, an ex-lover of Roarke's has returned intent on re-establishing their relationship when they were both crooks and causing trouble for his new marriage. Worry over this situation puts Eve off her stride in the murder investigation, which doubly pisses her off. She's now worrying about solving the case and concerned that she may lose her husband to his past.
The talented and prolific Nora Roberts, who writes this futuristic series under the J. D. Robb pseudonym, continues to provide readers with a superbly written and extraordinarily thrilling novel of suspense -- the 24th in this outstanding series.
The phenomenal series set in a future New York City returns as NYPSD Lt. Eve Dallas hunts for the killer of a seemingly ordinary history teacher-and uncovers some extraordinary surprises.
Craig Foster's death devastated his young wife, who'd sent him to work that day with a lovingly packed lunch. It shocked his colleagues at the private school, too, and as for the ten-year-old girls who found him in his classroom in a pool of bodily fluids-they may have been traumatized for life. Eve soon determines that Foster's homemade lunch was tainted with deadly ricin, and that Mr. Foster's colleagues have some startling secrets of their own. It's Eve's job to sort it out- and discover why someone would have done this to a man who seemed so inoffensive, so pleasant . . . so innocent.
Now Magdalena Percell . . . there's someone Eve can picture as a murder victim. Possibly at Eve's own hands. The slinky blonde-an old flame of her billionaire husband, Roarke-has arrived in New York, and she's anything but innocent. Roarke seems blind to Magdalena's manipulation, and he insists that the occasional lunch or business meeting with her is nothing to worry about . . . and none of Eve's business.
Eve's so unnerved by the situation that she finds it hard to focus on her case. Still, she'll have to put aside her feelings, for a while at least-because another man has just turned up dead. Eve knows all too well that innocence can be a facade. Keeping that in mind may help her solve this case at last. But it may also tear apart her marriage.
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