Sandra's Book Club: Blog Tour: HEAD CASE by Bonnie Traymore

A workplace rivalry. An isolated campus. A tragic death.

Head Case

by Bonnie Traymore

Genre: Psychological Thriller

"Traymore masterfully created a sinister, atmospheric setting that perfectly suited the plot."

Readers' Favorite, 5 stars

A workplace rivalry. An isolated campus. A tragic death.

Never make a major life decision in the wake of emotional turmoil. Cassie Romano learned this the hard way, leaving sunny San Diego for a teaching position at a private school in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York after a painful break-up left her heart-broken and in need of a change.

It all seemed so perfect in June when she came to interview. But now it’s December, and she’s stranded on top of a mountain surrounded by snow, ice, and acres of wilderness, lonelier than ever and bored out of her mind.

When a fellow teacher turns up dead and Cassie receives a cryptic letter from her a few days later, it’s clear to Cassie that something strange is going on at Falcon Ridge Academy. Everyone seems to be writing the death off as a tragic accident, but she’s not so sure.

Cassie has secrets of her own, though, so she’s initially reluctant to get involved. Torn between the urge to protect herself and the desire to investigate further, she decides on the latter.

And the consequences could be deadly.

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PROLOGUE

Kimi

Kimi knows what the other teachers call her behind her back. She’s heard them before, although she’s pretty sure they don’t know she knows.

Here comes the mole.

It’s not like she signed some formal agreement. And it’s not like she had much of a choice. It had all started pretty innocently. Her boss befriending her and then subtly starting to pump her for information.

Then it became an unstated directive. A quick promotion to English department chair in exchange for some hints about who might be plotting behind the woman’s back. Getting her preferred chaperoning duties in exchange for a few tidbits about who might be holding up her latest initiatives.

And then it became even more complicated.

She wonders how Brooke will take the resignation letter she left in her mailbox yesterday afternoon. It’s a terrible career move to leave now, just two weeks before winter break. But Kimi feels that she doesn’t have much choice.

It’s not just the strained relationship with the other teachers, although that’s part of it. It’s that she’s pretty sure her boss doesn’t know what she overheard, and it needs to stay that way. She’ll go back to North Carolina and regroup, then come back for the rest of her belongings some other time.

As she enters the deserted Cortlandt train station and starts walking towards the tracks, she feels a chill run up her spine. It’s dead still on a frigid Saturday morning. No commuters. Not another passenger in sight. But she has a nagging sensation that she’s not alone.

Is someone following me?

She stops for a moment and turns to look behind her. Nobody’s there. She glances out the window to the parking lot, but the view is obstructed by a thin layer of ice. Then she takes a deep breath, steadies herself, and makes her way over to the staircase that leads down to the train tracks.

The hairs on the back of her neck are standing up, but she reminds herself there’s a good chance she’s overreacting—to all of it. And for a moment, she considers that she might be making the biggest mistake of her entire career.

Too late to second-guess myself now.

When she lifts her foot to start down the stairs, she freezes, reacting a split second too late to the sensation of a presence behind her. In an instant, she’s flying headfirst in the air looking down at the cold, menacing metal stairs.

She closes her eyes and braces herself, incapable of emitting the terrifying scream that’s welling up inside her.

A boarding school teacher dead. It was an accident. Wasn’t it?

In the beginning, we get a slow diary narrative from one of the school teachers, Cassie, a friend that pretty much abandoned the dead teacher in the end. Then she gets a little “from beyond the grave” letter, telling her to watch her back at the school. It would seem there have been some dirty dealings at the school administration and people had secrets they wanted to keep hidden, including Cassie. Would someone really resort to murder though?

Cassie was sure that there was a campus murderer on the loose and would be watchful from now on. Could the hunky, new teacher be involved? Cassie couldn’t decide “if [this was] the beginning of a steamy romance novel or the opening scene of a slasher movie.”

This gets better with all the mysterious speculation and the possibility of a murderer. It definitely grabs and holds your interest.

Meanwhile, Cassie is dealing with some issues concerning her dad getting them all into witness protection when she was younger.

There’s a conspiracy at the private school and certain people were in on it either to cover it up or bring it down. How will this all end? And who murdered the teacher?

A compelling read that kept me going.

Rating: 4 stars

Bonnie Traymore is an author, educator, and consultant. A world traveler, she loves to include vivid settings in her novels. She is also an accomplished non-fiction writer, historian, and educator with a doctorate in United States History. She has taught at top independent schools in Honolulu, Silicon Valley, and New York City for over 20 years, and she has taught history courses at Columbia University and the University of Hawaii. Originally from the New York City area, she resides in Honolulu with her husband but frequents the Hudson Valley and New York City areas.

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