A Hunting We Will Go

An eight-grade class trip from a supposedly perfect and affluent little town to a state forest ends in a horrifying moment when a revered teacher plunges to her death from a towering cliff. If the students present witnessed the events leading up to the accident, they're not telling.

No one in the elite and tight-knit suburb of Knollwood, New Jersey, seems to know what really happened to the teacher. Worse yet, no one seems to care. Except Meg Foley. A young, single woman used to instructing inner-city kids, Meg gladly accepts a replacement position in this cushioned community. But in the eyes of her new students she sees a chilling hint of past terrors, and Meg is determined to find out the cause.

In her search for the truth, Meg raises painful questions that the people in the town would rather not answer: Was the teacher not what she seemed, not even close? Did a rebellious clan of teenagers take their revenge on a tough, critical authority? Or was it some greater evil that no one dares to acknowledge?

The hornet's nest Meg stirs quickly results in antagonism from school and local officials, as her quest probes a lot more than just a tragic but isolated incident. When unseen forces in the community target her as their enemy, first with threats, then with violence, Meg can no longer handle the danger alone.

At her request, Meg is joined by maverick Los Angeles police detective Dan Jarrett, her father's partner before his death in the line of duty. Jarrett must protect Meg and discover the truth about a teacher who never expected the result of her last assignment and a town that fiercely protects its own.

Mrs. Wilkens prayed silently for someone to help her. She looked over her shoulder as she continued to flee. She couldn't see or hear them any longer but was certain they were still behind her, somewhere.

In the tradition of The Devil in the White City comes a spell-binding tale of madness and murder in a nineteenth century American dynasty

On June 3, 1873, a portly, fashionably dressed, middle-aged man calls the Sturtevant House and asks to see the tenant on the second floor. The bellman goes up and presents the visitor's card to the guest in room 267, returns promptly, and escorts the visitor upstairs. Before the bellman even reaches the lobby, four shots are fired in rapid succession.

Eighteen-year-old Frank Walworth descends the staircase and approaches the hotel clerk. He calmly inquires the location of the nearest police precinct and adds, "I have killed my father in my room, and I am going to surrender myself to the police."

So begins the fall of the Walworths, a Saratoga family that rose to prominence as part of the splendor of New York's aristocracy. In a single generation that appearance of stability and firm moral direction would be altered beyond recognition, replaced by the greed, corruption, and madness that had been festering in the family for decades. 

Marilyn Johnson was enthralled by the remarkable lives that were marching out of this world—so she sought out the best obits in the English language and the people who spent their lives writing about the dead. She surveyed the darkest corners of Internet chat rooms, and made a pilgrimage to London to savor the most caustic and literate obits of all. Now she leads us on a compelling journey into the cult and culture behind the obituary page and the unusual lives we don't quite appreciate until they're gone.

Charles Kipps introduces Conor Bard, NYPD homicide detective and wanna-be rock star, in his suspense-packed debut novel.