Aspiring author Ivy Seidel accepts a part-time position teaching writing to a group of convicted criminals hoping the experience will add depth and darkness to her own work. But in the haunting writings of charismatic inmate Vance Harrow she discovers a talent possibly greater than her own. And in the startling, disturbing stories Harrow has to tell, Ivy finds a dangerous new purpose-and a terrifying temptation that lures her into an inescapable world...

St. Thomas, the small college north of New York City where Professor Alison Bergeron teaches, has had its share of scandals involving both its students and its staff, not to mention Alison herself, so when a resident director goes missing the administration wants to keep a lid on it. With only five weeks left in the semester and no time to interview replacements, Alison is tapped for the job. An alumna of the college, Alison knows all about living...

This playful whodunit featuring an Oxford don and a permanently silenced opera singer is "a splendidly intricate and superior locked-room mystery" (The New York Times). When an opera company gathers in Oxford for the first postwar production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger, its happiness is soon soured by the discovery that the unpleasant Edwin Shorthouse will be singing a leading role. Nearly everyone involved has reason to loathe Shorthouse, but...

This is a story of people whose lives are changing - a southern gentleman returning home to lead a more peaceful life and his talented New York wife who is not quite sure she is ready to make the transition. They are moving north to south, fast pace versus slow pace, downsizing. And while they are doing this, they are getting glimpses into other people's lives over the course of a summer, holidays that will amuse, shock and transform them. Prominent...

"In her second year teaching sixth grade English, Maggie Topper is chosen for a special assignment: to privately tutor a student with serious health issues that prevent him from attending class with other kids. Though she agrees to the assignment, her decision is clouded with painful memories from her own childhood. It isn't easy for her to make a connection with Yuri Krasny, the son of two Ukrainian immigrants, until Maggie uncovers his passion for...

"It's spring in the tiny town of Damariscotta, a tourist haven on the coast of Maine known for its oysters and antiques. Andrew, a high school English teacher recently returned to the area, has brought his family to Ed and Steph Thatch's sprawling riverside estate to attend a reception for the Amherst women's lacrosse team. Back when they were all teenagers, Andrew never could have predicted that Ed, descended from a long line of lobstermen, or Steph,...

"Ben Jameson begins his teaching career in a small private school in Northern Virginia. He is idealistic, happy to have his first job after graduate school and hoping some day to figure out what he really wants out of life. In the two years he teaches English at Glenn Acres Preparatory School, he discovers what he believes will be his life's work; teaching is what he finally comes to with all his heart. His fiance believes he suffers from a 'Christ...