What drove a woman to murder in 1920s New England? "Few readers will be prepared for the surprise that awaits at novel's end" in this Edgar Award-winning novel (Publishers Weekly, starred review). It was referred to as the Chatham School affair-a tragic event that destroyed five lives, shook a coastal Massachusetts community to its core, and traumatized a boy named Henry Griswald. Now Henry is an aged, unmarried lawyer, and as he writes his will, he recalls that long-ago day in 1926 when something drove his teacher to murder-and contemplates the role he played in it all... "Cook is a master, precise and merciless, at showing the slow-motion shattering of families and relationships... The Chatham School Affair ranks with his best." -Chicago Tribune "Such a seductive book." -The New York Times Book Review "Like the best of his crime-writing colleagues, Cook uses the genre to open a window onto the human condition... [a] literate, compelling novel." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)