Murder at Birchwood Pond

Darian Winter is settling in as a new instructor at Birchwood Academy, an exclusive boys’ prep school in New England. As a reasonably open gay man with two devoted moms in a same-sex marriage, Darian has to be careful in the school’s formal and somewhat conservative atmosphere. One morning, he is jogging near the campus pond when he comes across a shocking scene: Timothy Pryor, an 18-year-old student taking a gap year at the school, is floating dead in the water. Timothy stood out at Birchwood for many reasons, and none of them involved his academic prowess. Wealthy, brash, and completely at ease with his sexuality, Timothy routinely bragged of having affairs with students and faculty members alike. Now someone has murdered him right on school grounds—and Darian might be the prime suspect thanks to his sexuality and his familiarity with the victim. Soon the quiet campus is abuzz with law enforcement personnel, including the town’s dour but undeniably attractive sheriff, Arthur “Argo” Sullivan. Though Darian is outraged when Argo seems to consider him a suspect in Timothy’s death, he soon discovers that the sheriff, like almost everyone at Birchwood Academy, is hiding a shocking secret. While Darian struggles to figure out exactly how the various strands weave together, another death jolts the small community. If he can’t work out the answer in time, he knows there will be more.