Cold Lessons
“Picks up speed in all the right places…a first-rate thriller.”
—Joe Campana, Missoula Independent
“A memorable and engrossing novel.”
—Richard Aleas, Edgar- and Shamus-nominated author of Little Girl Lost
“Delivers old-school noir satisfaction…brutally real characters and situations.”
—Frank Sennett, author of Nash, Rambler and Nash, Metropolitan
January 2007 • Five Star Mystery • 253 pages • hardcover • $25.95 • ISBN 9781594145247
Press
“Eirkay Affgray,” by Jonathan Messinger, Time Out Chicago
Interview by Donna Seaman on Open Books Radio
Description
It’s winter, 1987, in Garden City, Montana, a sleepy college town with more bars than churches.
Eighteen years ago, Gil Strickland was named Teacher of the Year. But those days are long gone for the once-idealistic instructor at Porte l’Enfer High—right now, it’s all he can do to get to class sober and turn his lesson plans in on time. His job in jeopardy, he’s dogged at every step by a vice principal who works his job with evangelical zeal.
When a quiet, often-absent cheerleader crashes her car into a billboard after a party, Gil, like everyone else, thinks it’s a typical case of teen misjudgment. But when the dead girl’s friend sneezes blood all over her uniform, the incident awakens something he’d thought was long dead: interest in his students.
Against his better judgment, and over the objections of his wife and best friend, Gil begins clumsily following clues. He uncovers evidence of a crime ring that preys on his students, but he’s in over his head. Up against gun-toting bad guys, the only weapon he’s ever wielded is a red pen. He has a chance to save his soul, but can he save his students—and himself?
Set in the frozen heart of a Western Montana winter, Cold Lessons works in the tradition of James Crumley, Richard Hugo, and Jim Thompson—with a dry humor not unlike Charles Willeford. The somber mood and raw violence are tempered with humor that’s not black but gray as the hair on Gil’s temples.