Cold Lessons

(Note: Michael McCulloch is a pen name used by Keir Graff.)

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.