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)