STUDY GUIDE FOR MURDER

A high school English teacher puts her strained marriage—and her life—at risk when she helps investigate the murder of a country club member in Robbins’ mystery, one in a series.

Liz Hopewell reluctantly arrives at the Meadowfields Country Club for a golf lesson, a belated and unwanted birthday gift from her husband. The unathletic and underdressed outsider Liz is on her way to the driving range when she overhears an argument between formerly married couple Elliot and Melinda Tumbleson: “I’ll see you dead before I let you get away with this,” Melinda threatens. Later, Liz comes across Elliot’s body in the club’s bushes. He has been clobbered with a golf club—one belonging to Liz. What’s an amateur sleuth to do but investigate? Liz reunites with detective Tom Harriman (from Robbins’ 2017 Lesson Plan for Murder); her husband is not thrilled by the prospect. (“This is a disaster,” he complains.) Taking cues from classic literature, Liz zeroes in on two obvious suspects: Elliot’s first wife, Melinda, and younger new wife, Sonya. “Anyone who was married to him had to have wanted to kill him,” Liz reasons, tongue-in-cheek. These events occur on the anniversary of Liz’s mother’s death, and Liz’s sister Susan, her partner in solving crimes, finds evidence that their mother’s death was not accidental. Both cases will teach Liz that when it comes to murder, she has a lot to learn. Liz Hopewell is a refreshing figure on the sleuthing scene; dispensing with the wisecracks used by her more hard-boiled brethren, she cites literary quotes that encapsulate the situation. A former teacher herself, Robbins populates her story with indelible characters such as Melinda, who uses her position as school-board president to hassle, bully, and blackmail Liz to do right by her spoiled, coddled son. The mystery surrounding her mother’s death further fleshes out Liz’s family backstory, and her growing estrangement from her husband points to a new chapter in her life.

A brisk and satisfactory sequel that earns extra credit for its well-read sleuth and other memorable characters.