Grace Carpentier rules the French department at Miss Merritt's school with an iron hand. Feared by her students and grudgingly respected by her colleagues, the formidable lady finds herself at the center of a murder investigation when another teacher who has unwittingly borrowed Mme. Carpentier's distinctive black cape garment is murdered on the grounds of the exclusive prep school in what is surely a case of mistaken identity. Or is it? Sarah Deane, the proud owner of a brand new Ph.D. in English literature, who has accepted a temporary teaching position at Miss Merritt's, isn't so sure. And her experience as an amateur detective (most recently in Bodies of Water) leads her unerringly into the path of danger as she sets out to do a little snooping of her own in this charming cozy, the 10th entry in the popular series. As usual, the author sets a fine scene; the details of boarding school life are carefully limned, right down to the décor in the students' rooms and the petty politics of academic life. The characters are well drawn, from the rakish Italian teacher and the former lover of the mistakenly murdered teacher to the lively girls in the dorm who enlist Sarah as their confidante when suspicion falls on one of their own. Fans of the Amanda Cross mysteries, another series featuring a pedagogical sleuth, will enjoy Borthwick's appealing protagonist, and look forward to her next adventure. --Jane Adams


From Library Journal
With a new doctorate and a new job teaching at a girls' boarding school, Sarah Deane still runs into murder. Someone murders the school's art teacher--perhaps mistaking her for the much-dreaded French teacher. For series and "cozy" fans. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In Borthwick's tenth Sarah Deane mystery, Sarah, fresh from earning her Ph.D., has gone to teach at an all-girl boarding school in Massachusetts, leaving her doctor husband, Alex, back in Maine. At the school, Sarah finds herself in the midst of a wildly eccentric faculty, the most notable of whom is the universally despised French teacher, Madame Carpentier. When threats to Carpentier begin appearing, Sarah is not willing to write them off as a joke. After a murder occurs, no one else is laughing, either. Like Lilian Jackson Braun, Borthwick knows how to describe the elements of daily life--food, people, weather, animals--in such a pleasing manner that readers happily overlook her skimpy plots. Sarah herself may not be the most interesting of female sleuths, but she is certainly one of the nicest and most charming. For anyone who likes cozies, this is a perfect book to snuggle up with on a winter's day. Jenny McLarin


From Kirkus Reviews
Coup De Grace ($24.95; Feb.; 352 pp.; 0-312-25313-3) Junior-league academic passions seethe at Miss Merritt's Boarding School. But which passionate academic would batter Anita Goshawk (art history) to deathunless, of course, she was mistaken for the infinitely more murderable Grace Carpentier, who thinks the French department is her own personal Sixth Republic? Sarah Deane (English), filling in on a temporary appointment, launches an investigation just as cozy in its conventions as veteran Borthwick's shipboard pastiche My Body Lies Over the Ocean (p. 25). -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"Borthwick's easy style and charming make this a first-rate fireside read."--Publishers Weekly

"Borthwick spins another enjoyable literate tale."--Chicago Tribune

""Go and get your copy--this one's a must-read."--The Courier-Gazette (Rockland, ME)



Book Description
Freshly minted Ph.D. Sarah Deane is hired to teach English at Miss Merritt's, only to land in the epicenter of legendary French professor Grace (Mme Guillotine") Carpentier's reign of terror. Mme's peckish passion for excellence has inspired universal fear and loathing.

A student discovers Mme's hanging effigy. Then Sarah finds a bludgeoned body wearing Mme's trademark cape. But the victim is not Mme. Is it a case of mistaken identity? It's up to Sarah, raided by her husband Alex, to find the killer before he strikes again--while the prime suspects, three fractious students, and three furtive professors, follow her every move...



From the Publisher
"Always witty, sometimes facical, full of wonderfuuly arcane allusions to old movies, this novel succeeds as a tightly controlled and unflagging thriller." Publishers Weekly


About the Author
J.S. Borthwick lives with her family on the Maine coast, where many of her mysteries are set.

FROM THE PUBLISHER