From Library Journal
Educational consultant Thea Kozak investigates the drowning death of a young girl at a private New England high school after learning of the girl's hitherto unknown pregnancy. As usual, Thea's interrogations lead to personal danger. Fourth in a fine series.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
Who says the life of an educational consultant has to be dull? When beautiful, manipulative Margaret Delaney Taggert takes an indefinite leave of absence from New England's semi-exclusive Bucksport School by drowning in an icy lake, headmistress Dorrie Chapin, feeling on thin ice herself, calls on Thea Kozak (Death at the Wheel, 1996, etc.). She asks Thea to run an audit of the school's safety (anti-homicide?) protocols for the benefit of the surviving students and their nervous families, and urges her more and more forcefully toward the role of Sherlock Holmes--a step not likely to sit well with Dorrie's lover, Sedgwick police chief Rocky Miller. In no time at all, Thea's managed to antagonize not only Miller, and her off-again lover Det. Andre Lemieux, but several suspects who don't even work in law enforcement--Laney Taggert's closemouthed advisor Chas Drucker, Laney's listless preppie houseparent Kathy Donahue and her equally unhelpful husband Bill, swaggering groundskeeper Chris Fuller--and to dig up the kinds of secrets about Laney that made an awful lot of people want to kill her. Evidently, they also make at least a couple of them (``How many murderers and attempted murderers do we have on this campus?'' Dorrie protests in amazement) want to kill Thea (and others less provoking) as well. But trust Thea, whose full-speed-ahead attitude makes her less like Jane Marple than Jane Russell, to goad the killer, like everybody else at Bucksport, into going too far. A triple order of dirty linen, with nary a boring character in the bunch--assuming that almost 400 pages of hothouse intrigue is what you're in the mood for. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"Thea Kozak is a terrific, in-you face, stand-up gal....Stephanie Plum and Thea Kozak have a lot to say to each other."--Janet Evanovich

"Kate flora does what all great writers do; she takes you inside unfamiliar territory and makes you feel right at home."--Michael Connelly, New York Times bestselling author of Blood Work

"If a sleep-losing page-turning is your thing, keep an eye on Thea. She's one of the good guys."--Richard Barre, Shamus Award-winning author of The Innocents and Bearing Secrets



Book Description
When a young girl drowns at a private New England high school, tough businesswoman Thea Kozak faces what may be her most tragic mystery yet. The death rocks the world of privileged academia, and Thea is called in to counsel the students and faculty and to reevaluate the school's questionable safety procedures. But when Thea discovers that the young victim was pregnant, all hell breaks loose. the deeper Thea digs, the more nasty secrets she finds--the type of nasty secrets that "perfect" people can't admit to.

And this time, the truth won't set anyone free....



From the Publisher
"Kate Flora does what all great writers do: she takes you inside unfamiliar territory and makes you feel right at home." --Michael Connelly, bestselling author of Blood Work "Thea Kozak is a terrific, in-your-face, stand-up gal in the moving and compelling story of grown-ups who fail the students in their care. Stephanie Plum and Thea Kozak would have a lot to say to each other." --Janet Evanovich


About the Author
Kate Flora is an accomplished attorney who has worked as an assistant attorney general in Maine, representing the Department of Human Services in child protection. She is a former president of the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime and is currently the national president of that organization. Liberty or Death is the sixth title in the Thea Kozak mystery series. She resides in Concord, Massachusetts.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A young girl at a private New England high school drowns in the campus pond. When it's discovered that the girl had been pregnant, Thea Kozak becomes suspicious of the circumstances of the girl's death, and all hell breaks loose when she tries to uncover the responsible party.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Thea Kozak is a terrific, in-your-face, stand-up gal in the moving and compelling story of grown-ups who fail the students in their care. Stephanie Plum and Thea Kozak would have a lot to say to each other. — Janet Evanovich