An Educated Death (Thea Kozak Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Kate Flora (Author)

Book Description

Series: Thea Kozak Mysteries | Publication Date: October 1997

Thea Kozak is a tough, energetic businesswoman whose keen insight into the heart of human darkness contribute to her crime-solving abilities. In An Educated Death, Thea faces what may be her most tragic mystery yet--the death of a young girl at a private New England high school.

Editorial Reviews

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031286079X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312860790
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,773,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great read, October 14, 2002

By 

Anna Klein - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Educated Death (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved this book--not for the plot, which comes across as immature a good deal of the time--but for the interplay between the main characters. Yes, the author tends to make Thea describe her feelings too us way too much (we don't need half the details we get!), and yes, she ends up chosing having her way over listening to her boyfriend's VERY REASONABLE concerns for her, but I still loved it. Thea is bright, sassy, has a great sense of humor, and doesn't let anybody walk on her. Don't expect too much depth or heart string tugging, but a great read if you want to laugh a lot.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Promising Beginning Leads to Nancy Drew Behavior, June 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: An Educated Death (Mass Market Paperback)

This book began well, with an intriguing chapter from the point of view of the murder victim, but rapidly went downhill, to the point where I wouldn't have finished it if I hadn't been traveling in Italy and unable to get my hands on anything else in English. As the murders pile up, the heroine behaves more and more like Nancy Drew, doing foolish and unprofessional things so that she has to be rescued - and with constant references to similar behavior in past books that put her in the hospital. Well, duh.... Ultimately, a real let-down.

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a must-read mystery., October 14, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: An Educated Death (Thea Kozak Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Thea Kozak is one of the most unusual female amateur detectives in existence. She is a consultant for private schools and often becomes involved in murder with her signigicant other, a policeman fearing for her safety. Bad things happen to the people in the book. The initial victim is a teenage girl with few scruples, but one the reader begins to warm to and sympathize with as Thea probes her background. Buy this book, but only after reading the three proceeding this title which are available in paperback. See the author's note and keep Thea in print.