A Quiet Teacher

A turncoat Russian spy battles his demons and solves a baffling murder in the narrow world of snowbound Pittsburgh, PA, in Oyebanji’s (Braking Day) well-plotted first mystery novel. Armed with a new identity and bearing more than a few scars, Greg Abimbola is a language teacher at the elite Caldehill Academy, carefully negotiating a path through imperious parents, autocratic bureaucrats, entitled students, and a locally flavored form of racism. An especially demanding and manipulative parent, who also happens to be the wife of a quickly rising politician, is found murdered at the school, and a friend of Greg’s becomes the main suspect. Reluctantly drawn into the case by tunnel-visioned police investigators, Greg is soon using the skills from his former life to sort the suspects and solve the crime while carefully avoiding his dogged Russian pursuers.