★★★★★ “Fun, fast, fresh!” – Word Junkie★★★★★ “This stand-alone is easy to read and hard to put down.” -BookZilla Imagine your favorite teachers from high school are dying, mysteriously murdered one by one soon after the arrival of the new English instructor… Mackenzie August is starting a new life. After a successful but destructive career as a high-profile California homicide detective, and … homicide detective, and then a less successful and even more destructive stint working for a church, he has moved to Virginia to start over as an instructor. The only thing he’s bringing with him is Kix, his infant baby boy. He plans for peaceful living with his son, but trouble soon finds him as his new co-workers begin showing up dead outside of his classroom…
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I really wanted him to hook up with the tart teacher. But he resisted. A pretty good read all around. Likeable main character and a good supporting cast. I will read the next in the series.
“The Last Teacher” by Alan Lee introduces us to Mackenzie August, a man who was a former California Homicide Detective, then a former Church Youth Group Pastor, and now an 8th grade middle school teacher and golf coach at South Hill Middle School in the small town of South Hill, Virginia. Mackenzie (Mack) sees coming to Virginia as the means to leave behind the horrors that haunt him from his job as a detective and the sadness he had experienced as a pastor. All he is seeking is a quiet, peaceful life for his 9 month-old son Kix whose mother had died in childbirth and for himself. He is well-liked by the teachers and students who see him as a big, strong man who could keep them safe in an emergency. His classroom is in a trailer which sits in a quad of other trailer classrooms. He is immediately befriended by several male teachers, all who want him to join their churches, and by two young female teachers, Kristen, who has a husband and 8 month-old daughter and helps him by recommending the same childcare she uses for her daughter while she is at work, and Taylor, who keeps flirting with him and enticing him to take her out on a date. Mack’s first weeks of teaching go very well. He comes to school, teaches, picks up Kix from daycare and returns to their home, a small cottage by a lake that he has rented for them. After thirty-nine days at South Hill, Mack comes to school as usual and discovers, in the grass right near his classroom, the dead body of one of the male teachers he had befriended. He immediately calls 911 and is approached by Steve, the school Resource Officer, who comes at him, gun in hand and handcuffs dangling. He tells Mack to put the handcuffs on and Mack refuses. Mack tells him he came to school, saw the body and called 911. He tells Steve to put his gun away before he shoots someone. Mack leaves Steve to watch the body and goes to the hallway outside the Principal’s office where he again feels the old emotions which were created by the horrors he had experienced as a homicide detective. He returns to the dead body and the Resource Officer and finds the sheriff, his deputy and the principal. He explains that 20 minutes prior to this encounter he found the body, checked the pulse and let him lie there. Principal Martin tells the sheriff that Mack is a former California homicide detective. The six hundred students arrive at school and are kept on their buses until all the teachers could meet with them in the their classrooms. Mack and the other teachers in the surrounding trailers meet with their students in the cafeteria. School is suspended for the next day. The sheriff’s deputy meets with Mack after school, asking him for his alibi and telling him that he had already checked with Mack’s former captain in LA and found out that Mack did really well with the LA Police Department, worked on high-profile cases and left after two years. Readers will now be as totally involved with Mack’s life as I was. They will enjoy his quick wit, his attempts to get Kix to crawl and his interactions with his students and the other teachers. They will want to find out who caused the teacher’s death and whether the murderer left a note made up of magazine cut-out words on Mack’s keyboard which said, “BE CAREFUL WITH WHOM YOU’RE FRIENDS” as a warning that he might be next. I am sure other readers will recommend this book to other readers as I am doing now.
Love this series.
This was an enjoyable book with details slowly unfolding. The dialog reminded of the books Spencer for Hire. The best complement you can pay a book is that you would read more in that series.
I really liked this book. Good characters, realistic and relatable.
Loved this teacher.
As a teacher, I appreciated the student connection, the descriptions of the preparing and correcting papers, and the staff interaction. Well constructed even if I did figure out the killer early on. Anti-clues almost had me convinced I was wrong.
This book kept me reading from the first page. Wonderful!
I loved this book. Could not put it down! Loved the plot and characters.
This is the first book, or a prequil, to a series, but it can stand alone. A fun read. I spent a lot of time reading the story instead of tackling chores that I needed to do.
Unusual detective story, no smut. An unusual who done it that grabs you from the first page. Well written and builds up the main character who has normal insecurities despite being a guy on his way to a better life.
It was too dry not enough action the countdown to the first murder was unnecessary
The author kept you guessing until the last few pages.
Protagonist was funny without being cynical or sarcastic, great character!
Great dialogue! Plot had me guessing and the ending was a surprise. Happy
Fantastic read. Couldn’t put this down. Great main character. Awesome writing. Loved it!
Thoroughly enjoyed the quirkiness-Everyone should look up to a teacher like Mr. August-a fun read-
Publisher Description
“Fun, fast, fresh!” – Word Junkie
“This stand-alone is easy to read and hard to put down.” -BookZilla
Imagine your favorite teachers from high school are dying, mysteriously murdered one by one soon after the arrival of the new English instructor…
Mackenzie August is starting a new life. After a successful but destructive career as a high-profile California homicide detective, and …
Great mystery and cleverly Written
Great read! Kept you guessing right up to the end who the killer was. Complete surprise. Look forward to reading more from this author.