This story is a murder mystery that takes place in a small New England town in the year 2006. The main character is a single woman in her late thirties named Maddy Timmons, who is a second-grade teacher at Layton Elementary. As summer vacation draws to a close, Maddy heads in to school on Tuesday to prep her classroom and finish last-minute projects before the teacher workshop day on Thursday. Upon arriving at the mostly empty building, she discovers the principal lying dead in the janitorial break room. Maddy's assumption that the principal died of an accidental allergic reaction to peanuts is quickly replaced with the knowledge that there was nothing accidental about it at all. The police detective investigating the case is Anita Monroe. Anita's daughter had been a student in Maddy's second-grade classroom the year before, so the two women know each other, and the mutual respect and trust between the two takes root right away. As Maddy sets about the routine of preparing her mind and her classroom for the coming school year, she meets and talks with several people, including other teachers, the parent of an incoming student who has emotional issues related to the school experience, the school janitor, and cochairpersons of the parent-teacher organization of the school. Through these ordinary meetings with various faculty members and others associated with the school, Maddy begins to accumulate clues and evidence in the principal's murder as well as about the deceased principal's ethics and character. A side of her former principal begins to emerge that is both unfamiliar and shocking to Maddy. Throughout the story Maddy maintains close contact with the police department, and fortunately for her, Anita Monroe is always ready to lend a hand or support in a crisis. The detective warns Maddy about the danger that she is placing herself in by continuing to collect clues as to the identity of the murderer, but despite Anita's concern for Maddy's well-being, pieces of th