Home Again, Home Again...

Tom Buchholz
iUniverse (2006)
ISBN 0595381146
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (11/06)


Jeff Aderman was convinced that he could never go home again.  Circumstances in his life showed him otherwise.  His relationship ended and he lost his job.  Not having other options he accepts a teaching job at a college in his hometown.  He is to be an English instructor and an assistant to the Dean.  This is the college that he attended, so even though a few years have passed, he has to adjust to transitioning from student to teacher.  He also hopes that he will be taken seriously.  As an assistant to the Dean he has to deal with behavioral problems.  This has never been too much of a problem on this campus, but that has now changed.

The excitement begins his first day on the job, a student appears to have been murdered and his girlfriend has gone missing.  Jeff teams up with the local sheriff, who also used to be his best friend.  Jocko isn't very thrilled about Jeff's involvement, but Jeff insists on tagging along.  As he questions resistant students and the local gossips, he discovers that there is much more to the story than first appeared.  The campus has had their share of improprieties that were covered up or not taken seriously.  He reads the diary of the missing girl and learns that she had been raped a couple of times on campus.  The mystery builds as other people turn up dead or missing.

I don't want to give away too much about the story.  I enjoyed that Buchholz put plenty of twists and turns into the plot to keep me on my toes and guessing about who really did it.  He does an excellent job of developing the characters so that they seem like real people.  I also like the physical aspects of where the story takes place.  There is a little bit of a gothic element in that the college is old and there are some hidden tunnels. 

"Home Again, Home Again . . .," is a must read for mystery fans.  I think that in addition to being enjoyed by individuals it would be a great selection for a reader's group or a college popular fiction class. 

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