Love, Deadly Love

by Dorothy Bodoin

New to the bucolic small town of Maple Creek, Linnet Shellwin looks forward to teaching at the local middle school and enjoying her picturesque pink-and-white Victorian home. But her exciting new life soon proves far from inviting. A disconnected phone keeps ringing at odd hours in a house that Linnet discovers is haunted by murder. Someone poisoned the previous owner with arsenic-laced cherry tarts.

Soon, the hang-up calls carry a disembodied voice warning her of danger. Is this a cruel trick…or something supernatural? As the students in her fourth-period class at school turn from unruly to downright dangerous, Linnet isn't sure if she's going crazy or being stalked. But with time running out and danger closing in, she knows that, real or not, someone—or something—wants her dead.

285 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2009

Reviews

[Ashton Noel]

This book was all over the place. The ending was horrible, nothing was explained well nor did it all tie together in a way that made sense. I couldn't find the purpose in a majority of the story arcs. I stuck it out thinking it would all tie together and explain nicely at the end, and here we are. Disappointed.

[Ryan Hoffman]

This was an exciting and suspenseful read. A woman that moves to a small town to be the new teacher at the middle school. Only to find rumors that the house she moved into is haunted, the last person to live there was murdered, poisoned by an arsenic leased cherry tart. Strange occurrences start to make her leave if she is being stalked or going insane.

[Linda]

I so wanted to give this book a higher score because it kept my interest reading it but there's so very much wrong with it. To start with, when I read a book I become immersed in the life of the heroine. In this case I could not because Linnet was so poorly and scantily characterized. The only thing I know about her is that she had far too many fears and that she was right in wondering if she should be a teacher. At age 24 or 26, whatever, she should have had several years experience in teaching but she was unsure of her methods and could certainly not control a class. She should not have been a teacher. This was not a supernatural story and yet several things were never explained. Even the title had nothing really to do with the story, except that she lived in a house with a Valentine window. I found a myriad of contradictions in the story too. Without spoiling the story, everybody in the small town knew everybody's business and yet no one recognized the relationships between people?

The story: Linnet Shellwin can't wait until school is over for the summer after two of her ninth grade students drew a gun on her earlier in the year. The students taunt her and she can't control them at all. She had recently moved to Maple Creek, closer to school, into a house painted in Valentine colors and with a Valentine window in the front. She learns that the lady who lived there before her was murdered by eating a poisoned cherry tart given to her. The culprit was never caught. Then the disconnected and usually dead phone starts to ring. No one else ever hears it except Linnet. When Linnet answers it sometimes a whispery voice warns her of impending doom and death but the connection is always broken before she learns enough. Then there's the student who keeps coming by with gifts for Linnet. This makes her feel uncomfortable but she never discourages the girl. Late in the story we learn that the deadly ninth grade class members had each written a journal that Linnet promised never to read. They're still in the drawer at the deserted school. Why didn't the police take them and read them when the plot to murder her was exposed? Why didn't she read them? It was a stupid promise when it involved her safety! With a couple changes this could have been a class A story because it had the right amount of tension!

[Roxann]

Linnet Shellwin moves into a Victorian House known as the Valentine Villa-it is as pink and lacy as Valentine card. She teaches English in the town's middle school—but not very well. She has little control over her students. Then some members of her ‘out-of-control’ ninth-grade class plan to kill her and at home a disconnected phone in the house begins to ring. Linnet learns that the house's previous owner was murdered in the house in the past year, not decades ago as she had believed. Linnet finds herself in the middle of a murderous mystery with a supernatural spirit guiding her to the idea that she could be the next victim.

I love to read mysteries/thrillers, etc. With most books I can identify with the main characters; I can feel their emotions, understand them-and then there’s this main character Linnet. Did not identify with her at all and I was a teacher a few years ago. There’s supposed to be a ghost in the story calling her on a ‘dead’ phone, but yet it’s not a supernatural thriller—far from it.

I did finish the book but wasn’t impressed.

[Chet Wallace]

This is the second book I've read from my cousin, Dorothy Bodoin, and like it much better than the first I read, Snowhedge. It hits more close to home because the main character is a teacher like myself. Very suspenseful and true to life. She captures the realism of a middle school teacher having to deal with one of her most disruptive classes and dealing with her co-workers and parents as well, adding a supernatural twist as well as romance. This is a wonderful read!

[J. Ewbank]

I liked this book Bodoin. It is a light mystery and one that is easy to read and enjoy. There are a couple of mysterious events that I will not elaborate which spice up the story. Fans of light, fast paced mysteries will certainly enjoy this one.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" and "To Whom It May Concern"

[Susabelle Kelmer]

Ugh, no. Sorry. I was so confused, and even in the end I didn't understand who killed who and why. I wanted to like this book. I really did.

[Jodi]

Meh. Don't bother. An indifferent mystery poorly executed.