How Everything Turns Away by Steven J. Kolbe is a great mystery set in a school with the kind of characters one would expect to find there. Intelligent and humorous, this book is a treat if you enjoy clever mysteries. Highly recommended! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Former FBI agent fights for redemption
Ezra James, former star FBI agent who made a life changing mistake and was accused of egregious behavior, is performing a major penance as the security director for a posh coed Catholic high school. When a student teacher's barely alive body is found crumpled in the snow beneath the campus bell tower it gives him an opportunity for redemption. He wants to help the local police determine if the attempt was murder or suicide. James has to sort out a bucket of red herrings both in clues and suspects. He hopes if he helps the attractive, newly minted Detective Lucia Vargas find the answers He may be able to return to the FBI and get off his mental health meds. The supporting cast of characters from the chess playing priest with a questionable past to the heart throb French teacher with a secret to his opiates mother to Vargas' curmudgeon of a partner to delusional teacher and hot moms keep Ezra James hopping. This detailed mysteries is jam packed with bodies, motives, hope for redemption, secrets old and new, false identities, ex-spouses, kidnapping, and missed meds. Whatever adventure Ezra James takes up next--I want to go along--and I hope his friends from this book do too. Great read. Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for an honest review.

I picked this title up on NetGalley and what a treat. This was a page turner that kept me engaged. I’ve recently fallen for heroes like Ezra James who are imperfect and struggling before stumbling upon cases they never intended to become swept up in.