The Rock and Roll Queen of Bedlam: A Wise-Cracking Tale of Secrets, Peril, and Murder!

Leggy, karaoke-singing Allegra Thome spends her days teaching dysfunctional teens and her nights with a wealthy new boyfriend. Her life is grand until she finds herself in the middle of a drug bust and meets Sloan, a rough-around-the-edges DEA agent. Soon after a student from her class disappears, things quickly head south, and their search becomes a race against time with dead bodies piling up and her own life in peril. Publishers Weekly Brothers, author of the historical romance Castle Ladyslipper, puts her experience as a counselor to behavior-disordered teenagers to good use in this tightly plotted suspense novel set in Washington State. Nick Dorsey, a bright 16-year-old student with cystic fibrosis at Vista Valley High School, worries when his troubled classmate, Sara Stepanek, disappears. Nick and his aunt, Allegra Thome, Sara's teacher, who blithely refers to herself as “the queen of Bedlam,” pool their sleuthing skills and soon uncover unsavory practices at the Church of the Holy Light, which Sara had begun attending. The church's charismatic head, Robinson Hunt, also runs the What Would Jesus Drink Winery. The quirky romance between Allegra and DEA agent Sloan, whom she meets by accidentally interrupting a sting, provides a light counterpoint to the darker hunt for Sara. Readers will want to see more of this dynamic teacher/teen crime-solving duo. (Oct.) A teacher for dysfunctional teenagers by day and a karaoke singer by night in a small Washington town, recently-divorced Allegra Thome accidentally disrupts a drug bust. A teacher for dysfunctional teenagers by day and a karaoke singer by night in a small Washington town, recently-divorced Allegra Thome knows where to find trouble.