Murder at Walden Pond — Al Blanchard

Middle School History Teacher Steve Asher is forcibly removed from his role of helping young people when he is charged with the murder of a student's sister. Asher is counseling a troubled boy, Petey Oliver, whose dysfunctional family is represented by Susan Oliver, a young attractive woman trying hard to keep her bright but disturbed brother out of trouble. Asher meets Susan over coffee to discuss ways they can help Petey, but when we see them together again he is fishing her body out of Walden Pond. Asher becomes a prime suspect in the murder after Susan's diary is turned over to a hungry reporter naming Steve as her lover. In order to clear his name and regain his reputation, Asher is torn from his academic tower and forced into a quest to find Susan's real murderer. Asher struggles to survive in an alien hostile environment where someone has brutally murdered a woman he hardly knew and is trying to silence him. All the while he is being harassed by the police who suspect him, ostracized by the community, questioned by students and threatened with suspension by the school board for a crime he did not commit. The key to the crime hinges on a runaway boy and a politician running for Governor. Asher's quest leads back to Walden Pond where he comes face to face with a killer.