Toni Donovan teaches science in a small high school in the Missouri heartland. As a devoted wife and mother of two young sons, she leads a quiet and orderly existence—until she discovers the district’s missing superintendent, a woman she hated, in the body farm kept by her forensics class. The victim was a tyrant and manipulator, and Toni senses there are secrets in the halls of academia that no one suspects. When, with the instincts of a scientist, Toni delves deeper into the murder investigation, she finds herself facing more problems than just preparing for classes and dealing with unruly students. When her younger son, whose dream prompted her to the location of the body, is threatened, Toni learns that danger and terror do happen in a small town, and that she must not allow hate to overtake her life. Determined to stop a killer, her quest leads her into a series of discoveries that could cost Toni her own life.

During an educational field day scavenger hunt, a trio of Toni Donovan’s high school science students discover some bones and a skull. When the boys’ curiosity, and a desire to assist their favorite teacher, inspires in them a dream of becoming detectives, they insert themselves into the investigation and set out to determine who killed the missing preacher. Did the man run off with the town’s money? Or was a man of prayer preyed upon? Through the twists and turns of the case, fear becomes Toni’s companion—for her students, for her husband and sons, and for herself. Can she rescue her over eager students when they devise a plan of their own, go snooping, and end up in the clutches of the killer? Or will fear overcome her and make her—and possibly her students—the next victims?

High school science teacher Toni Donovan cares about her students, so she sympathizes when two girls in her sixth hour class are devastated over the shooting of their close friend at the neighboring school they used to attend.Once again drawn into solving a murder case, this time in a rival school where two teenshave been murdered, Toni must learn about rivalries and happenings behind the scenes. Can she help the police uncover the truth and bring a killer to justice?

While working in the body farm of her high school forensics class, Toni Donovan and her students hear sirens—and soon learn that Jake Crawford, owner of the local supermarket, has been killed. When a distraught school employee’s husband is arrested as a murder suspect, and the friend asks for help in clearing him, Toni is drawn into the case. Soon after visiting the crime scene, a series of personal attacks against Toni seem to indicate that the killer believes she knows his/her identity, and means to stop her from revealing what she knows. Wading through a maze of suspects becomes a matter of survival for Toni.

There’s a fire at the motel. A dead body is found inside the room. High school science teacher Toni Donovan is asked to help a friend prove her innocence—and once again is drawn into a murder case. A second body only deepens the mystery. She’s already tired and burned out, but the wrong persons must not be convicted of murder. Troubled by her young son’s puzzling dreams, and driven by her desire for truth, she must detect a killer before there are more victims—including her.