Summer Session (A Harper Jennings Mystery, 1) - Hardcover

Merry Jones is a versatile author, having written suspense novels, thrillers, mysteries, humor and non-fiction. Jones lives outside of Philadelphia where she teaches creative writing, belongs to many writing organizations including the Philadelphia Liars Club, and sculls on the Schuylkill River.

Jones's promising first in a new series introduces Harper Jennings, a Cornel lteaching assistant struggling to overcome the post-traumatic stress disorder incurred during her tour of duty in Iraq. Soon after Harper's husband, Hank, takes a serious accidental fall from the roof of their house, one of Harper's students, Graham Reynolds, dies after intentionally jumping from a classroom window. Harper discovers that Graham had been taking an experimental pharmaceutical created at the same medical center where Hank is now undergoing treatment for brain damage. Harper tries to unravel the suicide's connection to a subsequent string of violent incidents, but is sidetracked by resurgent PTSD symptoms and her troubled marriage. Jones (The Borrowed and Blue Murders and three other mysteries featuring art therapist Zoe Hayes) speeds the plot past some dangerously improbable patches to a conclusion that should leave readers both satisfied and eager for the next installment. --Publishers Weekly, June 13, 2011

Jones, author of the Zoe Hayes novels, presents an intriguing new sleuth in this series debut. Harper Jennings is an Iraq War veteran living with post-traumatic stress syndrome. She has returned to New York, where she and her husband, geologist Hank Jennings, are renovating a house. Harper is in graduate school studying archaeology at Cornell, where she is a teaching assistant. Her life, however, is far from tranquil. While working on the roof of the house with his friend, Trent Manning, Hank falls off and sustains a serious brain injury. Harper takes him to the prestigious Cayuga Neurological Center for treatment while coping with war flashbacks. Then, while she is teaching, one of her students commits suicide by jumping out a window. Personal trauma mixes with crime, and suddenly Harper finds herself trying to make sense of a sinister string of events involving suicide, theft, betrayal, and murder--all of which may have connections to her own life. This is an excellent suspense novel with a strong protagonist and a plot that showcases a major ethical dilemma. Readers will be eager for Harper's next adventure. --Booklist, September 1, 2011