Book Title: Life Lessons
Author: Kaje Harper
Publisher: Self-published rerelease
Narrator: JF Harding
Release Date: December 02 2021
Genre: Mystery/Contemporary M/M Romance
Trope/s: murder-mystery, in the closet, modest age-gap, single parenting
Themes: hurt-comfort, closet-getting-tight, MC in danger
Length: 8 hours and 47 minutes
It is the first book in the Life Lessons series. It does not end on a cliffhanger but a HFN.
Buy Links – Audible, KU and Paperback
Mac’s three goals: keep Tony safe, catch the killer, don’t come out.
Blurb
Tony Hart’s a dedicated teacher, though he’s not much older than his high-school students. Between his profession, a few good friends, and plenty of books, he’s content with his quiet life. Then the murdered body of another teacher falls into the elevator at his feet, and Tony’s life becomes all too exciting.
Jared MacLean is a homicide detective, widowed father to a young daughter, and deeply in the closet. But from the moment he meets Tony’s blue eyes in that high school hallway, Mac can’t help wanting this man in his life. Mac’s not out ― can’t afford to be out ― but Tony makes him want the impossible.
Mac isn’t the only one with their eyes on Tony, though. As the murderer tries to cover their tracks, Mac has to work fast or lose Tony, permanently.
(This is a rerelease of the 2011 original with light editing.)
Two doors down the hall, just this side of the crime scene tape tape, a young man sat on the floor, leaning back against the wall, his eyes closed. This presumably was the teacher, Anthony Hart. Detective MacLean paused in the doorway to get an initial look at his witness.
Young, was the first thing that came to Mac’s mind. The man looked barely older than his students. He was slim and not tall, although height was hard to judge in that position. He wore chinos, a polo shirt, and loafers. In a T-shirt and jeans, he would’ve melted invisibly into the student population. His hair was black and a little messed up, his long dark lashes a smudge against his pale skin. Blood smeared one cheek and crusted the slender-fingered hands dangling loosely over his raised knees. What looked like more blood was soaked into his chinos. He didn’t so much as twitch when Mac approached, and the detective wondered if he could actually be sleeping.
“Mr. Hart?” he said, stopping at the man’s feet. “Mr. Anthony Hart?” When there was no answer, he nudged at the man’s foot lightly with his own.
The teacher’s eyes snapped open and he made a small sound between pain and surprise. For an instant, Mac met an intense blue gaze, then the teacher rubbed his eyes with the back of his wrist.
Mac asked, “Are you all right? I’m Detective MacLean, and I’d like to ask you a few questions. Are you Anthony Hart?”
“Yes.” Hart climbed to his feet. “Sorry, I was… drifting, I guess. This seems so unreal.” He began to hold out his hand, but converted the gesture to a grab for the wall as one leg gave out under him.
Mac grabbed Hart’s arm in support. The guy looked skinny but there was muscle under Mac’s fingers. “Leg gone to sleep?”
“No. Or yeah, partly. But mainly I twisted it this afternoon, then I ran down the stairs on it.” The teacher gave a rueful smile as he stood on one leg and rotated the other ankle. “Yeouch, but nothing’s broken.”
“Are you sure you don’t need medical attention?” Mac watched Hart’s reaction covertly. “You could go to Urgent Care and do this conversation later.”
“No way,” Hart said. “I want to get this over with so I can wash my hands and get out of these freaking clothes.”
“Fair enough.” Mac let his arm go. “Let’s find somewhere you can sit down. Outside the tape, though.” He led the way back to the darkened hallway, Hart limping behind him. “Is there any room we can get into down here?”
“There.” Hart pointed. “Computer lab. My key will open that one.”
“Go ahead.” Mac followed him to the door, but stopped him before he inserted his key. “Let me check it first.” He confirmed that the door was securely locked; no blood or other traces showed on the door handle. “Okay, open it up. Wait.” He eyed the blood on Hart’s hands. “Pass me the key.”
After a brief hesitation, Hart held out his keyring. Mac flipped the lock and pushed the door open. One small fluorescent bulb barely lit the dimness inside, revealing rows of tables with silent computer screens. Mac switched on the overheads and gestured to the nearest chair. “Have a seat here. Do you mind if I take notes? I like to keep things straight.” He’d found folks were a lot more forthcoming if they weren’t being recorded, at least at first.
Mac watched his witness carefully as he took him through his story: the elevator, the death, the call to 911. Hart’s reactions and tone rang true, but there was no denying he was right on the spot at the time of death, with no other witnesses. Anthony Hart’s name would have to go at the top of the suspect list, for now.
“Right,” Mac said, when he’d walked Hart through the sequence of events a couple of times. “Now tell me about Brian Westin. You have no doubt that’s who the dead man is?”
“None.” Hart shuddered and swallowed hard. “Damn. Sorry.”
“No problem,” Mac said easily. “I’d be more worried if you weren’t bothered by all this. How well did you know Westin?”
“Not very well. I mean, I saw a lot of him at teacher meetings and in the lounge and so on. It was unavoidable. But he doesn’t… didn’t like me much, and I tried to stay out of his way. I have enough to do without having to deal with Westin.”
“Having to deal with him how?”
“No big thing,” Hart hurried to say. “Just… he was a master of the cutting remark, you know? The kind that burns worse two hours later when you think of all the comebacks you could’ve used. Except it wasn’t worth getting into sniping matches with him. He enjoyed getting people upset too much, and I hate arguing.”
“What did you argue about?”
“Nothing, I told you.” Hart looked away. “I just avoid him.”
Definitely not a friendly relationship. Mac kept his tone casual while watching the young man’s reactions. “Sounds smart, but what would he have argued about if you had stood still for it?”
Hart sighed. “All kinds of stuff, most of them petty. What articles I let the students print in the school paper, for which I’m the advisor. Which books I choose to assign and whether they’re contributing to a general lack of respect toward teachers on the part of our students. How liberal I am with bathroom passes, for God’s sake. The man was a petty tyrant.” Hart paused then looked Mac in the eyes, his expression almost defiant, and added, “Whether I was actually fit to teach our young men, given that I ‘embrace a homosexual lifestyle.’”
Okay, not touching that one right now. Just move on…
I get asked about my name a lot. It’s not something exotic, though. “Kaje” is pronounced just like “cage” – it’s an old nickname, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I’ve been writing far longer than I care to admit (*whispers – forty-five years*), although mostly for my own entertainment. I write M/M romance, often with added mystery, fantasy, historical, SciFi, paranormal… I also have Young Adult short stories (some released under the pen name Kira Harp.)
After decades of writing just for fun, my husband convinced me I really should submit something, somewhere. My first professionally published book, Life Lessons, came out in May 2011. I now have a good-sized backlist in ebooks and print, both free and professionally published, including Amazon bestseller The Rebuilding Year and Rainbow Award Best Mystery-Thriller Tracefinder: Contact. A complete list with links can be found on my website “Books” page at https://kajeharper.com/books/.
Social Media Links
Audible Profile | Blog/Website | Newsletter Sign-up
Facebook | Facebook Group: Kaje’s Conversation Corner
Goodreads Author page | BookBub
About the Narrator
JF Harding Facebook Page | Facebook Group
