A Degree to Die For, page 1
A Degree to Die For
Synopsis
Tig Weston’s beloved classics department is evolving, expanding its course offerings to entice a new and more diverse generation of students. Not everyone is willing to accept these changes, though. Tempers flare, and when the body of a prestigious professor turns up outside Denny Hall, Tig doubts she can bring her department through the crisis.
Sergeant Adriana Kent always pictured classical scholars as tweedy bookworms, but suddenly her campus police officers are being called to Denny on a near-daily basis. Arguments in the halls, threatening emails, and even a fistfight, for God’s sake. What should have been the most sedate department on campus seems to be going through a volatile transformation. And the most visible proponent of that transformation? The decidedly unstuffy and very sexy Professor Antigone Weston.
Kent and Tig seem to be on opposing sides in this battle until the stakes become more personal. But before they can even think about a future together, they’ll need to fight to protect the campus from a killer.
Praise for Karis Walsh
Sit. Stay. Love.
“A cute and fun romance set in a small town. Great main characters that are easily relatable.”—Kat Adams, Bookseller (QBD Books, Australia)
“This is a sweet romance about two lovely people growing together and falling in love as they help the people and animals around them.”—Rainbow Reflections
“This is an easy romance to read. It’s not overly fraught with angst, but there are some light drama to keep the plot moving forward. The obligatory separation of the leads near the end of the book didn’t feel eye roll worthy, because, though dramatic, it was set up almost from the beginning of the book. I loved the characters, pacing and plot of this book. Very recommended.”—Colleen Corgel, Librarian, Queens Public Library
Love on Lavender Lane
“Gentle romance, excellent chemistry and low angst…The two MCs are well defined and well written. Their interactions and dialogue are great fun. The whole atmosphere of the lavender farm is excellently evoked.”—reviewer@large
“[Love on Lavender Lane] was very nearly my perfect romance novel. Lovely human beings for main characters who had fantastic chemistry, great humor that kept me smiling—and even laughing—throughout, and just enough angst to make my feel it in the heart. And a cute doggie, too!”—C-Spot Reviews
Seascape
“When I think of Karis Walsh novels, the two aspects that distinguish them from those of many authors are the interactions of the characters with their environment, both the scenery and the plants and animals that live in it. This book has all of that in abundance…”—The Good, the Bad and the Unread
Set the Stage
“I really adored this book. From the characters to the setting and the slow burn romance, I was in it for the long haul with this one. Karis Walsh to me is an expert in creating interesting characters that often have to face some type of adversity. While this book was no different, it felt like the author changed up her game a bit. There’s something new, something fresh about this book from Walsh.”—Romantic Reader Blog
“Both leads were well developed and you could see them grow as characters throughout the novel. They also had great chemistry. This slow burn romance made a great summer read.”—Melina Bickard, Librarian, Waterloo Library (UK)
Tales From the Sea Glass Inn
“A wonderful romance about starting all over again in middle age. Karis Walsh creates an affirming love story in which relatable women face uncertainty and new beginnings, with all of their promise and shortcomings, and come out whole on the other side.”—Omnivore Bibliosaur
“Tales from Sea Glass Inn is a lovely collection of stories about the women who visit the Inn and the relationships that they form with each other.”—Inked Rainbow Reads
Love on Tap
“Karis Walsh writes excellent romances. They draw you in, engage your mind and capture your heart…What really good romance writers do is make you dream of being that loved, that chosen. Love on Tap is exactly that novel – interesting characters, slightly different circumstances to anything you have read before, slightly different challenges. And although you KNOW the happy ending is coming, you still have that little bit of ‘oooh—make it happen.’ Loved it. Wish it was me. What more is there to say?”—Lesbian Reading Room
“This is the second book I have read by this author and it certainly won’t be my last. Ms Walsh is one of the few authors who can write a truly great and interesting love story without the need of a secondary story line or plot.”—Inked Rainbow Reads
You Make Me Tremble
“Another quality read from Karis Walsh. She is definitely a go-to for a heartwarming read.”—Romantic Reader Blog
Amounting to Nothing
“As always with Karis Walsh’s books the characters are well drawn and the inter-relationships well developed.”—Lesbian Reading Room
Sweet Hearts: Romantic Novellas
“I was super excited when I saw this book was coming out, and it did not disappoint.”—Danielle Kimerer, Librarian, Reading Public Library (MA)
“Karis Walsh sensitively portrays the frustration of learning to live with a new disability through Ainslee, and the pain of living as a survivor of suicide loss through Myra.”—Lesbian Review
Mounting Evidence
“[A]nother awesome Karis Walsh novel, and I have eternal hope that at some point there will be another book in this series. I liked the characters, the plot, the mystery and the romance so much.”—Danielle Kimerer, Librarian, Reading Public Library (MA)
Mounting Danger
“A mystery, a woman in a uniform and horses…YES!!!!…This book is brilliant in my opinion. Very well written with great flow and a fantastic plot. I enjoyed the horses in this dramatic saga. There is so much information on training and riding, and polo. Very interesting things to know.”—Prism Book Alliance
Blindsided
“Their slow-burn romance is a nuanced exploration of trust, desire, and negotiating boundaries, without a hint of schmaltz or pity. The sex scenes are sizzling hot, but it’s the slow burn that really allows Walsh to shine…the deft dialogue and well-written characters make this a winner.”—Publishers Weekly
“This is definitely a good read, and it’s a good introduction to Karis Walsh and her books. The romance is good, the sex is hot, the dogs are endearing, and you finish the book feeling good. Why wouldn’t you want all that?”—Lesbian Review
Wingspan
“I really enjoy Karis Walsh’s work. She writes wonderful novels that have interesting characters who aren’t perfect, but they are likable. This book pulls you into the story right from the beginning. The setting is the beautiful Olympic Peninsula and you can’t help but want to go there as you read Wingspan.”—Romantic Reader Blog
The Sea Glass Inn
“Karis Walsh’s third book, excellently written and paced as always, takes us on a gentle but determined journey through two women’s awakening…Loved it, another great read that will stay on my re-visit shelf.”—Lesbian Reading Room
Worth the Risk
“The setting of this novel is exquisite, based on Karis Walsh’s own background in horsemanship and knowledge of showjumping. It provides a wonderful plot to the story, a great backdrop to the characters and an interesting insight for those of us who don’t know that world…Another great book by Karis Walsh. Well written, well paced, amusing and warming. Definitely a hit for me.”—Lesbian Reading Room
Improvisation
“Walsh tells this story in achingly beautiful words, phrases and paragraphs, building a tension that is bittersweet. As the two main characters sway through life to the music of their souls, the reader may think she hears the strains of Tina’s violin. As the two women interact, there is always an undercurrent of sensuality buzzing around the edges of the pages, even while they exchange sometimes snappy, sometimes comic dialogue. Improvisation is a true romantic tale, Walsh’s fourth book, and she’s evolving into a master romantic storyteller.”—Lambda Literary
Harmony
“This was Karis Walsh’s first novel and what a great addition to the LesFic fold. It is very well written and flows effortlessly as it weaves together the story of Brooke and Andi’s worlds and their intriguing journey together. Ms Walsh has given space to more than just the heroines and we come to know the quartet and their partners, all of whom are likeable and interesting.”—Lesbian Reading Room
A Degree to Die For
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By the Author
Harmony
Worth the Risk
Sea Glass Inn
Improvisation
Wingspan
Blindsided
Love on Tap
Tales from Sea Glass Inn
You Make Me Tremble
Set the Stage
Seascape
Love on Lavender Lane
Sit. Stay. Love
Liberty Bay
Love and Lattes
Mounted Police R omantic Intrigues:
Mounting Danger
Mounting Evidence
Amounting to Nothing
University Police Romantic Intrigues:
With a Minor in Murder
A Degree to Die For
A Degree to Die For
© 2023 By Karis Walsh. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-63679-366-5
This Electronic Original Is Published By
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, NY 12185
First Edition: June 2023
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editor: Ruth Sternglantz
Production Design: Stacia Seaman
Cover Design by Tammy Seidick
eBook Design by Toni Whitaker
Chapter One
Antigone Weston paused—her breath held and her slender gold letter opener hovering in midslice—when she heard footsteps outside her office door. The sound of the heavy steps slowed momentarily, then continued, receding down the hallway. Tig exhaled with a sigh of relief and finished opening the padded mailer. She felt foolish for hiding in her office, but not enough that she was about to get up and open her door, inviting everyone to come inside and share their opinions about her leadership of the University of Washington’s Classics Department. At this point, even conversations with the few who saw merit in the upcoming shift from a pure classics curriculum to the more inclusive Mediterranean Studies exhausted her. She’d had so many criticisms, compliments, and rambling debates thrown her way as she led her department through the transitional phase of this drastic change that she felt as tightly wound as a resonating piece of glass. One wrong move and she would shatter. So she was hiding behind closed doors, alone.
Well, alone if she didn’t count the ghost of Laura Hughes. Laura had been one of Tig’s favorite students and had recently—and far too briefly—been promoted to the status of colleague when she accepted Tig’s offer just a month ago to be an adjunct professor at her old alma mater. She had been on campus for barely a day before an unstable and jealous student murdered her, erroneously believing that Laura and Professor Libby Hart might become romantically involved. The killer had then come far too close to murdering Libby and her new girlfriend, campus police officer Clare Sawyer. Losing Laura had sent Tig reeling through grief. Losing her best friend Libby, as well, would have destroyed her.
And now Laura was back. Her memory, at least, if not her actual ghost. Tig had retrieved her mail a few days ago and found the letter-sized package among the usual stack of bills and professional journals. It was postmarked from Philadelphia, sent by Laura’s fiancé. Tig hadn’t known what to expect inside, and she had been carrying the unopened mailer in her briefcase for the past few days.
Tig sighed. She was usually the type of person who met issues head-on, often more defiantly than the situation warranted. She’d be the bull in the china shop, not the cow quietly tiptoeing through the daisies. Yet here she was, afraid to open her office door and her mail. Ridiculous.
She pulled the contents out of the mailer with a bit more force than necessary, and a handwritten sheet of blue paper fluttered to the floor. She ignored it for the moment, focused instead on the neatly printed and stapled essay in her hands. She remembered the title and topic, and a glance at the date confirmed that this would have been one of the first—if not the first—papers Laura had written for Tig as a freshman, for her Ancient Greek Novels course. She gingerly turned through the pages, skimming the handwritten notes she had crammed in the margins—correcting here, praising there. The paper felt fragile in her hands, its sides bent and torn, as if it had spent the past decade in a pile of books or other things that were slightly smaller, leaving only its edges exposed to the outside world.
She came to the last page. A-. Her final note said that Laura seemed to have an instinctive sensitivity to the subject and would likely be successful as a classics major if she was interested enough to pursue the degree. Tig sighed again, closing the paper and setting it on her desk. She fought the temptation to leap to the conclusion that Laura’s death was now undeniably her fault. If she hadn’t encouraged her to study this subject, she might be alive right now, happily teaching chemistry or economics or French literature…She shook her head. She had recognized her own passion for classics in Laura. She would have followed the same academic and career path even if Tig had written that she seemed to have no discernible talent and should probably consider any other major before this one.
Tig set the paper on her desk and bent down to retrieve the accompanying note. The delicately slanted handwriting of Laura’s fiancé told her that Laura had kept this paper, even though she saved relatively few other sentimental items. He wrote that Laura had reread Tig’s note whenever she was struggling in graduate school, and that Tig’s message had seemed to give her courage to face her challenges and remain focused on the direction she needed to go. He hoped Tig might find the same comfort in the memento.
Tig carefully stowed the letter and essay in a file folder before resting her elbows on her desk and cradling her forehead in her palms. Maybe reading the paper would help in the coming days, reminding her of why she—like Laura—had chosen this career path in the first place, but she’d much rather have Laura herself to talk to. They had briefly discussed this upcoming curricular change when Laura had returned to campus last month, and she had seemed to have a like-minded approach to the new Mediterranean Studies plan. Neither Tig nor Laura liked change, especially when it came to their beloved subject and its reputation as a venerated university degree, but both of them recognized the need for the department to take steps toward mending some of its more racist qualities.
Tig tilted her head without raising it and looked around her office. This had been her space for almost fifteen years, but everything inside told an even older story. Her life was contained in the capsule of a room, with photos and mementos from family vacations, books her parents had used during their own careers as classical scholars, replicas of ancient Greek and Roman artifacts, and gifts from decades of Christmases and birthdays.
She hadn’t even moved the furniture an inch in any direction since her first week as a professor at UW. Who was she to lead this department forward when she was the poster child for the status quo?
An outsider observing Tig’s office and life would probably have bet a fortune on her being one of the more vocal opponents of this transition. Her life was modeled after those of her parents, whose careers were modeled after the generations of professors who had come before them. But despite the outward expression of her passion, she believed wholeheartedly in the need for an infusion of new viewpoints and in the importance of giving voice to the other cultures that had been so overshadowed by those of the Greeks and Romans that they were barely visible.
A loud rap on the door jolted Tig into an upright position and out of her maudlin musings. She momentarily considered ducking under her desk, but she had a pile of books and her laptop bag under there, and she probably wouldn’t fit all the way. She doubted the other faculty members would have much faith in a director who was caught trying unsuccessfully to wedge herself into a hiding spot.
“Tig, I know you’re in there. Open this door!”
Tig exhaled softly in relief. Ariella Romero’s voice was sharper than usual, but she was a friend, and therefore on Tig’s side by default.
“It’s unlocked, Ari,” she called in response.
Ari came in and shut the door behind her, giving her a look that Tig would have filed under the word disdain if she had been compiling a visual dictionary of expressions. Ari might be the smallest member of Tig’s group of friends, but after only moments in her company, her stature seemed to grow beyond her physical size, and she was ferociously capable of expressing intense emotions and judgments with a mere glance. She sat down in the chair on the other side of Tig’s desk and crossed her legs. She was wearing a simple long-sleeved black top and a pair of black jeans, but with intricately woven, sand-colored fingerless gloves on her hands. Tig shook her head. If she had worn those gloves, she would have looked like she had hurt herself and accidentally wrapped doilies on her hands instead of bandages. On Ari, the same accessories made her look as if her hands were about to bring forth something wondrously creative, like an intricate piano concerto or a timeless novel that would rival Heathcliff and his moors.
