Teachers these days have lot to deal with, a lot more than the teachers of twenty years ago. Now, teachers have to deal with weapons and uncontrolled anger issues that can escalate with just the wrong word from the wrong student. In The Witch of Agnesi, Bonnie Pinkwater has to deal with the most intelligent of the eighth grade class, the geniuses. Unfortunately, they begin to turn up dead.

After a failed competition at the Knowledge Bowl, thirteen-year old Peyton Newlin disappears. It is assumed that he ran away to avoid his father, the abusive Col. Ralph Newlin. Since Bonnie was responsible for the boy genius, it puts her in a bad light with the boy's mother Wendy Newlin, Col. Newlin, and the police. She finds herself instantly transformed from eighth grade teacher to Sherlock, with enamored science teacher Armen Callahan acting as her Watson.

The morning after Payton's disappearance, the situation gets worse. Stephanie Templeton, another genius student and the object of Payton's affections, is found murdered. Bonnie's job goes from bad to worse, trying to make the connection. It seems that two of the four students up for the same scholarship are now out of the running. Bonnie can't believe that a scholarship would break the close friendship of the four so far as to include murder.

The Witch of Agnesi is an excellent read. The characters are well fleshed out and the story line has enough left turns that it kept me guessing. Only my own ignorance led me, completely by accident, to discover who the killer was just before the end. (I got it right but for the wrong reason. Having spent much of my teen years in the company of Sherlock Holmes, I pride myself on observation and deduction. Sherlock smirked at me on this one.) The Witch of Agnesi is an exercise in willful misdirection that Mr. Spiller is a master of. I will be watching for more from this skilled writer.

I would caution that the violent content and language should be taken into consideration for younger readers. I would recommend this book for readers sixteen and older.

Reviewed By MargeAnna Conrad
© June 2006