The Corpse Everyone Loved by Hannah Hess

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Corpse Everyone Loved by Hannah Hess Susan Addelston (bio) the corpse everyone loved Hannah Hess Fulton Books https://fultonbooks.com/books/?book=the-corpse-everyone-loved 329 pages; Print, $19.95 While one is admonished never to speak ill of the dead, this corpse in particular is loved only because he is dead! We're not suggesting necrophilia here, [End Page 100] but it is true that with one exception, noted below, no one had a kind word to say about this particular body. William Hennessey's corpse was discovered in a high school science laboratory after hours. Suddenly, there is an embarrassment of suspects. Almost the entire faculty for one, a large part of the student body for others, and not even the custodial staff is beyond suspicion. Mrs. Hess, who had me at the dedication page, has written a fast-paced, intricately plotted contemporary New York city mystery with some surprising plot twists and believable characters. One supposes that all English teachers believe in their inner hearts that they can write the Great American Novel. Most would be happy to finish even one book for publication. Mrs. Hess's first published book The Third Side of the Desk was an intriguingly perceptive account of the intersectional interests of teachers, students and parents. She has subsequently taken to writing her own favorites—mysteries. The first novel, Honest Deception, relied on her own background as a young Jewish-German refugee just before World War II. There was enough macabre history there to encourage me to read all of her subsequent novels. In the interest of full disclosure, we note that my friendship with the author is professional, she's a retired New York City Secondary School English Teacher who also served as a high school assistant principal and principal, while I served as a Secondary School Social Studies teacher in the same urban environment, albeit in different schools. Having gotten that out of the way, mystery books are not my favorite genre. I'm never sharp enough to guess the endings no matter how many obvious (to others) clues are strewn about. With non-fiction social studies books, I can feel superior—I know how they end! It's easy to identify with known characters and their stories. Fictional inventions require a lot more work on the reader's part for any satisfying reward. In this case, however, there are many reasons why this book is worthy of such an effort. If you're reading this—thank a teacher. If you have a high school diploma (perhaps as much as ninety percent of our population) the setting will be ever so familiar. If you've ever had any interactions with the police, good or bad, it's fun, albeit a little sugar coated, to have at least one as a major character. If you've had children, the heroine's interactions with her own three, the youngest a preternaturally accepting teenage son, will surely cause a sympathetic nod of the head. If you've ever had a pet, there's a dog in [End Page 101] this story, giving a reader the urge to reach down to pet silky warm fur. That's a rather large section of the population for which this urbane book will be as comforting as a glass of wine after a long day—something else that both the author and her characters share a liking for. Just why was this particular corpse so loved [sic] by so many? The irony is many layered. One would think that teachers as a profession would hardly be exciting enough to be murdered and in school no less. This corpse, however, had some interesting sidelines as a drug dealer, sexual predator, bully and oh, yes—a not very good teacher! The students struggle to survive his poorly taught classes, knowing that high grades and important college recommendations might come from his pen. He makes it quite clear to his unfortunate pupils just what some of them, females especially, must do to earn desperately needed passing grades. It turns out that the only woman who truly cared for him, or at least the man she thought she...