Astra Corrigan scores the opportunity of her dreams: exclusive rights to do a feature on Gwendolyn University, a prestigious—and notoriously private—liberal arts college in New England. As an independent journalist, she didn’t expect them to let her cover the murders of five students by a Gwendolyn professor they never caught.
She also didn’t expect a babysitter. A devastatingly handsome one, whose intellect and sardonic humor sends sparks flying.
Astronomy professor Dane Morgensen is inexplicably drawn to the headstrong journalist. He’s been told to make sure she doesn’t look too closely into Gwendolyn, but it’s not that simple. Not when his admiration for her turns into something deeper.
As Astra works, she realizes how much control Gwendolyn has over the flow of information and whereabouts of everyone on campus—her included. And she must obey their cardinal rule:
Stay inside after midnight.
When Astra stumbles upon a new tragedy, the discrepancy between what she saw and what everyone else is told is glaring—and her own recorded evidence disappears. The campus is in danger, but from the professor at large, or something else?
Astra doesn’t know if Gwendolyn is just protecting its own interests or protecting a much darker secret. Her growing feelings for Dane are complicated by also not knowing where his allegiances lie.
There’s so much Dane can’t tell her. But if she doesn’t stop digging into Gwendolyn, he may have to do more than keep tabs on her—he may have to save her life.
Expected publication date: May 2026
