A powerful voice in contemporary American fiction, Larry Watson is the award-winning author of <I>Montana 1948,</I> hailed as "a work of art" <I>(San Francisco Chronicle),</I> and <I>White Crosses,</I> praised as "one of the most irresistible novels of the year" <I>(The Globe</I> and <I>Mail).</I> In this, his debut novel, Watson explores the themes that established him as a master protrayer of small-town America. <P>Another female student has been found strangled?the body count is up to three, and everyone suspects there will be more. But for Peter, a reticent teacher at Minnesota's Wanekia High School, his own morbid fascination with the murders haunts him more than the morning headlines. Keeping a detailed journal of his community's action?and his own?Peter discovers a disturbing ambivalence toward violence in the midst of uncommonly savage acts. <P>A taut suspense novel that is at once compelling and thought-provoking, <I>In a Dark Time</I> ingeniously explores our culture's complex relationship with violence?and paints a vivid portrait of America too often color-blind to the bloody hues that tinge its landscape.