Master of the Delta by Thomas H. Cook

Multiple Edgar Award nominee Thomas H. Cook is the author of dark, terrifying thrillers like Places in the Dark and Red Leaves. In Master of the Delta, it's 1954 down in Mississippi and Jack Branch has finally come home, taking a job as a high school teacher. He soon learns that one of his students is the son of a notorious local murderer, the Coed Killer. And as they say, like father, like son.