For many years I have been a great fan of Andrew Taylor's historical novels set in the seventeenth century, but I also admire his mysteries set in the twentieth century - and this is one of his best.
With an ever increasing abundance of new crime novels coming out it must be almost impossible for writers to come up with anything truly original or innovative - but this is sure proof that it can still be done, and in this case, done extremely well.
Monkshill, a girls boarding school, is a rather dark version of St Trinian's, with some rather unpleasant teachers and many dysfunctional kids. The author captures the austerity of Britain in the final months of WW2 with his trademark aplomb.
The unusual status of the narrator is a particularly clever literary device.

Many thanks to HarperCollins UK for an ARC of this book.

I requested this book as I so enjoyed the author's 'Lydmouth' series, and this book has a similar feel to it.

I loved the beautiful evoked setting, and the central conceit is really well executed. It could have been a silly idea in less skilled hands.

One of those books which I enjoyed reading because of the characters, as well as the plot. There's plenty of story, but it's the really well defined 'people' that kept me hooked.

Easy 5 stars from me.

A bit slow and not over exciting or memorable. A light but reasonable read about sums it up.
My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this arc in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

This is an interesting departure from the Ashes if London series and is a standalone murder mystery with a hint of gothic. I rather liked the premise; a ghost trying to solve her own death and I found it original and almost literally haunting in parts. There’s a claustrophobic feel to the isolated setting of the school and the arrival of a new teacher sparks off numerous interactions. It’s clear in construction and I found it well paced; it’s slow, but I felt that suited the nature of the plot as bits of the past are revealed, along with secrets in the present. It’s moody and mysterious with a strong sense of setting in a mild gothic horror way, There’s tension and twists and I thought it worked very well as an escapist fiction. Enjoyed it and my thanks to the publisher and Netgalley fir an early review copy.

A very interesting and clever book. A murder mystery, but packed full of surprises, twists and suspense.
It’s not all fantastic, as the middle section plodded in places, but well worth a read.
Having read a fair number of this author’s books, I was interested in reading something new by him and I wasn’t disappointed in any way.

I’m grateful for the publishers allowing me to read this before publication.

It is always interesting to read a new book by a writer, particularly when they are writing outside a much loved series. Normally everything goes better. That means you go in go in there with sky high expectations. Sometimes they are fulfilled. Other times not.

There were parts of this I really liked. but I found it a little incoherent overall.

Both in the manner it was written and all the different sorts of genres it touched on, the cast of characters and the stereotypes. The way it kept hopping from the voice of the ghost to the alternate storyline.

I loved the premise of the ghost and the typewriter and I loved the final ending. Very neat.

There were times when the hysteria of a group of school girls living together and the jealousies of the staff was nicely realised.

I could see it making a very nice gothic murder/mystery tv series.

But for me it lacked the 'I cannot put it down' feeling.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC.

What attracted me to this novel was the reference to a boarding school set in England during WW2. It was described as a mystery thriller, but the search for the killer is the deceased herself making it a haunting novel. The narrative comes from the ghost herself, and her interactions with the living. There was little to keep me enthralled and regrettably I gave up reading halfway through as it just didn’t excite me. Reading should be a source of enjoyment, not a chore.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

An original way of writing a thriller with the ghost of the murdered "leading" the way to find her murderer. It was well done, and definitely made sense. However, whereas I loved all his other novels, this book has not thrilled me as much as the other, because of the ghost being a main character. But that's only my opinion.
I received a digital copy of this novel from NetGalley and I have voluntarily written an honest review.

An enjoyable murder mystery set in 1945 in a girls' boarding school. Annabel Warnock, one of the teachers at the school has disappeared. Everyone including the police, believe that she has just left without telling anyone but Annabel herself knows she has been murdered and wants to know who did it. The story is narrated by the victim herself and is an unusual and quirky version of an Agatha Christie type mystery. There's plenty of action and suspects with some interesting twists in the tale.
This is a light, quick and entertaining read.

*Many thanks to HarperCollins UK who invited me to read this new offering by Andrew Taylor.*
I follow Mr Taylor's historical series so this standalone book set in 1945 was a total change and surprise but quite enjoyable, as it turned out. I would argue that the main çharacter' in this book is the boarding school which operates on the grounds on the estate left by its owners before WW2. Monkshill School and its surroundings are the remains of a vast estate modelled two hundred years earlier by its owners. With the help of landscape designers, the grounds offered amazing views and walks featuring the gothic feel, so much in vogue in that period. If you add the main protagonist who attempts to solve her murder from beyond, you receive an enjoyable mix that will hold your attention throughout. And I believe the opening sentence stands the chance to be included in the famous openings of novels.

After a fantastic series of Marwood and Lovett novels Andrew Taylor has returned to a stand-alone novel. It is set in a girls’ boarding school in 1945 and the narrator is trying to solve the mystery of her own death. Everyone presumes she has just disappeared for reasons of her own and not returned after the school holidays so nobody is looking for her. There are so many possible suspects - pupils, teachers and staff - and none of them are very sympathetic characters so it really could be almost any one of them. A new replacement teacher, Mr Shaw, is drawn into the late Miss Warnock’s quest for the truth but like many others there he also has secrets. When the murderer is finally revealed it doesn’t come as a big surprise but the journey to the truth is intriguing.
Taylor has put a ghostly twist on the classic whodunnit which makes the novel more interesting. I didn’t find it as enjoyable as some of his previous stand-alones but it is worth reading.
Thank you to the publishers for the ARC.

Set in a girl's boarding school after the war, a restless ghost is trying to find out who murdered her. It's funny in parts, almost St Trinians-like- and disturbing in others. All is not what it seems under the veneer of respectability. Unusual and very enjoyable.

Well, this was a brilliant read! I rarely like a first-person narrative, but this book had me hooked from the start.

Miss Warnock is missing. She's upped sticks and left Monkshill School without a mistress, but what the school doesn't know is that Miss Warnock is dead, pushed from The Gothick Walk to her doom....

Annabel / Miss Warnock's ghost, though, remains at Monkshill, and she guides us around the school, introducing us to the characters and discovers not all is as it seems in this dilapidated country estate.

Nobody can hear her, she can't tell people what happened to her! Until a new teacher arrives, and then the game is afoot, but there are more mysteries than Annabels murder to solve...

A very clever country house mystery that has a supernatural spin added to it by a very clever author (who seems able to turn his hand to any genre)

A brilliant update on the period classic country house mystery!

Also, in true Golden Age Crime books, we are treated to a delightful map of the estate at the start of the book! It's an absolute winner for me!!

I love Andrew Taylor's writing, but this is possibly my favorite of his books, given that it's a beautifully written tribute to one of my favorite genres. The story is set in a girl's boarding school, a perfect place for a 'locked room type mystery and the novel itself is narrated by the victim. In less skilled hands this could have been twee but Taylor's obvious respect for the genre, coupled with clever depictions of the ghost's limitations, makes it a success. I have to admit I guessed who dunnit, but not why, and the pleasure of reading the book was not diminished.

This unusual crime story is set in a second-rate boarding school for girls in the 1940s, where both staff and students have their own personal secrets, deceptions and miseries and where everyday life is a struggle. The narrator is Annabel Warnock, the ghost of one of the teachers who has been pushed over a cliff edge and her body swept out to sea, leaving her colleagues assuming she has just left gone off on holiday and not bothered to return. Annabel is trapped at the school and determines to find out who her killer is, but there are all too many possible suspects who wanted her gone and who have things to hide. The device used for Annabel to communicate with another teacher is a bit contrived and annoying, but the slow piecing together of clues builds quite nicely and it is hard to guess what happened until late in the plot. Taylor’s great strength is his portrayal of an England slowly recovering from war, a way of life that is changing forever and a class system that is crumbling. All the characters are struggling in some way, yet try to keep up an outward facade of what they think is required of them, and there is a sense that there could be a brighter future if they can put behind them old grudges and rigid ways and take a step forward. Although there is a sense of melancholy and loss, there are also glimmers of hope, especially for the younger characters.

No not for me, tried to absorb this but it just didn't captivate me, did I give up too soon? Read 30% but didn't find a path through this.

I’m a huge fan of everything Andrew Taylor has written however was a bit concerned about the change in direction in this book. I needn’t have been at all, it’s a fantastic read. There is light humour all the way through, lots of different characters doing lots of dastardly deeds, some horrible children as well too to add to the mix Our ghostly heroine tracks down her killer eventually (I thought she was a bit slow to cotton on!)

Altogether a great read and a happy 5* recommendation

Thank you to Netgalley the author and publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review

I am a big Andrew Taylor fan - just so you’re aware, so I was very excited to receive a copy of this book.

Once again, I was swept into the story. Andrew really does write exceptionally well, and for me this murder mystery was unputdownable. Our main character is a ghost - which was a first for me, and it did take me a few page turns back and forth to clock this (but this is me I think!). Once I’d clocked it though, it all fell into place. I loved Annabel, and really, all of them (mean or not!), and I was a clueless as her as to who killer her.

This book keeps you guessing right upto the end, and I was shook!

Really loved it!

My thanks to Netgalley and Harper Fiction for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This mystery is set towards the end of the Second World War and at a girls’ only school. Annabel Warnock, a recently appointed teacher, left the school for the holidays and never came back. It is assumed that she just walked away but in reality she fell from a viewpoint on the cliff top Gothic Walk and was washed to sea. Her spirit is however trapped at the school and must find some way of investigating who wanted her dead and why.

She finds that everyone harbours secrets and tensions abound.

I was absorbed by the story as we learnt more about the pupils and staff influenced by Annabel - their motivations, secrets, resentments and possible motives for murder.

Gradually clues emerge and Annabel is finally able to put a face to her murderer and assign a motive.

Unusually, this review has to start with some well-meaning advice to anyone thinking of reading this book, so here goes: if you’re tempted to give up after the first chapters, don’t! Hang in there and it will begin to make some crazy sense in an entertaining kind of way. Certainly, the basic premise of the plot (narrated by the ghost of the murder victim who invisibly ‘inhabits’ the school and grounds where the murder took place) requires a deep breath and a determined suspension of disbelief. However, some very skilful writing and a narrative that keeps the reader guessing with a liberal sprinkling of potential suspects for the murder that is the central feature of the story help to keep the reader engaged.
Andrew Taylor has borrowed plot elements from a range of murder mysteries (the closing years of WW2, a girls’ boarding school) are but has woven them together in a neat synthesis that seems to work within the somewhat surreal unfolding of this entertaining plot.

Recommended