As the war ends, Monkshill Park is facing an uncertain future. One of the teachers at this 'fourth-rate' girls' boarding school has disappeared, only she hasn't, she's been murdered and now her spirit is unable to rest until she finds out what has happened. Annabel was a good teacher but had left her previous job under a cloud however, at Monkshill Park she thought she'd found love and a purpose until she was killed. As secrets come to light, Annabel tries to solve her own murder.
Writing a precise of the plot of this book makes it sound completely ridiculous, a mash-up between a ghost story and a 'Golden-Age' murder mystery. However ,in the hands of Taylor it becomes a thing of wonder. The ghost element is just a clever vehicle for the sleuthing and the characters are diverse and complex in their motives. It's sad, intriguing and beautifully put together.

Thankyou for giving me early access to this book. This was a great thriller. Good writing style and characters in this story.

Set just after the Second World War in a third rate girl's boarding school this could easily have become twee or dated. In fact, the author skilfully brings the characters to light and even the fact that the main character is dead does not stretch credulity too far!

Annabel Warnock is a conscientious teacher, looking out for her pupils who have got a fairly rough deal in this school as well as falling in love with one of her teaching colleagues. At least until she is murdered, pushed off a scenic viewpoint in the grounds. However, Annabel finds her spirit wandering the place, only able to go where she went in life, and is determined to find her killer. She finds a novel way to communicate with her replacement teacher, and the scene is set for some very interesting sleuthing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this unusual story and loved the way the characters developed. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A novel of gentle intrigue, violence and regret.
I have read all of Andrew Taylor's London series, they are exciting, edge of your seat, fast paced, violent novels.. A schooling in murder is written in an old fashioned, stiff upper lip way.
Monkswood P ark Boarding school in 1945, run by P.M. the penny pinching Head Mistress assisted by Runty , Matron and Housekeeper.
The story is narrated by Annabel, the ghost of a former teacher at the school who was murdered by being pushed off a bridge, her body has not been found. The ghost manages to engage with Alex a temporary teacher, through his typewriter. Alex is a suspicious character with a shady past. Enid is Annabelle 's former lover, she is popular with the pupils and talks to Alex about Annabelle. When the unpleasant Tosser is found drowned in a pond after a night's drinking, murder is initially suspected.
The pupils at the school are a mixed bunch, cruel Venitia who likes to control people, kind and clever Sylvia, unhappy Priscilla and unpredictable Rosemary all have links with Annabel.
With murders, blackmail and bribery present the novel still keeps its unique style..
Thank you Andrew, NetGalley and Harper Collins.

The narrator is dead, she's been murdered, shes trying to work out who dunnit? Something a little bit different I enjoyed it. I'm off to read The Ashes of London that's been on my TBR for an age.

I loved Andrew Taylor’s Marwood & Lovett series and was so looking forward to reading this. So many reviews of this book seem to start that way with the reader then giving it a glowing review. Not me, I’m afraid. I think it’s terrible.

Annabel has been murdered, though only posted missing, but her ghost is floating around the school where she taught. She manages to communicate with her replacement to an extent and tries to help him to uncover her murderer. So it’s basically a murder mystery with a supernatural bent. There is no suspense though and the action is so slow. We’re given so much superfluous information about the running of the school that it just becomes tedious. I guessed who the murderer was within the first few chapters so it seemed to take a lifetime (no pun intended) to reach the denouement by which time I could have cared less.

It disappoints me that I’m so disappointed in this as I’ve admired this author’s other work. I found it very unsettling that a male author would have a lesbian as his central character and the book’s narrator. A male author alluding to lesbian sex in the first person just made me feel a bit icky.

I’m hoping this a one off, ill-judged novel and will give Taylor another chance. I appreciate that the book has a lot of glowing reviews but I just can’t follow suit. With thanks to Harper Collins UK for a review copy.

Andrew Taylor is a new author for me and although I initially found this book to have a slow start, it was refreshing how it was told from the point of view of a ghost. Cleverly written and a solid 3 star read. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK, Harper Diction and the author for the chance to review.

I was sent a copy of A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor to read and review by NetGalley. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! I have previously read the author’s book series featuring Marlowe and Lovett, which I also enjoyed, but this is a very different kettle of fish. It is very refreshing in its style not really like anything else I have read, and there are plenty of twists and turns in this whodunnit. There is a great cast of characters and the setting really comes to life. My only complaint is that I have already finished reading it!!!

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

an all girls boarding school and a ghost walking the halls, the ghost happens to be a teacher that has been murdered... trying to figure out who murdered her....

have to admit to struggling with it a bit.... but the characters were well written it just didnt hold my attention....

When teacher Anabelle Warnock didn’t return to Monkshill School for Girls after the half term holidays everyone assumed she had just left. This is England in 1945, the war in Europe has just ended but the hardships still persist. Monkshill isn’t exactly thriving and everyone has better things to concern themselves with than a flighty teacher.
But something far more sinister happened. Anabelle was murdered and she is now determined to find out who did it.
Anabelle will use her new existence to find out what those in the school know, staff and pupils alike. What secrets they harbour, how they really behave behind closed doors.

Enjoyable but not up to the same standard as The Ashes of London series. This book was very slow despite a good plot. I must admit I was tempted to give up after 20% but, as Taylor is one of my favorite authors I carried on. I still look forward to Taylor's next book.

A good idea for a novel, but a little drawn out. Set in an all girls school it reminded me of St Trinians! A teacher is murdered and comes back in a ghostly form to try and discover who her murderer is.

A Teacher with spirit.

When first invited to read this I thought not really my genre - not my usual fare from Mr Taylor.
Wrong of me - this is a novel up to the usual standard but with a different storyline - a Who done it meets Ghost, set in a slightly decaying private girls school complete with some characters straight out of St Trinians. The main character knows she was murdered - but by who? A difficult thing to prove when your body has not been found and nobody can see or hear you….. Until…
Enjoy the read, I did.

This is on me but I accepted the Netgalley widget without checking the date. I felt rushed into reading it.

I think another day, a less hurried approach and I might have enjoyed it more but I struggled to get into this book

A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor is a murder mystery set in an English boarding school in 1945, with the unusual twist of being narrated by the ghost of the murder victim, a former teacher. Apart from this twist, the book reads like an old school Agatha Christie style mystery with a mixed cast of characters essentially locked into a single setting. The victim. Annabel Warnock is desperate to find her killer, and the potential pool of suspects is quite wide.
This was an entertaining read, but I never really felt like any of the characters were developed beyond broad strokes, and so I was not as invested in solving the mystery at the heart of the book as I might have otherwise been. I will say that the author did a good job of evoking the time period and his descriptions of the school and grounds made it almost a character in its own right. I loved the premise of the book but overall the execution felt a little flat, which is a shame as I can see the potential in both the idea and the writing.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own .

When a beloved teacher disappears, her pupils are told that she has left the school. The reader and the teacher, Annabel Warnock, know differently, Murder has occurred and the why and who did it has to be investigated.
Set within a girls boarding school, the atmosphere is one of petty jealousies, bullying and cruelty, rampant female hormones, sexual tensions and secret infatuations. This is post war England, and we are introduced to the harshness of rationing, communal living, dormitories, unloved girls and Young women who are starved of affection, warmth and social experiences, being used as cheap labour under the pretence of learning homemaking skills for a future of marriage and child rearing. There is also the horrible uncertainty of not knowing if parents have survived the war, and this has led to many disturbing incidences of mental ill health. The girls find their own amusements, especially when a male teacher is introduced into this feverish melting pot of emotions.
Darn, this author is good at placing red herrings across the path of would be armchair detectives. Using a ghost as the narrator is a clever device, it allows for more eavesdropping and the chance for the narrator to justify her actions, but you share her frustrations at not being able to communicate with someone, her despair at leaving her students in the lurch, and the gradual realisation that death will not answer the question, could she have been kinder when alive?
This is a wonderful readable mystery and psychological thriller, it is so very emotional and poignant. It introduces the hidden world of lesbian feelings, and this story shows that true love shines through even beyond death.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers HarperCollinsUK, for my advanced copy, freely given in exchange for my honest review. A five star rating.
I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK .

This was quite an unusual story. It was set in 1945, just after VE Day. It is written in the first person and at first I wondered who was the narrator but this was soon cleared up. Annabel was trying to find out who had murdered her. There were a number of possible culprits and some of the teachers at the school had their own secrets. I certainly didn’t work out who was responsible for her murder, which is always a bonus. This story really evoked the attitudes of the time, towards women’s intelligence and education as well as same sex relationships. This was a very enjoyable read. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A historical tale set in a girls,school told by the murdered teachers, surprisingly good during last days of WW2.

When murdered by an unknown killer Annabel is keen to know who killed her and what's going on and finds she had a way of helping the discovery even from the other side. There is the normal unpleasantness of a boarding school as well as the normal stones you'd expect but the storyline carries plenty of twists and turns, it's carried by events involving staff not just the teachers plus students of course and they don't just accept the official script of the head or the police. So it's eventful and a well told story.

Why would I recommend this week enjoyed reading it and the unpredictable nature of the way the story went even if I guessed the culprit in chapter one. But probably more luck that I got that right as the clues weren't there that early, and j definitely had no idea of the reason why which was an inspirational.twist that I certainly didn't see coming.

Firstly thank you Netgalley for this Arc

Another brilliant book by this author based in a boarding school .

An utter joy to be back with Andrew Taylor's writing and I love that he's done something new - his own twist on Golden age crime. Hugely enjoyable. More, please.