We have read most of Andrew Taylor's wonderful offerings but this has to be one of his best. Set in a boarding school riddled with secrets. Excellent murder mystery with a surprising twist.

I’m always impressed when an author can surprise me and/or write a unique plot that gives me pause; new-to-me author, Andrew Taylor, did both.

When one of their own is murdered, the Monkshill Park School for Girls becomes the center of a murder investigation. Teacher Annabel Warnock never returned from her holidays and the staff and students have conflicting ideas about what really happened.

I was immediately pulled in with the Gothic setting; it really is essential to this unique story! I can’t tell you more except caution you to doubt everything. You’ll get swept up in a stellar story with ghosts, owls, and a killer that evades detection or identification.

I’ve enjoyed Gothic mysteries, murder mysteries and unreliable narrators before, but I’ve never read a book where the victim, the narrator and the detective were all the same person! Taylor pulls this off and leaves readers gobsmacked.

I was gifted this copy and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I really liked the premise of this book — a teacher with a secretive past, who disappears, presumed to have left by her colleagues but who is actually trapped at Monkshill Park School where she was brutally murdered.
The story is set in 1945 at the end of the war in a tight knit community almost exclusively being girls and women. The setting, an old country house, temporarily requisitioned by the army during the war and now an 'exclusive' girls school is well described. But the characters, teachers, girls and staff of different ages and from different backgrounds, although mostly working against the odds are for the most part really unlikeable. Even Annabel Warnock, the heroine of the story and the main sleuth investigating her own demise, is not much liked by the other staff and girls, while the head and deputy, the cleaning lady, the cook and her son and the old man who lives in the grounds are all thoroughly unlikeable. The girls are not much better with rivalries and bullying dominating the school days. Barely anyone comes out smelling of roses and this meant I really didn't care enough about the characters to want to know the outcome.
I also found the first few chapters where the author is establishing the boundaries for Annabel are a bit clunky and her restraints needed were explained several times. The references to books of the time, most of which I've not read became rather annoying as I didn't see the point and the way the one man switched between a pipe and cigarettes confused me.
The story continues as Annabel persuades her replacement teacher, Alec, to investigate and gradually various secrets are exposed and we come to understand how those secrets could lead to decisive action.
Sadly I didn't think the book was as good as the blurb, but it was an interesting take on the usual murder mystery and I'm sure many will enjoy it.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy in return for an honest review.

Certainly different - and enjoyable!

Annabel Warnock, our protagonist, was a teacher at an all girl's boarding school post-WWII - until someone murdered her. It happened with a push from behind and she would dearly love to find out who it was. Now that she's dead, she can be privvy to so many conversations, but is limited in where she can go. How will she find out who her murderer is?

I have to confess this is an entirely new author to me, but he's now firmly on my radar. This is such a terrific read! I loved all the goings-on at the school - parents and students - and was completely in the dark as to who the murderer was - until it was revealed. A perfect ending! Beautifully crafted and true to the period it is set in. A cracking good read and one I'm very happy to recommend. 5*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley.

3.5 stars rounded up

England, May 1945. Monkshill Park School for Girls seemed a world away from the violence that engulfed Europe during WWII. Yes, it's lonely, decaying grounds have witnessed murder. Annabel Warmock, a teacher with a secretive past, left for the holidays and never came back. Both teachers and girls assume she simply walked out, but the truth is quite different. He body tumbled from the Maiden's Leap, a view point on the Clifftop Gothic Walk, and washed out to sea. But Annabel herself is trapped at Monkshill, unable to move on. As she haunts the grounds and school, she discovers a hidden world - students, staff and servants are riven with deadly rivalries and dangerous tensions. And one of them is a killer....

Well, this book was different, a ghost who had been murdered is helping out while trying to find her murderer. Someone had pushed Annabel off Maiden;'s Leap. Annabel starts uncovering the secrets of the students and staff.

This is a character driven story. Everyone believed Annabel Warnock had just left without telling anyone. There were some good twists. The story is told from Annabel's perspective. It's also easy to read.

A slow start, but A Schooling in Murder offers an intriguing story. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review it prior to publication.
Our narrator introduces us to the comings and goings at Monkshill School. Our narrator is Miss Annabel Warnock, a former teacher at the school who has gone missing. We know she has been murdered, and her ghost is trying to find out who killed her.
The setting of the school is suitably remote and gloomy. Plenty of woodland and a remote lake. There’s talk of a hidden walk in the woods, and a suggestion that there may be someone living in the woods.
Set against the backdrop of war this was very much a book that felt cut off from time. The girls go about their business but we never really sense the outside world. The claustrophobic setting of the school lends itself well to the idea of the mystery.
Through Warnock’s observations we are able to piece together details about the lives of those at the school. We see the secrets they are keen to keep hidden, and we come to see how those secrets could result in someone needing to go to extremes lengths to keep them hidden. Eventually we learn who killed Warnock and why.

We are huge fans of Andrew Taylor, especially his Marwood & Lovett series. A Schooling in Murder has such an original narrative voice and wonderfully constructed plot! Taylor is a master of historic crime fiction. The only criticism would be that the link between the killer and another peripheral character didn’t feel like it had been set up enough during the book. However, we didn’t guess who the killer was - definitely recommend.

This is a gripping historical mystery. Author’s writing is compelling and the book is written in first perspective. I definitely agree with what author said about power and cruelty. A lot of things were going on in this book. Miss Warnock vanishes or perhaps she is dead but no one is sure. The book has layers of mystery, suspense, and supernatural elements. The characters were also mysterious. There were several twists and the book will keep you guessing till the end.

Thanks to the Publisher

This was very nearly brilliant. The book was based on a really good concept & some great ideas. The execution was a little bland and could have been more in depth. I did enjoy the book though and was disappointed when I finished it as I could have read more.

A Schooling in Murder is a murder mystery with a twist. The story centres around Annabel Warnock, the ghost of a recently murdered teacher at a girl’s boarding school in World War II England. Annabel can’t remember who killed her and is stuck in limbo at the school, desperate to find out, while nobody else there is even aware of her death. Now she is able to spy on the pupils, teachers and staff, she discovers a world of secrets and suspects. But who was behind her death?

It's a clever premise and a brilliantly told story. Andrew Taylor is so good at creating a sense of time and place in his historical fiction and proves to be just as adept in this relatively modern setting. By using the boarding school as a setting, he essentially creates the kind of country house murder mystery popular at the time and there’s a real sense of claustrophobia about it. No character, including Annabel, is purely good or bad, everyone has their secrets and faults, and it’s genuinely hard to know who was responsible or why. I was completely caught up in both the story and the setting and couldn’t put it down. And as for the ending….

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

This was a very different story based in a girls boarding school during a war. Interesting cast of characters, the children as well as the adults. One of the teachers is missing, thought to have just left. In actual fact she was killed and her ghosts returns to find the killer! Eventually everything unravels
, with a rather quiet conclusion.

I usually enjoy anything written in this era, but unfortunately this book did not work for me. I found it way too slow and ponderous, and could not get on with the main character actually being a ghost.
The wrong choice on my part, I’m sorry. As I have not finished the book I will not copy my review to retail sites.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

Monkshill Park School for Girls is the setting for this story. Set just after the end of World War II.
Annabel Warnock, a teacher at the school with a secret past , walked out of school and disappeared. She was murdered but by who and why?
However, Annabel is still around and haunts the school. From this position she is able to view everything that is going on around her and find out who killed her. And it could be anyone of them.

A departure from Medieval times for Andrew Taylor here with a book set during the Second World War. The setting is a girls’ boarding school where a teacher has vanished without trace, and a young male teacher has come to take over her classes. The murder mystery in the book is narrated by the victim herself, as a ghostly presence only able to communicate with the new male teacher. The story is full of beautifully drawn characters, not all of whom are likeable, and the more the reader discovers about each of the characters the more tangled the story becomes - in the best possible way! The school and its surrounding woods become a character in themselves, cleverly woven into the story to help make a very satisfying whole. The book is beautifully paced, with an unexpected ending - surely this will be one of the books of the year!

I had read some of Andrew Taylor’s books before and enjoyed them so I looked forward to reading this one and it didn’t disappoint. Set at the tail end of WW2 in a girls boarding school, a rather run down school. A new teacher arrives, Alec Shaw, the only male teacher and one with a mysterious past. He is there to replace Annabelle Warnock who set off on holiday one day and never came back.
An intriguing mystery, well written and with unexpected twists.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc.

It is 1945, and the scene of this novel is Monkshill Park, a girls' school in the countryside. It is rather run down, with few facilities and often lacklustre teaching. One of he teachers, Miss Annabel Warnock, has vanished, but we soon learn, she has been killed and is now a ghostly presence. Annabel is confined to the places she visited when alive, as she drifts through the grounds and buildings, learning the secrets of those she thought she knew before one of them pushed her off Maiden's Leap. A male teacher, Alec Shaw, replaces Annabel, and his presence helps create more tension, as Annabel unearths the secrets of the inhabitants of the school - staff and students.

This was an enjoyable read. I liked the setting and the period in which the novel was set. Very much a character-driven mystery, this has a slow pace, but I became invested in Annabel's story as well as that of the other characters. I have not read Andrew Taylor before but will definitely be investigating his other work.

Once you ignore the conceit of the victim's ghost it's a very well plotted, clever and witty story. Period setting very accurate too. Most enjoyable.

Murder most ghostly. I loved the Ashes of London series. This story is set in and around a second-rate boarding school not long after the Second World War. The narrator is the ghost of a murdered teacher who discovers she can communicate with her replacement, Alec Shaw. An interesting premise with lots of suspects and a great ending that tied everything up.

Very enjoyable murder mystery that riffs on the golden age crime novels of Agatha Christie et al .As it is set in a fourth rate boarding school for girls, the characters are naturally mostly schoolgirls and teachers so there's plenty of scope for repressed emotions and antagonisms. The males - recently appointed tutor, Mr Shaw, the appalling Tosser, and Stephen the nephew of the cook - are as secretive and obnoxious as the females.

With an unconventional narrator, who is able to eavesdrop on conversations with ease, the story winds in and out of the daily lives, petty jealousies, and more serious problems of the characters.

I didn't guess the murderer until the very end and was kept involved by the many strands of the story.
Definitely one to read and enjoy.

Really enjoyed this on- my first by this author. I loved the Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit style with the 1940’s school setting, really original. It had me guessing on early every page, hard to put don. Thank you Net Galley.