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.

I enjoyed the authors Restoration mysteries and was interested in the premise of his latest novel. The story is told from the perspective of a ghost trying to solve her murder. Unfortunately, the slow repetitive narrative forced me to give up at the half way Mark

I’m a big fan of The Ashes of London series and was very keen to read this. it did not disappoint!

This had absolutely everything I love; beautifully concise writing, a whodunnit (very much in the vein of Agatha Christie) and a really unique plot device in that the main protagonist - Bel - is a ghost.

The story starts shortly after Bel’s murder. she finds herself a ghost and a prisoner of the down at heel boarding school where she was a teacher, able to go only to places she had visited in real life. I love how the life after death theme was explored - all of Bel’s actions are so carefully considered and her lend themselves to moments of real humour (as well as sadness).

I did suspect the murderer but couldn’t put my finger on the motive. The twist, when it comes, is delicious; a motive Christie would have been proud of.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for my review copy

A murder mystery told by the woman who has been killed, set in a post-World War Two all-girls school. What more could anyone ask for?

Annabel was a teacher at Monkshill Park School for Girls, near the Welsh border, where she had worked hard to try to better the girls she looked after, giving them offers of a better life than just marrying and giving birth. But someone held a grudge against her, and there are numerous suspects, though no one knows that poor Annabel has been killed. Yet. When a new teacher joins the team, one trying to write a detective novel, she finds she can communicate with him, in a sense. Can she convince him that she is not a figment of his imagination? Can he help her solve her murder?

It took me a couple of chapters to really get into it, having the victim narrate the story. But it did give an interesting perspective to the story. It was interesting, full of many broken people, all worn down by the war and its effects on the country. A brilliant setting for the story.

I loved all of Andrew Taylor’s James Marwood and Cat Lovett books, from The Ashes of London on, so I was intrigued to read his latest, particularly as it was set in the 1940s. It’s excellent - an ingenious historical murder mystery told as a first person narrative by the murder victim, who returns as a ghost to the scene of the crime. The circumstances of the crime mean that the victim does not know who it was who killed her, thus setting up a wonderful device whereby the victim is also the detective. It works brilliantly - another triumph for Taylor, one of our outstanding writers of historical mystery fiction.

I was really excited to read A Schooling in Murder as Andrew Taylor is an author whose books I have always enjoyed before.
A Schooling in Murder is set toward the end of WWII in May 1945 and has a claustrophobic atmosphere that has a lot more in common with the author’s Lydmouth series than the more recent Marwood and Lovett books.
The setting is brilliantly evoked showing us how easily rivalries and petty jealousies arise when a group of women of girls of differing ages and backgrounds are forced to live together. I enjoyed the actual murder mystery too especially as the victim hadn’t been that likeable and given various people a possible motive for her murder and I liked the premise of her trying to solve her own murder.
Sadly, despite enjoying some elements, this new standalone mystery didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I think that the main problem was that I didn’t really care about any of the characters so although solving the murder was interesting, I wasn’t gripped by the mystery and found the book far too easy to put down. I enjoyed the resolution although after the slow pace at the start of the book, the ending felt a bit rushed.
I did really enjoy reading the author’s notes at the end of the book about where the novel is set and would love to visit it at some point.
My thanks as always to the publishers, Harper Collins UK, and Net Galley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’ll start off by saying that I was drawn to this novel by the blurb, it sounded right up my street - but - I’m not a fan of Agatha Christie, and it’s not for lack of trying! Having said that, I have enjoyed this story. I’ve not found it to be a quick read but I’ve been intrigued by it and I loved how Shaw was able to talk to Annabel. I did guess who had murdered Annabel but I did not see the ending coming. A decent whodunnit!

This had a very interesting premise and I thought it was handled very well. In the hand of a less talented writer it would have very hard to sustain but it kept me reading and the device of using a ghost as narrator allowed us to get glimpses of things we wouldn't otherwise know. For me, the question of "whodunnit" was secondary to the enjoyment of the wonderful cast of characters. They were very well done and all fantastically believable in their interactions with each other. The story was interesting, but the setting and the characters are its real strengths. The whole novel is almost tongue in cheek but its wry tone might not be for everyone.

The book was very slow paced and long drawn. It took me a while to get into that first chapter and there were times when I left the book and then had to force myself to get back to it. Not a bad book, but only if you persevere with it. I am afraid this might not be the cup of tea for a large number of readers.

I wasn't expecting a standalone book when I started reading this one. I hadn't read the description, just assumed it was the next in Mr Taylor's excellent Restoration series. Having said that I thought the premise for this book was a good one but it didn't quite come off for me. Too repetitive and drawn out. I also didn't like any of the characters. What I did enjoy, and thought was very well done was his description of the way the girls in the boarding school with and towards each other was spot on. Horrible habits and cliques tempered with a pinch of empathy and caring. With thanks for the e-ARC to read and review.

I really liked the premise of the book but unfortunately it wasn’t something I really enjoyed. I found it very slow and it seemed to keep going around and around. The characters weren’t really very likeable.

A ghostly murder mystery told from the perspective of the actual victim (she’s a ghost) set in a boarding school during WW2. It is a unique set up and one I thoroughly enjoyed, with so many possible suspects and lots of unlikable characters, it really keeps you guessing right until the end. As always with Andrew Taylor, a thoroughly fantastic read.

There has been a murder at the slightly dodgy Monkshill Girls School. The narrator of the story knows this is true because she is the victim.
Unfortunately no one else knows that she has been pushed off the edge of the cliff and believe that she has upped and left.
She is unable to tell anyone what has happened until a new teacher arrives and somehow they can communicate.
This book is clever. The setting is beautifully written so we can see the penny pinching and cheating that is going on. The characters are real and even the supernatural element does not feel unlikely.
Great

Whilst I quite enjoyed this book, finding it an easy read, I did feel that it lacked something. The premise of the story whereby a ghost tries to solve her own murder sounded intriguing but the characters and pace of the story let it down. I felt the ending to be a bit rushed.