A Schooling in Murder

From the author of The Ashes of London, comes a new historical mystery set in the last days of WWII

England, May 1945

Monkshill Park School for Girls seems a world away from the violence that engulfed Europe during World War II. Yet its lonely, decaying grounds have witnessed a murder.

Annabel Warnock, 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. Her body tumbled from the Maiden’s Leap, a viewpoint on the clifftop Gothic Walk, and was washed out to sea.

But Annabel herself is still 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 her killer…

Reviews

Praise for Andrew Taylor

“This is historical crime fiction at its dazzling best” – Guardian

“A breathtakingly ambitious picture of an era” – Financial Times

“If you like C.J. Sansom, or Hilary Mantel, you’ll love Andrew Taylor” – Peter James

“Effortlessly authentic … gripping” – C. J. Sansom

“A masterclass in writing for the genre” – Ann Cleeves

“One of the best historical novelists around” – Sunday Times

About the author

Andrew Taylor is the author of a number of crime novels, including the ground-breaking Roth Trilogy, which was adapted into the acclaimed drama Fallen Angel, and the historical crime novels The Ashes of London, The Silent Boy, and The American Boy, a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller and a 2005 Richard & Judy Book Club Choice.

He has won many awards, including the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award (the only author to win it three times) and the CWA’s prestigious Diamond Dagger.