Gentlemen and Players (Abridged Fiction‪)‬

The place is St Oswald's, an old and long-established boys' grammar school in the north of England. A new year has just begun, and for the staff and boys of the school, a wind of unwelcome change is blowing. Suits, paperwork, and information technology rule the world, and Roy Straitley, Latin master, eccentric, and veteran of St Oswald's, is finally, reluctantly, contemplating retirement. But beneath the little rivalries, petty disputes, and everyday crises of the school, a darker undercurrent stirs. And a bitter grudge, hidden and carefully nurtured for 13 years, is about to erupt.
Who is Mole, the mysterious insider, whose cruel practical jokes are gradually escalating towards violence and perhaps, murder? And how can an old and half-forgotten scandal become the stone that brings down a giant?