Lessons in Murder

By Claire McNab

Book Overview

On a hot summer day at Bellwhether High School in Sydney, Australia, teacher Bill Pagett lies murdered, the hole in his head accomplished with neat efficiency by a Black & Decker drill.

Detective Inspector Carol Ashton investigates, bringing with her a formidable reputation for competence. She soon uncovers tangled relationships and motives for murder among the six teaching staff, along with a maze of malicious anonymous letters and threatening phone calls. And then there is yet another corpse.

Carol's investigation is further complicated by the flashfire attraction between herself and prime suspect Sybil Quade. Carol fights her desire, knowing its potential to compromise her investigation. Nor does Sybil welcome an " unnatural" obsession with the alluring woman who is inexorably gathering the evidence to convict her of multiple murder.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1931513651
• ISBN13: 9781931513654
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Bella Books
• Length: 203 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Good detective work, but what about character development?

First of all, I did enjoy reading this book. Claire McNab's Carol Ashton is a good detective and the mysterious death of a teacher killed by a Black and Decker power drill is a captivating plot. But at the same time I was a little disappointed at what I determined to be a lack of character development for the two main characters: Carol and Sybil. What makes them tick as a human being? What are their fears and ambitions? Maybe this can be attributed to the minimal numbers of pages as more attention was paid to the mystery itself? Who knows. This book(let) is a short one and definately a fast read. Under normal circumstances I don't consider myself to be a fast reader but I finished in two sittings.These flaws won't deter me from reading other books in this series. Actually tonight I'm beginning the second installment and it appears that we get to explore some of Carol's past. Maybe I'll have the opportunity to learn more about Carol aside from her detective skills and lust for Sybil.

Excellent down to earth from down under.

This is a very interesting book. The characters are real and down to earth- believeable. There is much anticipation for Carol from one moment to the next to get closer to solving who and why the teacher was killed.