Aberfal Boys High School is the southwest’s jewel of academic and sporting excellence, until one gorgeous summer’s day the headmaster is found murdered in his study.
Who would do such a thing? Or perhaps a better question would be, who wouldn’t…
Things are not as perfect as they appear at Aberfal, and the list of suspects seems to cover the whole school. From Charles the Chair of Governors, Cass the bullied scholarship student, Mandy the underappreciated secretary to Miss Lane the ambitious Deputy Head there are a lot of people whose lives are better off with Headmaster Jerry Newhall gone.
(And the mums’ WhatsApp group have their own theories too.)
As more and more secrets are revealed and rumours fly at the school gates, it’s clear that appearances mean nothing at Aberfal and everyone is hiding something. It’s not just one bad apple, Aberfal Boys High School is rotten to its core…
I’ve been reading (or listening to) a lot more cosy crime recently, and really enjoyed this book. Set in an exclusive boys’ school in Cornwall, there’s murder (of course), a delightful range of suspicious characters to ponder, red herrings galore and a spot of cricket and Pimms for good measure.
But who could possibly want the much-beloved head teacher Jerry Newhall dead? Such a stalwart feature of of the school! Though the school itself is hiding one or two secrets of its own.
Fab setting, great characters – I loved the mums’ WhatsApp group chats – plenty of gossip doing the rounds to leave you wondering who wouldn’t want dear old Mr Newhall dead. Secrets and lies and old-school ties. Marvellous stuff.
One Bad Apple by Jo Jakeman is published by Constable and is out now. Many thanks to the publisher for the advance copy of this book to review.
