Francesca Wilson's seventh appearance (after 1998's To Die For) is certainly a lucky one for British author Neel. The end of term at Faraday Trust school in Dorset brings not only the usual final exams and a music recital in London but also the unexpected resignation of the headmaster and the death of a troubled student, Catriona Roberts. Rejected by the boy she has thrown herself at and feeling rejected by both of her divorced and remarried parents, Catriona had made abortive, halfhearted attempts at suicide. Though at first it seems as if she's finally succeeded, her death turns out to be murder. Among those with motive and opportunity are parents, stepparents, teachers and fellow students. Broken families and extended families, including his own, preoccupy Det. Chief Supt. John McLeish, Francesca's husband, as he leads the careful police work that untangles the relationships of the many suspects and a puzzle that will keep readers guessing to the last. The author adroitly renders the adolescent students (fragile, precocious, bumbling, cocky) and is no less successful in depicting the members of the teaching staff (caring, fallible, conniving, confused). Neel's publishing pace of a book every two or three years may seem slow in a genre where annual volumes are the rule, but her subtle characterizations and burnished prose justify the wait. (Sept. 17)
FYI:Neel has won the Crime Writers' Association's John Creasy Prize.
