Book Review - The Murders at Fleat House - Lucinda Riley

The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Murders at Fleat House is a suspenseful and utterly compelling crime novel from the multi-million copy global bestseller, Lucinda Riley.

The sudden death of a pupil in Fleat House at St Stephen’s – a small private boarding school in deepest Norfolk – is a shocking event that the headmaster is very keen to call a tragic accident.

But the local police cannot rule out foul play and the case prompts the return of high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter to the force. Jazz has her own private reasons for stepping away from her police career in London, but reluctantly agrees to front the investigation as a favour to her old boss.

Reunited with her loyal sergeant Alastair Miles, she enters the closed world of the school, and as Jazz begins to probe the circumstances surrounding Charlie Cavendish’s tragic death, events are soon to take another troubling turn.

Charlie is exposed as an arrogant bully, and those around him had both motive and opportunity to switch the drugs he took daily to control his epilepsy.

As staff at the school close ranks, the disappearance of young pupil Rory Millar and the death of an elderly Classics master provide Jazz with important leads, but are destined to complicate the investigation further. As snow covers the landscape and another suspect goes missing, Jazz must also confront her personal demons . . .

Then, a particularly grim discovery at the school makes this the most challenging murder investigation of her career. Because Fleat House hides secrets darker than even Jazz could ever have imagined . . .

I'm familiar with the works of Lucinda Riley having read all but the last book in her "Seven Sisters" series. I was interested in how well she would write a murder mystery as it's a very different genre. It was also written back in 2006 but not published until 2022.

I wasn't disappointed. Following a sudden death of a schoolboy at a private boarding school in Norfolk, D.I. Jasmine "Jazz" Hunter is drawn back to work after leaving the Met police in London. The death which is at first suspicious quickly becomes a murder inquiry.

As expected from Riley the plot is complicated, involving lots of characters. It kept me turning the pages and I would have given the book 5 stars but there is a wrapping up of a loose end that I felt was unnecessary and a bit twee. Such a shame that Riley's life was cut short due to cancer. I'm sure a whole series could have been created around Jazz Hunter.

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