Well-Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George

The New York Times called Elizabeth George's second book in the bestselling Inspector Lynley/Sergeant Havers series "a thick red-herring stew." That term applies to its sequel, Well-Schooled in Murder, too. Everyone in the English private school where the crime was set had the opportunity and means to commit the murder and several people had a motive. The New York Times called Well-Schooled "stay-up-all-night trash". This is a pretty good summary: the murder of a 13-year-old is horrible and not something you really should read about for entertainment, but trying to figure out who the murderer is makes for compelling reading.

As in most mysteries, Lynley and Havers are not the most fleshed-out characters to walk the page, but they feel like the readers' old friends: Lynley the earl/detective inspector who is unlucky in love, and his sergeant Havers, a misanthrope from the unfashionable part of London, struggling to take care of her elderly parents. The books in this series, except for the first one, can be checked out as ebooks at eLibraryNJ.com by anyone with a Berkeley Heights card.