En el tradicional colegio St Stephens, en la idílica campiña de Norfolk, un estudiante muere en extrañas circunstancias. Su cadáver es encontrado en Fleat House, uno de los internados, y el director se apresura a explicar que fue un trágico accidente. Pero cuando la detective Jazz Hunter se adentra en el cerrado mundo del internado pronto descubre que la víctima, Charlie Cavendish, era un joven arrogante y hambriento de poder que atormentaba a sus compañeros.

¿Fue su muerte un acto de venganza? Mientras el personal del colegio cierra filas y la nieve comienza a cubrirlo todo Jazz se da cuenta de que esta podría ser la más complicada investigación de su carrera. Y de que Fleat House esconde secretos más oscuros de lo que nunca podría haber imaginado.

As an avid Lucinda Riley fan, I have to say that this is quite possibly my favourite of all her books. It is devastating knowing that there won't be another (unless, Mr Whittaker, if you are reading this, you take on the baton and write this as a series). This book is a testament to the fact that Ms Riley wrote books that will leave a lasting imprint on her readers.

That being said, I can highly recommend this read. The plot is full of unpredictable twists, and the characters are so well-formed, you become invested in their stories. Originality in the crime genre is not an easy thing to achieve, and I believe that this was an outstanding contribution. I only wish there had been more. ( )

Heel onderhoudend geschreven detective, speelt zich af in een kostschool in Norfolk. Het persoonlijke leven van Jazz, de leidinggevende speurder, wordt verweven met het ontwarren van het mysterie. Vlot geschreven, prettig leesbaar, werpt als pluspunt een licht op het Engelse internaatsleven. ( )

“I would love to read more about Jazz!”, were my immediate thoughts after finishing Riley’s novel. After a string of novels which mostly were readable at best, I couldn’t really find fault with this one and, in fact, found it actually hard to put down.

Detective Inspector Jazmine “Jazz” Hunter, our protagonist, was - to me - a highly likeable person. Jazz is recovering from a difficult marriage and having retreated from London to the Salthouse Marshes of North Norfolk is asked to (at least temporarily) come back to investigate the death of a pupil at his boarding school.

This premise is already pretty much exactly a setting I’ve loved for decades - a harsh landscape, a boarding school and murders. This is certainly not new but it somehow managed to feel fresh.

The cast was large but due to Riley’s great job at creating not only a vibrant backdrop but also very likeable and plausible characters (although, yes, some may lean a bit to stereotypes), it was easy to understand the relationships between them and what made them “tick”.

Especially the dynamics between the investigators (apart from the intruding ex-husband) were highly enjoyable. Jazz and Miles were a bit like Lynley and Havers or Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James (before they became an item!).

As for the story itself, I very much enjoyed how cleverly Riley managed to intertwine past events with the crimes in the present. From early on, I felt like just reading on and on. At one point, I actually managed to read till falling asleep while stubbornly trying to read just one more page…

And I really, truly loved the hopeful, happy ending.

For what it is and within its genre, this murder mystery in the best tradition of British crime fiction garners five out of five stars from me!

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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam ( )

Molto bello, mi è piaciuto molto.
Peccato per la prematura scomparsa dell’autrice perché, come scrive giustamente il figlio nella prefazione, questi protagonisti avrebbero meritato una serie tutta loro. ( )