Book Review - A Lesson in Murder - Matthew Costello and Neil Richards

Title:  Cherringham A Lesson in Murder 
Author:  Matthew Costello and Neil Richards

Review:  This is a short novel that can be read in 1 hour easily. It is well written and made one feel that they were actually at the private girls school in Cherringham England. The main characters are Jack Brennan, a former NYPD homicide detective and Sarah Edwards, web designer whose husband has left her and their two children. They have established a ad hoc private investigations business in the small town of Cherringham and do investigations that their customers want to keep quite. This story dealt with a several incidents that cumulated in the death of a teacher at the school. The ending came together very well although they did not exactly explain how they arrived at their conclusions.

I enjoyed the story immensely and gave it a four star rating. The characters worked well together and could easily be adapted to a television series which the british do so well.

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.

Thanks Frank for this review - 

Synopsis:  When Jack and Sarah are called in to investigate mysterious pranks at an exclusive girls' private school, it seems at first that it might be the work of a few mean pupils with a grudge. But things quickly turn serious when a popular teacher meets a sudden, violent death. Now, with murder in the air, Jack and Sarah have their own lessons to learn about the Cherringham Girls School, its dark secrets... and who wanted that teacher dead before they learned the truth. 

-- Cherringham is serial novel à la Charles Dickens, with a new mystery thriller released each month. Set in the sleepy English village of Cherringham, the detective series brings together an unlikely sleuthing duo: English web designer Sarah and American ex-cop Jack. Thrilling and deadly - but with a spot of tea - it's like Rosamunde Pilcher meets Inspector Barnaby. Each of the self-contained episodes is a quick read for the morning commute, while waiting for the doctor, or when curling up with a hot cuppa. 

-- For fans of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series, Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who series, Caroline Graham's Midsomer Murders, and the American TV series Murder She Wrote, starring Angela Lansbury. 

-- Co-authors Neil Richards (based in the UK) and Matthew Costello (based in the US), are known for their script work on major computer games. The Cherringham crime series is their first fictional transatlantic collaboration. 

Kindle Edition, 103 pages

Published March 9th 2015 by Bastei Entertainment

Author Information:  Neil Richards has worked as a producer and writer in TV and film, creating scripts for BBC, Disney, and Channel 4, and earning numerous Bafta nominations along the way. 

He's also written script and story for over 20 video games including The Da Vinci Code and Starship Titanic, co-written with Douglas Adams, and consults around the world on digital storytelling.

His writing partnership with NYC-based Matt Costello goes back to the late 90's and the two have written many hours of TV together. Cherringham the series is their first crime fiction as co-writers. 

An American and an Englishman writing crime stories with an American and an English hero - what took us so long?