Schooled in Murder is book 1 in Victoria Gilbert’s new Campus Sleuth Mystery series and it was a great start to the series.
Told in first person from the point of view of Jennifer (Jenn) Dalton, the story opens with her finding a dead body in the library, so we are immediately pulled into the action from page one.
Jenn is a mystery writer, and head of Clarion University’s writing center so after finding out that the dead man is that of one of her co-workers who worked in the English department, she decides to test the skills she developed writing mysteries, to see if she can help solve the case. It’s especially important to her because everyone is assuming the killer is a student Jenn was mentoring, and who showed promise as a romance author.
From co-workers with grievances against the dead man, to an unhappy marriage, and secret lover, there are no end of suspects for Jenn to investigate, and soon it seems clear that she is in danger as well.
Along with the mystery, we also see a bit of an enemies to lovers relationship starting to develop between Jenn and Zachary, a psychologist who has his own practice and who also treats students at the clinic on campus. It’s pretty obvious that he’s interested in Jenn from the start, but she is prickly and oblivious to his interest. It’s actually quite amusing seeing their interactions.
I really enjoyed this mystery and will be looking for more books in the series and hoping to see more of the romance between Jenn and Zach.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Schooled in Murder releases on January 7 2025.
Life, Tea, and Everything 