Not My Blood

June 4, 2012
Cleverly’s suspenseful 10th Joe Sandilands mystery (after 2011’s The Blood Royal), set in 1933, makes the most of its intriguing setup. After Jackie Drummond, a nine-year pupil at St. Magnus School, in Seaford, defends a classmate from a bullying form master, Mr. Rapson, he’s sent to Rapson’s office for caning, but the brute fails to show up. On Jackie’s way back to his room, Rapson grabs Jackie, who pushes his attacker down the stairs in self-defense, with apparently fatal results. Jackie flees to London to seek help from unorthodox Scotland Yarder Sandilands, a friend of his parents, who are in India. Sandilands soon learns that a stabbing, not an accidental fall, was the real cause of Rapson’s death, but his efforts to get to the bottom of the matter draw the unexpected interest of some members of the government. The surprisingly horrific truth behind the murder helps to make this one of the better recent installments. Agent: Juliet Burton, Juliet Burton Agency.

August 1, 2012
A desperate plea for help from a schoolboy sucks Scotland Yard Detective Joe Sandilands into a case that could end his career. Jackie Drummond's mother had once used Joe in an attempt to conceive, so there's a chance that young Jackie could be Joe's son. Because his parents live in colonial India, Jackie attends St. Magnus, a Sussex boarding school. When a schoolmaster who was about to give him a beating is murdered, Jackie runs off to London, where "Uncle Joe" takes him in and prepares to return him, even though all is far from normal back at school. Before they leave, Joe is called into a meeting with high government officials who give him the vague assignment of investigating St. Magnus. Joe takes along Dorcas Joliffe, a tough young family friend whose psychology degree will turn out to be an asset. Over the years, a number of troublesome boys have left St. Magnus school and have never taken up their rightful place in life. The latest goes missing under the noses of Joe, Dorcas and Mr. Gosling, an MI5 agent posing as a teacher. Joe, Dorcas and Gosling end up investigating what turns out to be a troubling case indeed. Too many people connected with the school over the years have had an interest in eugenics and believe only the best and brightest should be allowed to breed. The shadow of Nazi Germany looms large over the case, which becomes more horrific with every new discovery. As usual, Cleverly (The Blood Royal, 2011, etc.) neatly captures the style and feeling of the period between the world wars and provides plenty of mystery, suspense and danger.

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August 1, 2012

Cleverly's tenth case in her award-winning historical series (after The Blood Royal) revolves around an elite school with a disturbing history of missing boys--and a murdered teacher. Scotland Yard detective Joe Sandiland's interest is personal this time. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/12.]

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