I absolutely love books that contain amateur sleuths and this one definitely contains that. It certainly is a novel that you need to read carefully because there are things that you may not completely understand until the end. Overall, it is a good read that has everything for a great mystery and an ending that will make even the professional sleuths happy.


4.5 stars out of 5 rounded up to 5


Thank you to NetGalley as well as the author/publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

I enjoyed this book. It’s a little different than I normally chose but I liked it. I would recommend it to others.

Thank you net galley. This was a great read. A mystery set in a different situation and with amateur detectives. I enjoyed the author's pacing and look forward to reading more by her.

A Murder of Principle is difficult for me to review. While it’s a solid mystery, much of the story outlines the problems that can be created by a poor administrator – in this case a high school principal. It’s very obvious that the author has been an educator herself and has either experienced this type of catastrophic boss or has thought a lot about the effects poor management can have on a school, its teachers, staff and students and even the community as a whole. It certainly gave me some things to think about.

In addition, the final reveals were abrupt and the last few chapters didn’t seem to flow as well as the rest of the story. While I enjoyed the book overall, I found the constantly hostile atmosphere created by the principal somewhat tiring. And, while this is fiction, I would like to think that in ‘real life’ the behavior exhibited by the principal would be brought to an end much sooner by responsible administrators who are in a position to do so …although in this day and age that might not necessarily be true anymore.

I can only give this book three stars. Not because it isn’t fairly well-written but because it failed (for me) to give the mystery itself very much attention. Instead, almost all of the book dealt with the backstory leading up to the murder.

Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.