After resigning and moving as far away from her ex as she can, DI Hunter decides to settle down in Norfolk and start a new life as a painter. But her old boss tempts her with one last case before accepting her resignation: the suspicious death of a student in one of the private schools in the area, an investigation that may prove trickier than anticipated, with the school, the parents and the children choosing to keep key clues close to their hearts.

Despite this being the first book the author wrote in this genre, I was pleasantly surprised, and I enjoyed it a great deal. I found the setting original and myself liking and even rooting for some of the characters, which I felt were interesting and believable, even if I didn't agree with some of their decisions or, as with the detective's ex-husband, I found infuriating.

It's true there were parts where the investigation got a bit too convoluted, but in my opinion that was barely noticeable, perhaps because of the way the author writes: to the point, and providing just the right amount of description, dialogue and action.

I'm perplexed as to why the book was originally rejected for publication and I wish it had been accepted when written, as we would probably have a whole series to enjoy now. I'm considering picking other books by the author, even if they're not from genres I usually favor.

A very enjoyable book about an investigation in the death of a boy. I liked the characters, but thought at times it was hard to keep track of everyone since there were so many point of views. It's a shame Lucinda Riley never wrote more about Jazz because I'd have liked to read more about her.

Ever since 'The Butterfly Room' I've enjoyed Lucinda Riley's books. When granted the opportunity to read 'The Murders at Fleat House' I eagerly awaited the early edition.

I didn't realize that besides embarking on Riley's only mystery, that the beloved author died in 2021. Her son championed the novel's publication and after reading all the twist and turns, I'm grateful the book was published.

From the first chapter, readers are pulled into a high-speed chase and Riley never takes her foot off the gas. Every time a portion of the mystery is solved, another murder or thread is revealed.

'Look to the past for wisdom and the future for hope.' Jazz's father scribbles his life lessons to daughter and that wisdom is the central to the story. Our lives are components of past decisions and mistakes. When we inflect pain on others, it can unravel our paths.

Fleeing from the past, Jazz leaves the Yard to pursue a simpler life. Unknowingly, the country life she sought is subjected to turmoil bringing the Yard to her door. Embroiled in Fleat House's sinister shenanigans, Jazz is forced to deal with a ghost from her London years. Will she be able to put those demons to rest or remain haunted?

It needs to be noted that The Murders at Fleat House was written a while ago and is now being released by the author’s family. The story seemed as if she may have considered creating a new series based on the characters and small town she introduced. So much attention was given to relationships that it had the distinct feeling of an introduction.

The crimes were well written, weaving together complicated relationships of the past and present. There was the standard and dated idea that women somehow have to be polite to every man who wishes her attention, even if that man is an ex husband who had cheated on you. I hope that in the time between initially writing this story and the present, the author may have rethought that line of thinking.

I understand the family releasing this book just as it was written, but it could have done with a little bit of editing and rewriting. I am sad that I won’t get to continue to see where some of these threads end up.

Great story, characters and plot. Really loves this book! Would recommend to friends. Highly enjoyable.

Finishing "The Murders at Fleat House" was bittersweet. I enjoyed it immensely, as it was excellently plotted with really good characters. Knowing that we won't be experiencing any more of Jazz's adventures makes me sad, as Ms. Riley passed away a few years ago. The descriptions of Norfolk and the surrounding environs are excellent, and the way Ms. Riley creates and ties all the threads together is amazing. One of those books you do not want to end. Highly recommend!

P. S. Thanks to #Netgalley for the ARC.

Firstly I have to say that I will read anything written by Lucinda Riley! This book was brilliant and kept me turning page after page. I highly recommend this book to everyone I come across. So many twists and turns that just have you gasping.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for making this book available.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

Wow wow wow. This was a great novel - the mystery was well thought out, the characters very intriguing, and well developed. I wish so much that Lucinda Riley hadn't passed - this would have been a fantastic start to a series. The main character, Jazz, has a good backstory that is explored only slightly. So so good - even as the stand alone that it is inevitably is.

EXCERPT: Outside Study Number Seven, the figure paused for a moment, listening. Being a Friday, the eight boys on this floor would have signed out and walked to the pub in the nearby market town of Fotlesham, but it was as well to be sure. Hearing nothing, the figure turned the handle and went in.

Closing the door quietly and switching on the light, the figure was aware almost immediately of the ingrained, musty smell of unwashed socks, sweat and raging hormones which had, over the years, permeated every nook and cranny of Fleat House.

Shuddering, the smell triggering painful memories, the figure nearly stumbled on a pile of underwear thrown carelessly onto the floor. Then, reaching carefully for the two white tablets placed on the boy's locker every night and replacing them with identical ones, the figure turned, switched off the light and left the room.

ABOUT 'THE MURDERS AT FLEAT HOUSE': The sudden death of a pupil in Fleat House at St Stephen’s - a small English private boarding school in deepest Norfolk - is a shocking event that the headmaster is very keen to call a tragic accident.

But the local police cannot rule out foul play and the case prompts the return of high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter to the force. Jazz has her own private reasons for stepping away from her police career in London but reluctantly agrees to front the investigation as a favour to her old boss.

Reunited with her loyal Sergeant, Alastair Miles, she enters the closed world of the school, and as Jazz begins to probe the circumstances surrounding Charlie Cavendish’s tragic death, events are soon to take another troubling turn.

Charlie is exposed as an arrogant bully and those around him had both motive and opportunity to switch the drugs he took daily to control his epilepsy.

As staff at the school close ranks, the disappearance of young pupil Rory Millar and the death of an elderly Classics Master provide Jazz with important leads but are destined to complicate the investigation further. As snow covers the landscape and another suspect goes missing, Jazz must also confront her own personal demons…

Then a particularly grim discovery at the school makes this the most challenging murder investigation of her career. Because Fleat House hides secrets darker than even Jazz could ever have imagined…

MY THOUGHTS: Although this isn't Lucinda Riley's normal genre, I rather enjoyed what was obviously meant to be the first book in a series featuring DI Jazz Hunter.

Jazz is a person who notices the human detail, tending to follow her instincts and take her time, learning the stories of those involved and exhausting every avenue of inquiry before arriving at a conclusion. These skills certainly serve her well in The Murders at Fleat House and make for an interesting story.

The start is slow, but the story picks up pace slightly as it moves along. The plot is twisty and at one point I would have loved for there to have been a family tree or list of characters, but on reflection after finishing the book, this may have been difficult to do without giving away too many connections and spoiling the mystery.

I didn't get the sense of place that I usually get with this author's novels, and there is an awful lot of dialogue, hence the four stars rather than five. BUT, the mystery itself is wonderful. Riley, as always, had me fully engaged trying to work out who had killed Charlie, for the suspects were numerous. He was not a nice young man!

Then there's a missing man or two, a missing child, another death, and a historical death. Jazz's gut tells her that all these incidents are connected but putting it all together is like doing a jigsaw puzzle with no picture and no edge pieces.

Although this is a 400+ page book, I read it overnight, totally engaged in the mystery and invested in the characters. Lucinda Riley wrote this in 2006, and it was published, largely as is, posthumously. I'm sad that we're never going to be able to read more of Jazz Hunter and her solid, capable, dependable and always cheerful sidekick DS Alistair Miles. It just goes to show, that even all those years ago, Lucinda Riley was an established storyteller. She will be greatly missed. Thank you to her family for sharing this previously unpublished work with us.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.1

#TheMurdersatFleatHouse #NetGalley

I: @lucindarileybooks #authorbuzz

T: @lucindariley @AuthorBuzzUK

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THE AUTHOR: Lucinda Riley is an Irish author of popular historical fiction and a former actress. She spent the first few years of her life in the village of Drumbeg near Belfast before moving to England. At age 14 she moved to London to a specialist drama and ballet school. She wrote her first book aged twenty four. Lucinda died in June 2021.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to AuthorBuzz via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon,Instagram and my webpage

The Murders at Fleat House is a well written British crime procedural by the late author Lucinda Riley. Released 26th May 2022, it's 344 pages (print) and is available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.

This is a well constructed British murder police procedural featuring an intelligent and strong female lead. The characterisations are nuanced and believable, the plotting is especially twisty and engaging with several disparate subplots in flashback which are not explained in context but intertwine throughout the book to a very well done climax, denouement, and one of the best (and most satisfying) resolutions I've read in a while.

This would have been a very promising start to a new series, but was unfortunately released by her family posthumously.

Four stars. This would be a good choice for public library acquisition, as well as for fans of modern British procedurals. Spelling and vernacular are British English, but won't pose problems for readers who are outside the UK.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Fascinating story - well crafted - a small boarding school has to deal with the death of a student - detective Jazz reluctantly takes on the case - loved the writing

Lucinda Riley was a favorite author of mine ever since I read her book the The Orchid House, although the Midnight Rose has always been my favorite. Sadly she passed away last year. I was thrilled to see a previously unpublished novel of hers, and a mystery at that, a genre she was not known for.

The Murders at Fleat House starts with the death of a young man at a boarding school in Norfolk. Charlie Cavendish was a spoiled bully, but surely no one would deliberately kill him? Enter DI Jazz Hunter, after leaving her job in London due to personal issues, she ends up being Johnny on the spot for the Metro police to investigate, (Charlie’s father is a hot shot barrister with connections). Charlie was bullying a young boy Rory who mysteriously disappears and then there is the apparent suicide of a tutor, which throws suspicion on the school and it’s inhabitants. What is going on at this school?

I really enjoyed Lucinda Riley as a mystery writer, though not her usual genre, the writing was excellent as all her books are, and really kept my interest. Sadly we have lost a wonderful author, but I am glad to have the chance to revisit her writing.

Thanks to Netgalley, and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book.

An enjoyable read about a series of murders that occur at a boarding school. Jazz Hunter the lead detective has relocated to a small town to get her life back in order. She was seconded to do this case after resignation from police work in London. She is a methodical detective and by connecting the present to the past she was able to solve this case. The book had some twists but like so many small communities secrets cannot stay hidden .

A bit of background first. I came across the first of Lucinda Riley’s Seven Sisters novels when browsing in my local bookstore. The book seemed just right for my mood at the time; it was a dual line historical novel and a long one that I knew I could sink into. Riley wrote a number of books in that series; they interlink with characters from one coming back in another sister’s story. These books are perfect for historical fiction fans.

Very sadly, Lucinda Riley died not long ago. The last Seven Sisters book will be finished by one of her relatives and published next year.

The family found this MS of a mystery that Lucinda Riley wrote earlier in her career. As the introduction to the novel notes, the decision was made to publish the book as it stood without updating it. That seemed just fine to me as I read the novel.

This book, as can be discerned from the title, is different from the Seven Sisters series as it is a mystery. Readers quickly learn that Fleat House is a boys’ residence at a boarding school. A student, Charlie, possibly a bully, died by taking the wrong drug. Was it accident or murder? This question is answered early on. There are other untoward events at the school as well; a boy has disappeared and a master has (seemingly) committed suicide. What is going on at this Norfolk boarding school? Readers will get to know many characters as the story unfolds.

Jazz is the one who is tasked with finding out. An exceptional DI who left the force, Jazz is persuaded to take up this case. What follows for readers is time spend with a good protagonist and an interesting investigation. As is true in all of the Riley books that I have read, this one is long. For me that is a plus as I know that the her stories will always engage me for awhile.

I will miss Ms. Riley but am thankful for the unexpected appearance of this novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title.

I love Lucinda Rileys's books and this one is her first mystery book that was written in 2006 and published now by her son. I am a huge fan of her historical fiction novels and was not surprised that she could also write fantastic mysteries.

Inspector Hunter takes a new case to solve the death of one of the students in Fleat House at St Stephen's school in Norfolk. Charles, who suffered from epilepsy, was found dead in his room. The autopsy revealed that he died because of an allergic reaction to aspirin. Further investigations lead to new connections pointing that this was not a tragic accident but it was a murder. The story gets even more complex when a school tutor is found dead in his house followed by disappearance of Rory, a younger student bullied by Charles. Jazz Hunter is solving one mystery to only discover another one. There is so much more to this story that made me read page after page eager to find what's next to come.  

This twisty and full of secrets mystery kept me engaged from the first page to the last. Very nicely written, interesting and absorbing mystery. With 576 pages, I didn't notice when the book was over.
I cherish every book written by Lucinda and feel so sad there won't be more books to come.

Going into this novel I was not aware that the author had recently passed away, nor that this was a novel they wrote years ago and was given an edit and published posthumously by her son.

I have only ever read The Royal Secret by this author in the past which is also a mystery, and had a fantastic time with that one as well.

This book starts out with a suspicious death of a student at a boarding school with a past. A detective is brought in who has had a pervious bump in the road in the force and is coming back from some time away. Although the death of said student was originally deemed an accident, information soon comes to light that there many be more to the story. As the investigation gets more complex, and more people are brought into the web of the investigation with some very interesting links, the stakes begin to get higher and higher.

What i really liked about this book was how flawed all of the characters were. How the story kept me guessing until the end. The importance of family was prevalent through the book which I always appreciate.

My only critique was there were too many characters and some of them were not fully fleshed out and felt very one dimensional.

Lucinda Riley was a favorite author of mine who sadly passed away. I think this is her last novel which was published with the help of her son. I will miss her writing but was glad to get the chance to read The Murders at Fleat House. I love her writing style and am never disappointed in any of her stories.

SYNOPSIS:

The sudden death of a pupil in Fleat House at St Stephen’s – a small private boarding school in deepest Norfolk – is a shocking event that the headmaster is very keen to call a tragic accident.

But the local police cannot rule out foul play and the case prompts the return of high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter to the force. Jazz has her own private reasons for stepping away from her police career in London, but reluctantly agrees to front the investigation as a favour to her old boss.

Reunited with her loyal sergeant Alastair Miles, she enters the closed world of the school, and as Jazz begins to probe the circumstances surrounding Charlie Cavendish’s tragic death, events are soon to take another troubling turn.

Charlie is exposed as an arrogant bully, and those around him had both motive and opportunity to switch the drugs he took daily to control his epilepsy.

As staff at the school close ranks, the disappearance of young pupil Rory Millar and the death of an elderly Classics master provide Jazz with important leads, but are destined to complicate the investigation further. As snow covers the landscape and another suspect goes missing, Jazz must also confront her personal demons . . .

Then, a particularly grim discovery at the school makes this the most challenging murder investigation of her career. Because Fleat House hides secrets darker than even Jazz could ever have imagined . . .

This is out now, don’t miss it! A very good book by a beloved author who will be missed.

My younger one is a big fan of the "seven sisters' series and when I saw a murder mystery by the same author I was intrigued enough to ask for an ARC. My thanks to Netgalley for providing me the opportunity to review the book based on my personal opinion.
While Lucinda has since passed by, her son has done an admirable job in maintaining the narrative and character set. This is a good book to enjoy with lots of probable suspects and multiple turns and twists. One of the books which you would definitely enjoy reading thorough again and again.
Recommended read.

Wow! How on earth have I never heard of Lucinda Riley before now? I'm so glad that I was able to get this as an ARC to review and though the author is no longer with us, I hope I'll get the opportunity to review another in the future.
The Murders at Fleet House is a police suspense novel that keeps you guessing and as you're trying to put the pieces together, it keeps you wanting more and more. So, you might want to start this one early on a day off. I liked the main character and I enjoyed all the different family connections.
Detective Inspector Jazz Hunter has been off trying to heal from a divorce when her old boss calls asking if she'll work a murder at a local boarding school. She reluctantly agrees and as the murders start to pile up she calls in a couple of old friends for help. As it turns out all murders point to one tragic event from long ago.

The death of Lucinda Reilly from cancer at the age of only 56 last year truly is a tragedy - not just for her family, but for the Bookloving World - she was at the height of her success with the Seven Sisters series, and who knows what else she would’ve gone on to write. This, her only crime novel, was written in 2006, and while complete, was not “finished”. Her son, Harry Whittaker, a writer himself, explains in the foreword that his dilemma was whether to publish it as it was, or rewrite and update it. He chose to honour his mother by leaving it unchanged, which I respect, but it means that this is not as good as it could’ve been with comprehensive editing and correction of various mistakes. She was such a compelling story-teller however, that this was still a very enjoyable mystery.

DI Jazz Hunter has quit the Metropolitan Police after the break-up of her marriage to a fellow detective, and moved to the Norfolk countryside to renovate an old cottage and contemplate her future. When her former boss offers requests that she investigate the sudden death of a pupil at a posh local boarding school, she relishes the opportunity to take the lead without her annoying ex undermining her. Charlie Cavendish, a notorious bully, appears to be the victim of a tablet substitution, but was it accidental or intentional? Then a member of staff is found dead, and one of Charlie’s victims disappears. The more Jazz learns, the more complicated the case becomes, when everyone she interviews has a secret - and one of them is a killer…

If you’ve read any of the Seven Sisters historical drama novels, you’ll recognise elements of the plot here - love affairs forbidden by the constraints of the past, secret babies, thwarted relationships & complicated family dynamics. This is an elaborately constructed murder mystery with multiple suspects but mostly hidden motives. I guessed relatively early who the perpetrator would turn out to be, and had worked out many of the twists - some rather painfully obvious to a crime thriller junkie like me - far ahead of our intrepid DI. For this reason, I would recommend this most to fans of Reilly’s who don’t usually read much crime. While not what I would call a cosy mystery, it’s got minimal gore or violence, but plenty of intrigue. The romance is similarly low-key, but it’s there, and I liked that most characters got the endings they deserved.

As mentioned, there are various mistakes, legal, forensic and medical, which should’ve been picked up by beta readers or the editor, and some rather glaring plot holes around who should’ve recognised whom, and what should’ve been obvious to the detectives much earlier on. It’s also about 100 pages too long for a thriller - if you took out all the mentions of coffee - characters thinking about it, offering it, making it, and drinking it, you’d be halfway there, and there was also an unnecessary and uninteresting illness in the protagonists family that went on too long. Jazz was an appealing main character, as were her sidekicks, and it is a shame they won’t get further adventures unless Harry decides to continue this as a series - I’m sure there are plenty of lesser known crime writers who would happily collaborate to make the most of Reilly’s name on the cover. Speaking of covers - the one shown on GoodReads, of an isolated stone hut, while not unattractive, bears no relation to the plot! 3.5 rounded up for good writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and AuthorBuzz for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily. The Murders at Fleat House is published on May 26th.