"Schooled in Murder," the first book in the "A Campus Sleuth Mystery" series by Victoria Gilbert, is a fantastic beginning to a new series. The plot revolves around a mystery writer who must solve a real murder case to save an innocent girl from being wrongfully convicted.

I was completely captivated by the story and nearly finished it in one sitting. It was entertaining, packed with twists and turns, along with some unexpected surprises. While I figured out the identity of the killer before Jen did, I still found it to be an enjoyable and easy read.

I’m eagerly looking forward to the next installment to see how Jen, Zach, and her new friends are faring. I highly recommend this book to all my cozy mystery-loving friends.

This was my first cozy mystery, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience! Thank you, Netgalley, for the opportunity to read it as an ARC. I apologise for taking so long to write this review, I have been struggling with my health so reviews took a backlog. Such a cozy feeling for my first cozy mystery!

3.5 stars

This is a nice start to the series. The mystery was well done and engaging. Characters were well developed. I loved the school setting. It's fun to sleuth along with Jennifer as she plays amateur detective. There is a romance angle, but is not overpowering, thankfully. Overall, this is an enjoyable cozy mystery.

I really enjoyed this series starter, and the mystery writing protagonist combined with an academic setting and all the drama of academia was entertaining. There are great characters in this one, and I look forward to more crime solving escapades from them.

Jen Dalton is a writer in the fiction genre and a professor at a university. Most of her coworkers look down on her for her writing genre. One of Jen's students has a run in with a snooty professor and no one thinks much of it until the professor turns up dead and then the student, Mia, disappears. Jen is determined to find out the real killers identity and uses the help of her fellow amateur sleuth's to do it.

Schooled in Murder is the first book in the brand new Campus Sleuth Mystery series. In this book, we meet, Jenn Dalton, who is the head of the campus writing center at Clarion University in Virginia. Jenn is also a published author of eight successful Mystery novels.

This title starts with Jenn searching for a particular journal in a mostly deserted section of the library for research purposes. She then has the misfortune of coming upon the dead body of a university professor, Doug Barth. When she learns that one of her students, Mia, was seen arguing with Professor Barth shortly before his tumble over the railing of the mezzanine above, Jenn decides it's time to put the sleuthing skills of her mystery series characters to the test to ensure that Mia cleared of murder.

I really enjoyed that this book started from the very first sentence with the mystery of who killed Professor Barth. I also enjoyed getting to know Jenn's friends, Bri and Christine, along with her love interest, the campus psychologist, Zach Flynn and her landlady, Emily. I found the mystery to be engaging and kept me guessing "whodunnit" throughout the entire story. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of this series and finding out what happens in the next book!

Thank you to the author and #NetGalley for allowing me to read #SchooledinMurder and offer my honest opinion.

Jen is a mystery writer who also works in a college writing center. When one of her students is the main suspect in the murder of an English professor, Jen attempts to investigate other possible suspects. This puts her in some danger, and also partners her with the school's psychologist and other school employees. A couple of the peripheral characters in the book are characters from the author's library series, but it really doesn't matter if you've not read that series, as they really don't play a big role. The plot and the characters were about what one would expect from a cozy mystery. I found the developing romantic interest between Jen and the psychologist to be the most interesting part of the book, however. There was also a fairly big flaw in the whole "campus lockdown" part of the book: if the campus is in lockdown, the people who work there shouldn't be moving all around the campus, as Jenn (and others) appear to do. They should stay where they are until given the all clear. Otherwise, a fairly good cozy mystery.
Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for providing an advance review copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

Literary Cozy Mystery featuring a Virginia mystery author and university educator who teams up with a cafeteria manager, the campus psychologist and a librarian to find a professor's killer.

5/5 stars: This is the first entry in Gilbert's Campus Sleuth Mysteries series which is a Literary Cozy Mystery that takes place in Virginia and features a mystery writer and university educator who finds herself teaming up with a cafeteria manager, a librarian and the campus psychologist to track down who killed an uppity professor. When one of her students is implicated, she and her fellow sleuthers race to catch the real killer before there’s another murder on the books. With plenty of twists and turns, Gilbert has masterfully crafted a mystery that deftly balances the suspects, clues and red herrings and will leave you pondering the whodunit until the final reveal. Heartfelt and humorous, Gilbert's writing and character work are stellar; the characters are well-rounded and complex while remaining incredibly likable. Jen's great and I really love her colleagues, friends and her fellow amateur detectives Christine and Brianna. And I look forward to seeing where Jen and the charming but annoying reluctant sleuth Zach's relationship goes... so cute. Additionally, her landlord, Emily, is a hoot and a half. Oh and Jen's got a sweet and snuggly fluff-ball rescue gray cat named Ash. This is an excellent start to a new series; Highly recommend!

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

A intriguing mystery set in a University administrative setting. This is the first "Campus Sleuth Mystery". I enjoyed the setting, the characters and the well crafted sleuth. The writing is fast paced and pleasing to the reader. This is a debut for the author and I look forward to further books in the series. Thank you to the publisher, to Net Galley and to the author for the opportunity. My review opinions are my own.

Jen is a interesting well rounded protagonist. She is a educator who also writes fiction books. Because of her writing her colleagues look down on her and do not respect her. The University where she works is very pretentious.. When one of her students is humiliated by a awful professor before his murder the student is the prime suspect. Jen steps in to investigate and save her student. Her clues take her through many red herrings and soon she is one the right path of the suspect.

A enjoyable read with a fresh new setting for this cozy series. Well done to the author,

Jennifer (Jenn) Dalton is the Director of the Campus Writing Center for Clarion University in Virginia. She is a published author of mystery books. She finds a body in the library. She soon learns that Mia Jackson is being looked for as a potential person of interest. However, Mia has gone missing. Jenn, along with Christine Kubiak, Brianna Rowley and Zachary Flynn become amateur sleuths in solving the mystery of the body. We are thrown some red herrings along side twists and turns, which lead to a surprising ending that I never saw coming.

This is an entertaining series debut. The university setting with all the departmental politics to gain status and funding is a nice change from the more typical bakery or bookstore setting. The characters are likable and the romance aspect of the story was just enough to add interest but not overwhelm the mystery. The mystery is well constructed and offers plenty of potential suspects to keep you guessing. This is a nice introduction to this new series.

Schooled in Murder reminded me why I love cozy mysteries so much. Bookish settings and characters, page-turning plots, and fun writing!

The collegiate setting for this book was so interesting to read about and unique! I've never read another cozy mystery set at a school and I loved how the author used so many different elements in the story to capture the setting. Victoria Gilbert is so good at making her settings come alive and feel like they're an integral part of the story. Fans of bookish cozies cannot miss this one!

While the pacing and character dynamics may not have resonated with me personally, it's clear the author has put effort into crafting a vivid world and weaving a complex mystery. Readers who enjoy delving into intricate plots and uncovering secrets will likely appreciate the layers of storytelling here.

Loved this introduction to a new series. Jen is an author and works in the writing center at Clarion College. When she discovers an English professor dead and all signs point to a student named Mia, she knows Mia is being framed. Jen gets help from friends to figure out who really killed the professor. I loved the overlap with the author's last series, with a similar setting and some nods to those characters. The romantic tension between Jen and campus psychologist, Zach was well written. The red herrings helped lead the reader down some holes but this added to the story. I look forward to more in this series.
I was given an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Schooled in Murder was a great start to a new series!

The story follows mystery author Jen, on a mission with her colleagues as they decide to become amateur sleuths to find out who committed a murder within the school to clear the name of one of her students. Along the way Jen's own life is threatened as she gets closer to finding out who the culprit is!

This book was fairly quick paced with short chapter which made it easy to fly through. There were a few twists and turns which kept me from determining the murderer with full confidence which was fun! The end did seem a bit rushed for my liking, with the murderer practically turning themselves in by giving the final clues needed for our sleuth to solve the case and then quickly being arrested which felt a bit anticlimactic. Also a few plot holes at the end which was a shame! I was definitely shocked by the twist at the end which was impressive!

Overall this was a fun mystery read, also had a side of romance which I enjoyed so I'll definitely pick up future books in this series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for providing me with an eARC in return for an honest review.

Jen Dalton is Head of the writing Centre at Clarion University in Virginia helping student in all Faculties with writing. She’s also an author of a series of mysteries in her spare time, so has experience with writing for publication, even though some of her colleagues look down on her for writing ‘genre’ fiction.

One afternoon Jen is in library when she finds the body of a Professor from the English Department who appears to have fallen from a mezzanine floor. He was known to have had an argument with Mia, one of Jen’s students, shortly before his death and now Mia has disappeared, leading everyone to thin she must have killed him. Determined to clear Mia’s name Jen must use the sleuthing abilities to solve the mystery of his murder.

This is a promising start to a new series from Victoria Gilbert. It’s fun and engaging with a lively plot, host of likeable characters and a touch of romance in the background.

Jenn, a murder mystery writer, stumbles upon a real murder scene. She decides to do some sleuthing. I really enjoyed this story. I like the writing style, it’s easy to read and entertaining. The characters are likeable and I enjoyed the banter between some of them. I didn't want 3 put it down.
I received an advance review copy via Netgalley/Crooked Lanes Books and I’m leaving a voluntary and honest review.

A nice start to a new series featuring a college professor who writes-wait for it- cozy mysteries on the side! Clarion is like so many academic environments but Jen surely did not expect to find herself solving a murder. She knows her student Mia didn't do it but who did? Luckily she has pals Christine and Briana to help. She's also got a frenemy thing going with Zach. The mystery isn't too twisty bur I didn't guess it. Know that these characters might seem a bit light now but that Gilbert, a veteran of the genre will flesh them out in the coming installments. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

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.

This series debut stars Jen Dalton who is an author of mysteries and who is in charge of the writing center at Clarion University. When one of her mentees is accused of murdering her belittling English professor, Jen is on the case for a real-life mystery.

As she investigates along with her friends Cristine Kubiak who is a cafeteria manager and Brianna Rowley who is a librarian, she learns to appreciate the dangers of the situations she puts her fictional characters into since she is putting herself into danger for real.

I enjoyed her budding relationship with Zachary Flynn who is a psychologist first assigned to counsel her after the murder. I liked that he tried to be the voice of reason when Jen had her more dangerous ideas.

Jen had lots of intriguing suspects including the wife and the mistress of the murdered professor. Then there was her friend who is an English department rival of the deceased and even the head of the college who might have wanted the professor dead.

This was a nice introduction to Jen Dalton and her friends and an enjoyable mystery.

The plot's pretty nice and the mystery is well written too. The book is fast-paced and the chapters are quite short, so you'll get through this in no time. I liked that the romance did not take away from the mystery.

This book has amazing descriptions of the university - made me feel like I was in there. However, I wish I could say the same about its characters - I couldn't connect to a single one. Jack creeped me out when he was first introduced - which is not a good look, cause he's a psychologist - and it took a long time for me to warm up to him. The romance was cute though.

one thing I want to point out is the book's synopsis - 'A mystery writer must solve a real murder case'. this is not true? sure, there was a bit of investigation but the killer just confessed to their crimes in the end. where was the solving??