This is the first book in the Inspector Ramsay series which was written before the Vera Stanhope, Shetland Islands and Two Rivers series. In this book, the local school has a very disliked headmaster, Medburn. The school has a halloween party, and the headmaster is found hanging in the playground of the school. Although many folks could have been responsible, Ramsay decides to arrest Kitty, Medburn's wife. Another village man, Jack Robson, who is somewhat in love with Kitty wants to get her released, and thus is "helping" Ramsay to find the real killer. Jack gradually finds out that Medburn has been blackmailing several people, belittling a new teacher, and running around with a woman who isn't his wife. Although Jack doesn't find the killer before Kitty has committed suicide in the jail, he does finally solve the mystery.

I enjoyed this book very much, and look forward to future publications in the series. I thank Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC so that I could read the book before publication.

So excited that this Ann Cleeves series is being printed the USA. A very horrible headmaster is hanged in the playground. No one is upset about, rather they are relieved. Jack Robson, retired miner, takes a wild flight of fancy and decides to defend suspect number 1, the dead man’s wife, Kitty. His daughter, flighty, wonderful Patty, is also investigating, asking random questions and getting very interesting answers. Inspector Ramsay is also investigating but in a very quiet manner that involves a lot of sitting around with people he likes. There are lots of suspects and not very nice people. Ramsay is a delight and I hope Patty is in the other novels, too!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this DRC.
#ALessoninDying #NetGalley

This was the first of Ann Cleeves Inspector Ramsay novels. Written in 1990, it's being released by NetGalley again. It was written before the Vera and the Shetland series, and I believe her writing has improved greatly. And yet the story was good. Set in a small village in Northumberland, the school principal, disliked by many and feared by a few, is found murdered. Ramsay leads the investigation, but a local man and his daughter make their own investigations, and eventually Ramsay uses their information to help him.

Many thanks to NetGalley for this novel.

Ann Cleese is my absolute favorite, from Vera to Jimmy Perez I never miss any of her books. In this story we have Inspector Ramsey. This is set on a small village in Northumbrian. When the village school gets ready for Halloween, the schools headmaster is found hung and from there we see the classic mystery of whodunnit and finding the culprit when lots of different people got notice. It was a good read,

Thank you NetGalley for this copy, all opinions are my own.

I couldn’t get through it. I love this sort of detective series and I do love many of Anne Cleaves’ books, but the characters seemed thin and predictable. I’m sorry that I did not finish it because it just didn’t hold interest.

I chose this book by the seemingly indefatigable Anne Clives not realizing that it was an early effort, written decades before those that have made her a go-to. Being a fan of her later work, I found this predictable, uninteresting, and won't follow through if any others in the series are published.

Excitement in the town of Heppleburn! Parents and children are enjoying their first-ever Halloween party at the town’s school. A damper is suddenly put on the celebration when Harold Medburn, the school's headmaster, is found dead. Inspector Ramsey leads the investigation with several suspects available, but his main focus is on the headmaster’s wife, whom he jails on suspicion of murder.
Jack Robson, the school governor and caretaker, has different ideas. He and his daughter Patty move full speed ahead with their investigation and finally find the murderer after sifting through the lies, deceit, adulterous relationships, and even blackmail that infest the small town.

Sorry, I’m a big Ann Cleeves fan, but I just did not like Inspector Ramsay. This is not a series for me, which makes me sad.

First time reading this author even though they've written a number of books. While I really feel I should like the books, at this time, I had a hard time keeping track of who was who and what was going on.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The origin of Detective Ramsay deserves to be reissued. The murder he is tasked investigating is a disliked headmaster who is murdered during the school Halloween party. Ramsay immediately suspects and arrests the wife. Her arrest in challenged by townsfolk, who ultimately aid Ramsey is solving the case.
This is early in Cleeves career however her careful plotting, attention to character and place, and the grief of murder proves to her fans that her series are compulsive choices from Book 1.
I am glad to meet Ramsay and the village of Heppelbum.
Thank you to NetGalley and Ann Sleeves for the review copy.

This talented author has written a page turner. I liked this book. Cleeves does not disappoint. Red herrings…secrets…intrigue… That being said, there were times when the story seemed to go slowly. I like this author so much. The other series is more my style. Thanks Netgalley.

Ann Cleeves is my absolute favorite authors of all time. Hands down. I am slowly working through all of her blacklist. I Just finished the Matthew Venn and Shetland novels and am most of the way through the Vera books. When I saw she came out with a new series with a new Inspector I just about jumped for joy. This book is amazing, like all of her books. She really will go down as one of our time's most prolific mystery writers. The atmosphere in her books is almost a character in itself. I will continue to wait with baited breath for more of her books!

This re-release of the first book in Ann Cleeves’ Inspector Ramsay series is a pure delight. First published in 1990, our bookstore (open 1992-2018) had many of these on our shelves, all of which are now collectible. The prolific writer was writing two series at the time – the other centered on birdwatching (we also had copies of those books) – before finishing up both and breaking out with her Vera books in 1999. This first one in the Ramsay series is a real, golden age gem.

While the golden age was of course many decades before this series came to be, Cleeves assumes many of the plotting and set up tropes that would be familiar to any fan of golden age mysteries. Set in a small village with an insular community – all of whom know one another – the Inspector is a creature from above who more or less swoops in to solve the crime. The much hated school headmaster is done away with in the first chapter at a combination Halloween Guy Fawkes party for the school kids.

The kids are not part of the story, but the parents are, as Cleeves dives into the inner lives of the school’s teachers and parents. There are children underfoot, of course, but they don’t really figure into the story. The dead man’s wife is quickly accused of the murder and arrested, and the school custodian and local councilor, Jack Robson, who has carried a torch for the woman since high school, is certain she’s not guilty. With the help of his friendly and somewhat directionless daughter Patty, the two of them form a team and find some purpose as they go about their investigations.

They do share their findings with Inspector Ramsay who lurks at the edges of the story. Patty lurches like a friendly puppy from one home to another, offering comfort where she can, while her father’s wheels are turning a bit more quickly and he’s the one who actually solves the crime.
Cleeves’ genius is already apparent here. If this is slightly more traditional and less amped up than some of her later books, the evocative setting and the details of the characters as human beings with flaws and saving graces are all present, as is a plot that is both simple and complicated. Cleeves, like her golden age foremothers, has laid the groundwork for her solution.

Unlike her golden age forebears there’s quite a bit more fleshing out of her characters along with their psychological underpinnings, and the tone is darker than an Agatha Christie book, though if you read Agatha Christie, you’ll see it’s not that much darker, really. Christie was no stranger to the horror show that humans can put on, but Cleeves, as a modern writer, is perhaps more up front with her depictions of the horrors.

This is also a tightly plotted book which, like the golden age novels of the past, could be picked up early in the evening and finished....well, early the next morning. It was certainly hard to put down. Ann Cleeves is a treasure.

I really loved the setting. and I would definitely read next in this series. As a long time reader of Ann Cleeves it was interesting to see how much her storytelling has improved. This was enjoyable read, if a bit simplistic. Inspector Ramsay's character needed a bit more fleshing out. But I was totally surprised by who the murderer was.

First- I did not finish this book as I really cannot get into it. Too slow, little happening, characters are too... simple maybe?

The headmaster is a mean and spiteful man and everyone in the town seems afraid of him. At a school Halloween party, he is found murdered. Who did it? Most of the town is relieved that he is no longer around to make their lives miserable. His wife is arrested for the murder.

The caretaker of the school knew the headmaster's wife many, many years ago and decides that the wife is not guilty and decides to prove she didn't do it based on nothing but a memory of what she was like when they were young. Not exactly heavy proof of innocence! He bothers everyone in town to find out more, though he doesn't believe he needs to share that info with the police. He gets his adult daughter involved in helping as she s bored. huh? What kind of professional investigation is this? Not. That is when I stopped reading. I did find it was good to read at bedtime as I found it so slow that sleep came easily.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy. Honest opinions expressed here are my own and are freely given.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The twists and turns kept me on my toes, making it nearly impossible to predict what would happen next. Just when I thought I had figured it out, another revelation would throw me off course. The suspense built masterfully, leading to a shocking reveal that completely took me by surprise. The author’s writing style kept me engaged from start to finish, and I found myself fully immersed in the mystery. This definitely won’t be the last book I read from this talented author—I can’t wait to dive into more of their work!

Updated review from February 1, 2025
Trigger warning: Suicide

I received this book from NetGalley, which did not affect my rating or review. Just to make sure people know, I read this back in 2021. I went and re-read a ton of Cleeves back-list. I do feel disappointed I could not continue with her Palmer-Jones series. I really enjoyed it, but most of the books are not available unless they are in paperback somewhere.

The Inspector Ramsay series is in my opinion very good. In this first book in the series, you are not going to start off with a high opinion of him. Probably because most of the book is laying the groundwork for some other characters who appear in the series later on. Also, Cleeves takes a very long time to set the stage and things move very very slowly until you have Ramsay and two other characters, Patty and Jack, who are daughter and father, who get involved in investigating the murder.

The book starts off focusing on a small village in Northumbrian. Cleeves ticks through characters who are dreading getting together for the local PTA conference because the local headmaster, Harold Medburn is mean and seems hell-bent on keeping everything under his control. When the school gets ready for a Halloween party (their first) Harold is found hung. The police immediately suspect that his wife Kitty did it. But the school caretaker, Jack Robson, who still carries a bit of a torch from Kitty from their younger days is determined to prove she's innocent. His daughter, Patty, who seems unclear on what she can do or is good at, finds herself standing by to assist Inspector Ramsay in his investigation.

Most of the book is Patty, Jack, and Ramsay talking to people and doing what they can to prove that Kitty killed or did not kill Medburn. It takes some time for the book to find its footing. And then of course a second murder takes place. Things come together quite well in the end, but there is some lingering guilt from this book that is going to follow Ramsay through the rest of the series.

Cleeves doesn't change anything in this one outside of the new introduction that shows you where her head was at when she wrote this. I did appreciate that. There's also several pages devoted to the second book in the series. I imagine that means they are going to re-release all of them again which will be nice. I ended up buying some of these and having them sent to me from the UK, yes, I was that invested in this series and had to see how it ended.

A Lesson in Dying by Ann Cleeves

This book was originally published in 1990 and is the first of six in the Inspector Ramsay series. Like her other series, it takes place in a village where everyone knows each other; a cozy mystery and I enjoyed this book as her writing style, which I enjoy, shines through. However, I was less impressed with Ramsay as an inspector compared with the main characters in her other series. In addition, we don’t see the camaraderie between the inspectors and their co-workers that we see in her other series (I’ve read several of each).

Shortly after the story begins, Jack Robson, the school’s caretaker, finds the headmaster, Harold Medburn’s body. The police are called in, led by Inspector Ramsay. He focuses on a single suspect, with seemingly little attempt to further investigate other options or evidence to support his decision. Jack, along with the help of his daughter Patty, begin their own investigations and find that not many people liked Medburn, and some seemed afraid of him. A lot of secrets. Reading Patty’s investigations made this a fun read - she is a brilliant interviewer – that is, her ability to be candid – direct questioning and honesty get people to open up to her. I hope to see more of Patty and Jack in the next installments of this series.

Thanks to NetGalley, Ann Cleeves, and Minotaur books for an advanced copy of this book.

I will submit a review to Amazon at Publication

Ann Cleeves has her own style for every character she writes, which is why I love her writing. This character, Ramsay, has a great style you get to experience the case without a hurry and bustle of solving. But it was solved and she really had a great twist. Buy it, read it and enjoy.

Having read many of this authors previous work, this one was a quiet slow moving mystery. The murder victim is so horrible I had no empathy for his murder. Good cast of potential suspects and being in a small English village is a good setting. The drawback was the inspector Ramsay, he really needed to step up his game, the old school caretaker was more invested in finding out who the murderer was. Low key murder mystery was a good enjoyable read from NetGalley for an honest opinion.