Book Review - Dastardly Deeds at St Bride's by Debbie Young

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Title: Dastardly Deeds at St Bride's

Author: Debbie Young

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 15th September 2022

Rating: 5 Stars

For anyone who loved St Trinian’s – old or new – or read Malory Towers as a kid. St Brides is the perfect read for you.

When Gemma Lamb takes a job at a quirky English girls’ boarding school, she believes she’s found the perfect escape route from her controlling boyfriend – until she discovers the rest of the staff are hiding sinister secrets:

Hairnet, the eccentric headmistress who doesn't hold with academic qualifications

Oriana Bliss, Head of Maths and master of disguise

Joscelyn Spryke, the suspiciously rugged Head of PE

Geography teacher Mavis Brook, surreptitiously selling off the library books

creepy night watchman Max Security, with his network of hidden tunnels

Even McPhee, the school cat, is leading a double life.

Tucked away in the school’s beautiful private estate in the Cotswolds, can Gemma stay safe and build a new independent future, or will past secrets catch up with her and the rest of the staff?

With a little help from her new friends, including some wise pupils, she's going to give it her best shot...

Previously published by Debbie Young as Secrets at St Bride's.

As a child, my favourite books to read were school stories and I must have re-read Malory Towers and The Twins at St Clares multiple times. So spotting this series from Debbie Young, instantly appealed to me, and I'm delighted to say this first book Dastardly Deeds at St. Brides lived up to my expectations. 

... Well with one tiny caveat, it's being described as a cozy mystery by the publisher, and I am certainly not denying it's cozy, its a very warm and cozy story (give or take the heating in the school), but it didn't feel like any cozy mystery that I have ever read. 

It starts with a startling prologue that does it's job and pulls me into the book instantly, but then takes a long time for us to get anywhere near that within the story.  But honestly I was having such a great time reading about everything at St. Brides, and its staff of quirky characters, all of which do seem to be hiding secrets, that although the genre baffled me, it certainly didn't affect my enjoyment of the book. 

I'm literally only mentioning it, so that if you are expecting a big crime early in the story and some bumbling detectives as is often the case when you think cozy mystery, then you will be surprised by what you actually get. 

For this is fabulous, it was incredibly easy to read, in fact I think I read it at the same pace I used to read school stories as a child - even though the focus is on the teachers, more than the girls at this school.  But even then I enjoyed the glimpses we got of some of the pupils. 

St Brides is a boarding school, full of rich children and staff that are using it as a way to reset their own lives, and they all have very distinctive personalities.

Gemma Lamb is a new English teacher at the school, and I loved small things like being told about the pupil's alternative prospectus which includes a key to their swearing.  I loved seeing older words used as replacements for words that would definitely be bleeped pre-watershed on TV! 

 She has come out of tricky relationship and is hoping that St Brides will be a safe place for her to re-asses her life and to finally use her teaching qualification.  I enjoyed seeing her grow in confidence as the days pass, and she starts to get the hang of life in a boarding school.

This is an all girls school, with that philosophy taken to extremes of only having all female staff, which leads to some rather interesting personelle decisions. 

I adored this book and I already can't wait to get my hands on the second one in this series.  I enjoyed the author's writing style and have a great picture in my mind of the school, and loved learning about it's founder too.  And I look forward to seeing more of all the teachers too.  

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.