“Oh, I want it to be, desperately,” Mary Jane said. “ Which of us? Why do you think it was one of us?”
Godding has departed for London and and the Headmistress is in mourning. Plackett’s nephew Julius Godding has fallen ill and died of Malaria. The young women weave a story about how Mrs. Just when they thought they might be able to catch a breath… the housekeeper Amanda Barnes shows up. Godding, even though, really, he had wanted to dig up Mr. Louise shows up with a dog for their protection along with a cherry tree for topping the graves in the backyard, but it’s a spaniel, not a bulldog. (Mary Jane had thought the calling had been him trying to win her flirtatious attention, but really, another of the girls may have caught his eye…) But if it wasn’t Henry, was it the murderer? The next day, the boy from the neighboring farm, Henry Butts, claims there was someone in the garden “cooing” the previous night. Pocked Louise, the scientist, determines with the latest scientific research methods that it was indeed poison that did the two of them in. Godding.Įach convinced for her own reasons that it would be the most preferable course of action to cover up the deaths of the Headmistress and her brother and carry on the pretense that nothing was wrong, they bury the bodies. By the time Admiral Lockwood and Reverend Ramsey, the last of the guests, are dispatched with a few glasses of spirits from Smooth Kitty and scandalous Mary Jane, Dour Elinor finally extricates herself from the armoire she was sharing with the body of Mr. Plackett (impersonated by none other than the girl’s own Stout Alice) since she is “not feeling well,” then nosy Miss Fringle twists her ankle and decides to spend the night in the downstairs bedroom… sharing a bed with poor, ill, widow Plackett. Godding’s birthday, and a parade of guests begin arriving, filing in one after the other. And of course, what is the worst thing that could happen when seven young women decide to cover up the death of their adult supervisors?Ī surprise party! It’s Mr. Aldous Godding, the girls all decide that being at the school is much more desirable than being sent home. When, in a single night, both guardians fall dead at the dinner table, despite their previously brutish treatment by Headmistress Constance Plackett and her brother, Mr. Berry’s genius is that she calls the women by their traits throughout the book so there is no confusion. Just as if we were in an old movie like The Magnificent Seven, each of the main characters has a special, defining quirk. Etheldreda’s School for Girls are aptly introduced in a preface by the fame or infamy of their parents. This playful Agatha Christie-style murder mystery is a lively and engaging Victorian romp! Seven young women enrolled in a private school are faced with the death of their headmistress and resolve to continue the operation of the school on their own.
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