A detective story set in and around Llanover Grange, a boys’ boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan, in the autumn of 1971. Rhian Evans, a young female history teacher finds herself attracted to one of her pupils and, on Remembrance Sunday, she also chances upon the body of the school’s unpopular headmaster. Detectives discover a list of possible suspects, accusations of sexual misconduct and a climate of jealousy and intrigue.
A detective story set in and around Llanover Grange, a boys' boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan, in the autumn of 1971. Rhian Evans, a young female history teacher finds herself attracted to one of her pupils and, on Remembrance Sunday, she also chances upon the body of the school's unpopular headmaster.
~Publisher: Y Lolfa
William Vaughan’s thriller is set in November 1971 in the grounds of Llanover Grange, a minor Welsh public school where Rhian Evans, a young history teacher with a penchant for adolescent boys, particularly 15-year-old David Wyn-Williams, finds the body of the school’s headmaster with his head down the drain in the boys’ shower rooms.
Rhian is a virgin, until she joins an English A-level adult-learning class, where she meets Gareth, a few years her junior. Though he has a girlfriend, Gareth shows no compunction in deflowering Rhian. This, however, does nothing to quench Rhian’s growing obsession with David Wyn-Williams.
Before it has really begun, her relationship with Gareth turns sour and he takes his revenge. Rhian finds herself the chief suspect in the headmaster’s murder. However, David Wyn-Williams knows differently; he knows who killed the Reverend Griffiths.
The weight of David’s knowledge, together with an appreciation of his history teacher’s plight, causes him to share this knowledge with Philip, a fellow student. After some discussion, the boys decide to speak to Dr Harrold, the deputy head, who had expected to be promoted to the headship after the previous head’s retirement, and had been extremely put out when the governors had brought in an Anglican clergyman to take over. Indeed, his animosity and disappointment were such that he seriously took to the whisky bottle for solace. As a housemaster in charge of a group of adolescent boys, this was not a sensible course of action. His relationship with his wife became intolerable when she poured away the contents of two decanters, and he had violent recourse to slapping her round the face.
Though given new evidence which should have proved that their chief suspect was innocent, the police are unconvinced, even when a youth appears with his confession. However, as in all good ‘whodunits’, the plot takes an unexpected twist...
William Vaughan’s racy little novel, though set some four decades ago, covers what have become contemporary issues. His characters are masterfully drawn and the narrative is well-paced. Read it in one sitting and you will not be disappointed. I have never read any of William Vaughan’s works before, but I certainly intend to remedy that deficiency after reading Blood Month.
~Norma Penfold @ www.gwales.com
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