It looks as if Sophie has fallen on her feet when she changes jobs and moves to George Muntz College. However, when a colleague is found dead, she realises that there is more to the Birmingham college than meets the eye…
This is set firmly in the era when further education colleges in the UK had just become independent of the local authorities which had always run them. While the majority of college managers did their best for their staff and students, a significant minority rubbed their hands in glee at the opportunities for unsupervised money-making - for themselves! While many colleges needed whistle-blowers, only George Muntz College had Sophie poking her nose in to see what was going wrong.
There is an interesting development in the relationship between Chris and Sophie, but the really interesting relationship is probably that between Sophie and a very rich old man.
Part of the book was inspired by another of Birmingham's old buildings. The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter is housed in a former factory, abandoned intact by its owners. This gave me the idea for an unusual site for George Muntz College…
Piatkus Books
12 December 1996
Judith Cutler's Brum-based crime novels are a hit.
Crime Time
Thoroughly sharp, modern, witty, and literate.
Margaret Yorke