Object Lessons
Contemporary fiction with cosy detective elements.
A teacher too square for her school finds herself in a battle over its future.
Will Cora stick to her principles or stick up for her principal?
Cornelia (Cora) Harper is a teacher embroiled in infighting at an eccentric school. Larsson Hall is a world of its own, but things are changing. Will Cora ever fit in, or will she cause its downfall? 'Object Lessons' offers readers an entertaining insider’s view of school life: its feuds, follies and friendships.
This is what would happen if 'Hot Fuzz' killed 'Decline and Fall' in the library with a stiletto. It sits somewhere near Amanda Craig's 'A Private Place' and a little further from 'The Thursday Murder Club', and concerns a mother returning to work where educational ideologies clash and loyalties are divided.
Opening
Prologue
Cupboard
The cupboard wouldn’t open. Built into the corner alcove, it was deep with shelves to either side which had helped Cora to support the illusion of classroom order for the past six weeks. She tugged harder at the brass handle, checking for obstructions at floor level – sturdy bolt, lump of lead, sulking child – but there was nothing, so she supposed Aubrey must have locked it. Oh well, perhaps she could stop tidying and slip away home without anyone noticing.
Later, she wished she had. Better not though, she thought at the time. The room had to be in order for her observed lesson on Monday. Nothing could be allowed to stop her from passing probation.
She should stay anyway – put her face about among the parents and other staff to make up for having slept through her stint manning the book stall. She should at least be at the Grand Opening. It must be any minute now, she thought, looking out across the terrace: dusk pinched the air, shadowed the orchard. Since her predecessor had left behind not only posters curling off the walls and faded, partial sets of books but several mystery keys, she went to the desk to hunt for one that fitted the cupboard.
The third key she tried turned stiffly in the chipped, overpainted door, then the lock released suddenly and the cupboard burst open. A heavy weight slumped against Cora’s thighs in a dogleg. The long, dark L-shape sagged to the floor like a dead body in a black sack. While part of her mind wondered what Aubrey had been thinking, cluttering up her cupboard with whatever this was, an older part knew the truth at once.
It was a dead body in a black sack.
