This book was first published in 1934 and it’s just the second book by Gladys Mitchell which I have read. As with the other one, Watson’s Choice, Mrs Bradley is the sleuth. The school is putting on a performance of The Mikado, with most of the parts being taken by the staff. The show is only going ahead because Miss Ferris has been generous enough to finance the whole thing, because of this she’s given the part of Katisha, much to the disgust of the P.E. teacher who wanted the part. In fact, it turns out that the shy and retiring Miss Ferris has accumulated quite a few people who aren’t exactly fans – oops that was nearly a pun!

I quite enjoyed the characters and plot, but Mrs Bradley herself really annoyed me because she called everybody ‘child’. Just imagine how much you would hate anyone who was like that in reality.

Gladys Mitchell herself was a teacher in a high school and she captures the atmosphere of a school, behind the scenes. Obviously things haven’t changed too much in the past 80 years since this book was written, staff-wise. At one point a member of staff begins to talk about a pupil and everybody in the staff room shouts SHOP – and she has to pay a fine of one shilling. I wish I had thought of that years ago – I would be very rich by now.