Murder Is Bad Manners

The first book in the Murder Most Unladylike Mystery series is set at Deepdean School for Girls, an English boarding school, in 1930s England. The story is narrated by thirteen-year-old Hazel Wong, who came to Deepdean from Hong Kong. Hazel is short, round, and self-conscious about being the only Chinese student at the school. Her best friend, Daisy Wells, is her opposite: golden-haired, blue-eyed, athletic, and effortlessly popular. At the start of the autumn term, Daisy founds the Wells & Wong Detective Society, appointing herself president and Hazel secretary. Membership is limited to the two of them, kept secret from their dormmates. Their cases so far have been trivial.

Several developments among the teachers set the stage for the mystery. Mr. Reid, a handsome new teacher whom the girls nickname "The One," arrives and quickly becomes the object of schoolwide infatuation. Miss Bell, the science teacher, falls in love with him, ruining her existing relationship with Miss Parker, the math teacher. The One then jilts Miss Bell for Miss Hopkins, the sports teacher, leaving Miss Bell humiliated. Meanwhile, Miss Bell is rumored to be the frontrunner for the vacant deputy headmistress position, which angers two other candidates: Miss Tennyson, the English teacher, and Miss Lappet, the history and Latin teacher.

On the evening of Monday, October 29, Hazel runs to the school gym to retrieve a forgotten pullover and finds Miss Bell lying dead beneath the gym balcony with a dark bloodstain behind her head. Terrified, Hazel flees to find Daisy. They return with Virginia Overton, a prefect, but the body has vanished, leaving only a small smear on the floor. Virginia refuses to believe Hazel and sends both girls to their dorm. Once alone, Daisy reasons that someone must have moved the body, which means Miss Bell was murdered.

The next morning, Miss Bell is absent, but no one explains why. Daisy learns from King Henry (Henrietta Trilling, the head girl and Daisy's distant cousin) that a resignation letter in Miss Bell's handwriting appeared on headmistress Miss Griffin's desk. Since Miss Bell is dead, the letter must be forged, pointing to a teacher as the murderer.

That evening, the girls hold their first Detective Society meeting in a linen closet. They establish that Miss Bell was killed between 4:15 and 5:45 PM by being pushed from the gym balcony and list their suspects: Miss Parker, motivated by jealous rage; Miss Lappet and Miss Tennyson, who both want the deputy headmistress position; Mamzelle, the French teacher, and Mr. MacLean, the school reverend, who were seen near the gym; and The One. Miss Hopkins is initially ruled out due to her alibi at the hockey pavilion.

Over the following days, the girls narrow the suspect list. A first former (a youngest-year student) reports seeing Miss Bell alive at 5:15, tightening the murder window to between 5:20 and 5:45 PM. Mamzelle and Mr. MacLean are cleared by confirmed alibis. Miss Parker is caught lying about when she left school. A classmate reveals that Miss Hopkins left hockey practice partway through Monday evening, destroying her alibi. Daisy overhears Miss Griffin reminding Miss Tennyson about being late on Monday and needing to finish "a little project," and becomes convinced Miss Tennyson is the murderer. Hazel disagrees, and they split up.

On Thursday night, Daisy orchestrates a séance to spread the rumor that Miss Bell was murdered, hoping to panic the killer. On Friday night, the girls fake illness to gain access to the infirmary, then sneak out using the handyman Jones's spare keys, which Daisy had previously stolen. In the gym cupboard, they find a bloodied wheelbarrow and a stained shirt. Inside an old bricked-up tunnel beneath the school, they discover drag marks, a shoe print matching Miss Tennyson's distinctively large shoes, a scrap of Miss Bell's lab coat, and a gold double-teardrop earring.

On Saturday, Daisy confirms the shoe print matches Miss Tennyson's during prep, the supervised study period. They find a bloodstain in Miss Tennyson's car, suggesting it was used to transport Miss Bell's body. Despite Hazel's protests, Daisy confronts Miss Tennyson at the Willow Tea Rooms, revealing the evidence. Miss Tennyson breaks down, admits she has been "in hell," and promises to go to the police. As they leave, Hazel bumps into King Henry on the doorstep, sensing the case is more complex than Daisy admits.

By Sunday, the teachers' normal behavior suggests Miss Tennyson never contacted the police. Their dormmate Kitty Freebody casually mentions that Miss Lappet's alibi of being in Miss Griffin's office all Monday evening was actually very brief. Daisy admits she was wrong and reconciles with Hazel. On Monday, Miss Griffin announces that Miss Tennyson "suffered a terrible accident" over the weekend and is dead from an overdose of Veronal, a sleeping medication. Daisy deduces Miss Tennyson was killed by an accomplice to prevent her from confessing. The remaining suspects are Miss Hopkins, The One, and Miss Lappet.

When the police arrive on Tuesday, Daisy collides with Miss Griffin in the corridor, scattering their belongings. Later, Daisy discovers the gold earring has fallen from her bag. At Miss Griffin's office, Miss Lappet, acting as temporary secretary, reveals that Miss Griffin lost a matching earring earlier that week. The earring from the tunnel belongs to Miss Griffin. Hazel and Daisy realize the headmistress is the murderer.

Miss Griffin was never a suspect; her alibi depended on Miss Lappet's false claim of being in Miss Griffin's office all evening, a lie Miss Lappet told to hide her drinking. In the cloakroom where the first former had spotted Miss Bell on Monday evening, the girls find a red notebook. It is the diary of Verity Abraham, a student who had supposedly died in an accidental fall from the gym balcony the year before Hazel arrived. The diary reveals that Verity was Miss Griffin's biological daughter, given up as a baby. Miss Griffin revealed the secret during tutoring sessions, but Verity was horrified and planned to tell her adoptive parents. The diary ends with Miss Griffin asking Verity to meet on the gym balcony. A note from Miss Bell, tucked inside, reveals that Miss Bell blackmailed Miss Griffin with the diary, demanding the headmistress position in exchange for silence about Verity's death.

Miss Griffin killed Miss Bell to end the blackmail. She enlisted Miss Tennyson as an accomplice after Miss Tennyson caught Miss Griffin in the corridor covered in blood, offering her the deputy headmistress position in exchange for silence. When Miss Tennyson was about to confess, Miss Griffin killed her too. Hazel hands the diary to Inspector Priestley, the police chief, and explains the case.

The Inspector assembles the teachers in the music room while Hazel and Daisy watch from behind a curtain. Mamzelle is revealed to be an Englishwoman who faked a French identity; Miss Parker and The One confirm each other's alibis; The One and Miss Hopkins reveal their secret engagement; and Miss Lappet admits her false alibi inadvertently gave Miss Griffin cover. When the Inspector produces Verity's diary, Miss Griffin demands to know how he found it, confirming she had been searching for it. She spots the girls, lunges toward them, and is restrained. The Inspector arrests her for the deaths of Joan Bell, Amelia Tennyson, and Verity Abraham.

King Henry visits the girls at Daisy's family estate, Fallingford, explaining she had suspected Miss Griffin since Verity's death but lacked proof. Inspector Priestley shares Miss Griffin's confession: The push that killed Verity was accidental, but the murders of Miss Bell and Miss Tennyson were deliberate. The school prepares to reopen in January. Daisy promotes Hazel from secretary to vice president of the Detective Society in recognition of her contributions.