When you think of mysteries and thrillers set in institutions of learning, no doubt you think first of all the terrific novels that take place in universities and elite boarding schools in New England and the British countryside. These novels, known collectively as the “Dark Academy” sub-genre, have a gothic quality—with turreted buildings, eccentric teachers, overly smart students, secret societies, and classical languages. The perfect archetype of this genre is Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, although my own favorite is Tana French’s The Secret Place (does any other crime writer pack as much into a single sentence as French?). There are old classics such as Dorothy Sayers’s Gaudy Night and Amanda Cross’s Death in a Tenured Position and more recent examples such as Elizabeth Thomas’s Catherine House and Samantha Downing’s For Your Own Good.
But when I was first thinking of the story that would become my novel The Day He Left, I had in mind another category of school mysteries set more prosaically in today’s ordinary public schools, specifically middle and high schools. These novels offer their own unique pleasures and might be thought of as “Dark Academy, Public School Division.” Here you’re unlikely to encounter classical languages, but there’s no shortage of darkness and treachery.
Below are six novels in this category. Three of the six tell their story, Rashomon style, through the points of view of different characters, which mirrors the self-conscious, self-absorbed nature of teenagers, who often seem to live in their own isolated bubbles. Several of these novels stray far from the halls and classrooms, but all keep their focus on the inner lives of the students and teachers.
Confessions by Kanae Minato
Kanae Minato’s debut novel, published in 2008, sold three million copies in Japan and was adapted to a popular film. In this dark revenge novel, a middle school science teacher sets out to retaliate against the two students she holds responsible for the death of her four-year-old daughter. The story is told from five different perspectives. Each of these “confessions” reveals more of the truth of the tragedy—motivations, past injustices, rationales, and unlikely alliances. Through these perspectives, the story threads its way through surprising twists and turns, all the while becoming darker and darker—showing that revenge doesn’t always achieve what’s expected. This novel is particularly good at exploring the role of parents in pressuring and often misunderstanding their children.
One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus
In simplest terms, this young adult novel is “The Breakfast Club” with a murder. Five students walk into detention. One of them is murdered in the room. Which of the other four is responsible? There were good reasons for the murdered student to be targeted. He’d recently set up a gossip app, which was publishing embarrassing, sometimes life-destroying, stories about students in the school. So who would be willing to kill to protect their secrets? The other four students in detention fit stereotypes: the brain, the beauty, the jock, and the criminal. What makes the story entertaining is the way the criminal investigation uncovers the true individuals behind those stereotypes. A New York Times bestseller, the book was adapted into a television series for Peacock. The novel was followed by a sequel, One of Us Is Next.
Dare Me by Megan Abbott
This 2012 thriller by the redoubtable, Edgar-winning Megan Abbott was a bestseller and was made into a popular TV series. The novel ostensibly takes place in a public high school, but it is so drilled down into the subculture of a cheerleading squad that classrooms, teachers, and— with a few exceptions—adults barely exist. The story follows the conflicts that arise when a new cheer coach takes over the squad and crashes into the established power structure of the girls in the squad. Abbott does a brilliant job of capturing the inner lives of teenage girls, who are often far more knowing and tough than perceived by those around them. Murder is at the heart of this story, and as usual Abbott has surprises at every turn. Pervading the novel is the irony arising from the incongruity between the seemingly positive, encouraging nature of cheer and the cynical machinations of the players, which travel far from that surface nature. Once you read this novel, you’ll not only look differently at those smiling squads on a Saturday afternoon, you may want to run away as fast as you can.
Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun
The most recent of the books in the list, this slim novel was just published in October 2021 as a translation into English from the original Korean. This is a suspenseful whodunit, but more importantly, it’s a crime novel turned inside out. On the surface, it’s the story of a case known as “The High School Beauty Murder.” A young woman is brutally killed one night after school. The police question two prime suspects: an impoverished delivery boy who briefly glimpsed the girl before she was killed, and a rich kid who was seen driving a car with the victim the night of the murder. But early on, the police are unable to find clear evidence against either suspect, and the case remains unsolved. As a result, beneath the surface, the novel is about the aftermath of the crime, the long-lingering pain, especially for the victim’s sister and several other students. The story, told from different points of view, probes issues of class, grief, guilt, and cruelty. The prose is written with a mix of lyrical beauty and hard-edged conciseness. A haunting story, unlike any other, which will stay with you long after you finish.
A Thousand Cuts by Simon Lelic
Another debut, Simon Lelic’s novel tells the story of a police investigation of a school shooting in a contemporary London school. In this case, the shooter is one of the school’s teachers. While the facts of the shooting are clear, a female police detective investigating the case finds troubling evidence in the circumstances behind the crime. This is a story of bullying in the school and mirrored in the police force. At its root, it is a tragedy with a cast of innocent victims and precious little leavening. What comes though these pages is the meanness of many characters and the terrible consequences of that meanness. But beyond that, it is a wonderful portrait of a beleaguered female cop struggling against the odds. The novel is cleverly told in a series of recorded interrogations with students, teachers, and parents. Like Confessions and Lemon, each perspective reveals new details and background on the seeds of the crime, so that readers are in the position of the detective trying to understand the facts as the story unfolds.
The Bitterest Pill by Reed Farrel Coleman
This is the eighteenth of the twenty novels in Robert B. Parker’s best-selling series on Jesse Stone, the police chief in Paradise, Massachusetts. This 2019 novel was written by veteran crime novelist Reed Farrel Coleman, who’s written six Jesse Stone novels. Coleman remains true to the character of the suburban police chief and writes with the short chapters, ever-moving plot, and dialog-heavy prose that were the hallmarks of Parker’s style. This story belongs on this list because it focuses on high school students. In this case, it begins with the heroin overdose of a popular cheerleader and follows a wider epidemic of opioid addiction. When Stone investigates the initial death, he uncovers secrets, parents intent on hiding the truth, and a thriving and deadly drug network. Throughout, the novel explores the theme of addiction more generally. Mirroring the main plot, Stone is bravely maintaining his own sobriety in the face of a recently acknowledged alcoholism. The novel has little time for classroom scenes or academics; the school is mainly a place for drug buys. But Coleman nicely portrays teenagers confronting very adult trouble to which their parents are oblivious.
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