The Good Teacher by Rachel Sargeant – Blog Tour Review.

About the Book

Even the good have to die.
A beloved teacher is murdered and left in a ditch beside a country lane. His wife is found beaten and gagged in their suburban home.

Even the best schools have secrets.
New detective Pippa Adams learns that the teacher ran a homework club for vulnerable pupils. But what did he really teach them?

Even the perfect family has something to hide.
When Pippa scratches the surface of the school community, she meets families who’ve learned a shattering lesson. And finally uncovers the good teacher’s darkest secrets…

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. The start of the novel is quite tense, a woman handcuffed to a chair and then a body found by a pensioner walking his dog. It doesn’t take long for the two cases to be linked.

Pippa ‘Agatha’ Adams is a new member of the local CID. She has to prove her worth and accepts her nickname with good grace. She has her dreams about how her career and working relationships will be. But the reality isn’t like her dreams. It is harder to be accepted than she imagined and she has to put up with public dressing downs and being on the receiving end of jokes and the occasional insult. There is a strong hint of trauma in her past which influenced her decision to join the police but no real detail.

I liked Pippa and her team. The rivalries, the jokes and the loyalties were all convincing. The author showed that the loyalties had to be earned, the existing team weren’t prepared to give Pippa an easy ride, she had to prove that she was worthy. There was a character, the head teacher who I loathed with a passion. I really hope that he wasn’t a true portrayal of anybody within the education system.

I expected the teacher to be not as good as the title suggests but I was completely wrong about the reasons why. I was also wrong about who the culprit was. It does all work though, I was just duped. It would be great to see this novel become a series, I would love to see Pippa succeed in her job and build on her standing in the team.