What do you do when an accident claims the life of a boy at the elite public school of which you are the headmaster, and you have a suspicion that things aren’t quite as straightforward as all that? Why, call in an old boy with a whiff of experience of detection, obviously. That’s what Dr Roseveare, headmaster of Oakington, does, summoning Colin Revell to nose around.

Finding nothing, Revell leaves, only to return when the first victim’s brother dies, apparently in a bizarre accident in the swimming pool – apparently they went for a dive, despite the lights having fused and not noticing that someone had drained the pool…

Oh, John Curran, you little tease. This book was one mentioned at the recent Bodies From The Library conference in his talk about crimes at schools and colleges. It’s the only whodunnit by James Hilton, best known for Goodbye, Mr Chips, and… well, I suppose it’s interesting enough.

It’s also a bit weird, as the police presence in the story consists of one bloke showing up and saying he’s a policeman and Revell believes him, despite there being any other officers present.

Where it suffers, though, is as a mystery, there being a complete dearth of suspects. At the end, the reader will probably be assuming that it’s X if the author isn’t being desperately clever, or it’s Y if the author thinks they’re being clever (which they’re noth, by the way).

There’s some interesting-ish stuff with some revelations at the end about what is going on and Revell’s actual role in the story, but for this reader, it’s too little too late, I’m afraid. At the end of the day, it’s an interesting experiment into crime fiction from a non-crime writer, but I’m glad he stopped with this one.