Lately, I’ve found myself reading mysteries set in high schools and starring teachers and/or school administrators. My own Death Takes No Bribes fits into that category too. Here’s a sampling of those books.

A Murder of Principal by Saralyn Richard

Ms. Richard was a school administrator in a large urban high school, so her story rings true at every turn. When Lincoln High School gets a new principal named RJ Stoker, it also gets a new agenda designed to shake things up a bit. He creates a student/parent-oriented plan to change the atmosphere of the school and chooses Sally Pearce as his assistant principal. Sally is like so many teachers I’ve known who are dedicated to the welfare of “their kids” and try to help them with far more than their English homework.

A fire in the school and the murder of Stoker starts this story off with multiple subjects of gangs, racial tensions, community grievances, and teacher-union politics. The kids are caught in the middle, especially the quarterback of the football team who’s resisting gang pressure and trying to protect his girlfriend. A second murder occurs, throwing Sally Pearce into the uncomfortable position of next in line…as administrator and possible murder victim.

Ms. Richard has masterfully created a gritty urban school atmosphere with pressures in every direction. Her characters are well drawn, especially Sally Pearce and the students and colleagues with whom she interacts. Her intentions are clear, the stakes are high, and her fears are real. The school community is also a huge part of the conflict. Parents who are trying to do what’s best for their kids often collide with the reality of gangs strutting their power. By the time a few murders occur, you suspect everyone. Beautifully written and filled with realistic portrayals of urban school life.

A Study Guide for Murder: A Master Class Mystery by Lori Robbins

This is the second mystery in this series, and I laughed my way through the first one called Lesson Plan for Murder. The voice of her English teacher, Liz Hopewell, is hilarious, and her descriptions of administrators are priceless. This is the description on the back cover of the first book:

“It was a truth universally acknowledged: Marcia Deaver’s untimely death elicited very little grief from her colleagues at Valerian Hills High School. Some staff members speculate the cause of death was a heart attack, or a suicide, but Liz Hopewell knows no self-respecting English teacher would kill herself without leaving behind a perfectly penned suicide note, complete with detailed footnotes and obscure literary references.”

When I began reading A Study Guide for Murder, I was happy that Liz was back with her snarky observations about life in the academic lane. She has now moved from the city to the suburbs, and, as everyone knows, the suburbs include a ritzy, private, expensive golf club that Liz’s husband joins with a flourish of his credit card. He says their membership is good for business, but Liz isn’t buying that when she sees the glamorous female clients he seems to be courting. Liz is not so much interested in these folks, but she reluctantly joins, and her husband buys her a golf lesson. Next thing you know, Elliot Tumbleson, the club treasurer and parent of one of Liz’s students, is murdered with Liz’s golf club. Another of her students is accused.

It’s a story of social class differences, the values of the country club folk, and the question of who’s behind not one, but two murders at the well-manicured lawns of the private set. Liz, like Sally Pearce above, is concerned for her student, whom she believes is unjustly accused, and she sets off to prove his innocence. She also joins with her sister, Susan, to try to solve another murder in their lives: the mysterious death, years earlier, of their mother. The two plots run parallel. I loved the relationship and bickering between the sisters. So real.

It’s definitely a funny, light mystery with a rollicking roller coaster ride of clues and a protagonist who has a hilarious viewpoint about her job and her surroundings.

Death Takes No Bribes by Susan Van Kirk

When I wrote the third full-length novel in the Endurance series, I designed this mystery to take retired English teacher Grace Kimball back to her high school to help Detective TJ Sweeney solve a horrendous murder. John Hardy, a well-liked principal, is a victim of poison, and the clues seem to point either to the chemistry teacher who teaches a poison unit in his classes, or a spurned lover, or a betrayed husband…lots of suspects to choose from. Meanwhile, the eccentric high school drama teacher is producing “Arsenic and Old Lace,” a choice that would seem to scream bad timing.

Grace knows the ins and outs of the old high school building, most of the faculty, and a few past secrets. But can she help TJ Sweeney find out who killed the principal before her own life is in danger?