The Best Corpse for the Job by Charlie Cochrane

Blurb:

Tea and sympathy have never been so deadly.

Schoolteacher Adam Matthews just wants to help select a new headteacher and go home. The governors at Lindenshaw St Crispin’s have already failed miserably at finding the right candidate, so it’s make or break this second time round. But when one of the applicants is found strangled in the school, what should have been a straightforward decision turns tempestuous as a flash flood in their small English village.

Inspector Robin Bright isn’t thrilled to be back at St. Crispin’s. Memories of his days there are foul enough without tossing in a complicated murder case. And that handsome young teacher has him reminding himself not to fraternize with a witness. But it’s not long before Robin is relying on Adam for more than just his testimony.

As secrets amongst the governors emerge and a second person turns up dead, Robin needs to focus less on Adam and more on his investigation. But there are too many suspects, too many lies, and too many loose ends. Before they know it, Robin and Adam are fighting for their lives  and  their hearts.

Don’t Quote Me…

If, as frequently happens, something funny—or out of the ordinary—occurs in the Cochrane household, one of my daughters will usually say, “That’s going to end up in one of your books, isn’t it?”

And, because I’m the world’s worst liar (any career as a secret agent would be totally beyond me) I say, “Um. Yes. Probably.”

I can’t help it. I get inspired by little incidents, turns of phrase, quirky things which turn up. They can’t be left buried in the family memory: they need to be shared with the world. So when my eldest daughter’s boyfriend refused to take some medicine he needed, that was always going to end up as a scene in one of my Cambridge Fellows books. He had Orlando’s characteristic reticence and pig headedness down pat!

This is meat and drink for a magpie type writer like me, who snaps up unconsidered trifles left right and centre. There is, of course, the “you couldn’t make this up” aspect, which I’d better explain.  I have been known to think of something ridiculous and then do it. Helping on a school trip, I was watching children roll down a grassy bank. “That looks fun,” I thought, so I gave it a go. They might have been having a whale of a time, but I thought I was going to die. Time expanded, so I was able – as I made my Usain Bolt like descent – to imagine the newspaper headlines. “Chair of governors dies on school trip. She was arsing about, says headteacher.”

Some of the things I’ve read, or heard people say, go right into the “you couldn’t make this up” bag, and some of those I’ve garnered as part of my role as a school governor—and as a freelance trainer of school governors—have  have gone from that bag into “Best Corpse for the Job”. All the educational jargon is the real thing, naturally, and it’s highly likely for school governors to talk about the sort of things the governors in this book do. Some of the phrases I’ve used, like developing the “pupils’ love of learning” may sound a touch soppy, but they’re straight from Ofsted’s (the English Schools Inspectorate) handbooks.

I’ve actually avoided using one or two particularly juicy examples of the daft things governors want to talk about, because they’d beggar belief. The drastic effects on school budgets of allowing colour photocopying or using the wrong sort toilet paper spring to mind.

My advice to aspiring authors would be to make a note of anything which piques your interest. If it intrigues you, chances are it’ll intrigue other people. And you always need ideas for your scenes and dialogues. Don’t ignore the ones which land in your lap!

As Charlie Cochrane couldn’t be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes, with titles published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes, MLR and Cheyenne.

Charlie’s Cambridge Fellows Series of Edwardian romantic mysteries was instrumental in her being named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, International Thriller Writers Inc and is on the organising team for UK Meet for readers/writers of GLBT fiction. She regularly appears with The Deadly Dames.

Connect with Charlie:

• Website:charliecochrane.co.uk/
• Blog: charliecochrane.livejournal.com/
• Twitter: @charliecochrane
• Facebook profile page: facebook.com/charlie.cochrane.18
• Goodreads: goodreads.com/goodreadscomcharlie_cochrane

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for an e-book from Charlie Cochrane’s backlist (excepting The Best Corpse for the Job). Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on November 29. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.