Joanne Harris — Gentlemen and Players

Doubleday 2005 Paperback, 512pp. The place is St Oswalds, an old and long-established boys grammar school in the north of England. A new year has just begun, and for the staff and boys of the school, a wind of unwelcome change is blowing. Suits, paperwork and Information Technology rule the world and Roy Straitley, Latin master, eccentric, and veteran of St Oswalds, is finally reluctantly contemplating retirement. But beneath the little rivalries, petty disputes and everyday crises of the school, a darker undercurrent stirs. And a bitter grudge, hidden and carefully nurtured for thirteen years, is about to erupt. Who is Mole, the mysterious insider, whose cruel practical jokes are gradually escalating towards violence and perhaps, murder? And how can an old and half-forgotten scandal become the stone that brings down a giant? Spine creased. (ISBN: 9780385609524). Good.