Today is my roll day, so I'm going to start with my normal roll:

This takes me to space #4: 

Read a book that was published during the months of May, June or July, or that contains an item that would be used as a school supply or an article of clothing or an accessory pictured on the cover.

Fortuitously, the next Lynley book, Well-Schooled in Murder, was published in May of 2007! Yippee!

First of my extra rolls:

comes up doubles, and takes me the race car. I put it in my pocket, and roll again!

which puts me on:

15. Read a book with a tree (or trees) on the cover, or that is set in a mountain community.

A Fountain Filled With Blood is set in Miller's Kill, NY, a community in the Adirondack mountains, which fulfills this prompt! That's the one book that I am for sure going to read, so that's great that I can fit it in without using one of my novelty cards!

Roll for my second extra roll:

which puts me on:

20. Read a book that features a dog or which has a dog on the cover or that is set in an area known for its lakes or on a fictional lake.

At this point, I must move onto the next Russ & Clare mystery, called Out of the Deep I Cry, which is set in Millers Kill, in the Adirondacks, and area that is both known for its lakes and which takes place on a lake.

My third extra roll:

Puts me on the BL space, which means that I go to the Wheel Decide:

which tells me to "read a book that has been on my TBR for more than a year"

So many possibilities for this one, including Bring Up the Bodies, which is the sequel to Wolf Hall, and which I bought when it was published back in September, 2012, well over a year ago.

and then because I had doubles, I roll again:

Which puts me on Go, so I collect $5.00 and roll again!

which takes me around the board, past where I started rolling, to:

7. Read a book that has a house on the cover, or that is related to something unique about your community (for example, if your community has a strawberry festival, read a book with strawberries on the cover).

Playing one of my cat cards - I read The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett.

I remember reading this book the first time, and being taken aback by the feral, almost Lord of the Flies, nature of the English boarding school at the center of this installment of the Inspector Lynley mysteries. The fact that it was written by an American was astonishing to me - George seems to inhabit the English mystery as well as any native writer. 

I had forgotten, though, the brutality of the book, which just repeatedly punches the reader in the face with twists, each one more terrible than the next. George palms the ace several times, with an easy competence that Christie would approve, turning the readers attention first to one suspect, then the next, until the final reveal.

It's not technically a Murder on the Orient Express reveal, where everyone did it. But, at the same time, George indicts the entire system of prestige boarding schools and the privileged young men it produces, demonstrating the moral bankruptcy at the heart of the honor code with startling clarity. They're all, in their arrogance and superiority, responsible - right down to Lynley, with his difficult in setting aside his own Eton loyalties throughout the investigation of the murder. The parents of the murdered child, outmatched by a system they believed had their son's best interests at heart, are enough to break your heart.

In this book, as in the others, Havers working class background is both a curse and a benefit, and she grapples with her home issues - mentally ill mother, physically ill father - throughout the book, culminating in the death of her father. She is such a good person, good daughter, good detective, wrapped in an unpreposessing package, occasionally obnoxious, but always honorable. The partnership between her and Lynley strengthens with every case they solve.

Given OB's recent review of book 4 as a retrospective, I'm considering skipping the reread of it and moving straight to book 5, For the Sake of Elena, which is a highlight of the series, if my memory serves me correctly.

Maggie and Edward come from different worlds. He's a Prince with the world laid out at his feet. She's a woman who carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. By chance is how they meet. She needs a job. He needs a tutor. What they find could be the undoing of years of tradition or the beginning of a forever kind of love. Royally Schooled feeds the fantasy of the heart. Though a tad cliched, James puts emotions at the center of a larger than life, slightly obvious, hard to resist fairytale and hits her target dead on.

I am reading A Fountain Filled With Blood with Wanda over the 4th because it's also set over the 4th of July.

Orient Express is the next book on my Classics Club Vol. 2 list. My Virago copy of Elizabeth and Her German Garden, which I selected off of the Crowdsourced list, arrived yesterday, and Well-Schooled in Murder came up on my ebook holds so it's downloaded and ready to go!

Hopefully I will be able to wedge them into my BLopoly game as well!

I really don't know what to say except this was a very well thought out mystery. Lynley and Havers shine in this one. The why behind the murder made me sad and what made me even more sad is that you see what other ugliness was going on at Bredgar Chambers. The only reason why I didn't favorite this one is that the Deborah and St. James sub-plot was beyond aggravating. 

"Well-Schooled in Murder" takes 2 months after the last book in the series. Lynley is still heart-broken that his proposal to Helen caused her to not only say no, but flee England to go traveling. I honestly don't blame her. Lynley has thrown himself into work which is causing Havers no end of exhaustion too. Havers is dealing with the health of her father getting worse and her mother becoming more unstable and unable to do anything without her there. When an old school friend of Lynley's asks for his help when a student goes missing, Lynely agrees because of their connection and also because he doesn't want to go home. He and Havers quickly realize though that the missing student (Matthew Whately) has been found and it appears he was tortured and then murdered before being dumped naked. Lynley and Havers zero in on the school though the Headmaster doesn't believe anyone there has anything to do with it.

Lynley is really good in this one. And I like he acknowledges his mistakes from the last case and is conscious he may be making apologizes for his former friend. However, he is quite good in reading people and situations. I like that he and Havers follow the case where it takes them and they both besides using the forensics that are available find out what they know just by talking to people and realizing what happened to Matthew. The biggest issue is finding out who did it though and I definitely got tripped up like 5 times. I would think one person did it and then quickly change my mind. We get a reveal and then several reveals and I maybe gasped. I didn't see the ending coming at all which I loved. 

The sub-plot with St. James and Deborah was beyond tone-deaf. I get this was written in 1989 so there are some allowances for that, but to not spoil for others, it was typical Soap Opera mess that I didn't appreciate. Deborah was acting like an idiot.

The characters we meet in this one are quite memorable. We have Whately's mother and father who are heartbroken over his death. A former military man who played chess with Matthew. Matthew's best friend/playmate who it sounds like may make future appearances if another character has a say in it. Also we have Lynley's old school friend, Corntel who I shuddered about. I think Lynley made a mistake there and I wonder if that is going to come back to haunt him. 

The writing was very good and think the flow was pitch perfect. 

The setting of the school instead of showing a place of higher learning showed a place of cruelty and secrets. 

The ending was very good though it leaves things up in the air with Lynley's future with Helen.