In the Study with the Wrench by Diana Peterfreund

All of the characters in the first book are back... well, in the sense that they haven't left Blackbrook Academy. They each have their reasons for not wanting to leave, most of them we learned about or at least were heavily hinted at in the first book. Of course, after the murders in that book, many of the students have been pulled from the school. Unfortunately, two members of the so-called "Murder Crew" find another body which sets off a series of events leading to one of their own not being there by the end of the book. 

There is a lot more exposition and less action in this book which was okay until there was a sudden flurry of things happening at the end. I hope that the third book will tie up loose ends.

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 13th, 2020

Follows In the Hall with the Knife

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund

Okay, Peterfreund obviously has a deep and abiding love for the 1980s movie version of Clue with at least a dozen little easter eggs sprinkled into the text as homages to that amazing cult classic. Otherwise, this is a completely re-imagined version of a bunch of people with names (first, last, nick) that are related to colors who are at Blackbrook, an elite academy, over the winter break when a flood/snowstorm collide to make for a really uncomfortable time. Headmaster Boddy gathers all of the students, including at least three who had negative interactions with him recently, in the Tudor house with the woman in charge of the house, Mrs. White and one adult janitor, Rusty. However, one of the students, the one we follow most closely throughout the third person narration, Orchid, wakes up early on the first morning after they're gathered and finds the body of Boddy in the kitchen, stabbed. Almost all of the people gathered in the house have secrets they'd like to keep - Vaughn Green, the local boy there on scholarship; Phineas Plum, first among the science students and one of the students called in to talk to the Headmaster; Scarlet Mistry, Finn's humanities counterpart and partner in ensuring they both come in first in their respective fields; Beth "Peacock" PIcah who may have thrown a candlestick at Boddy after a loud argument followed by a thud; Orchid McKee who is hiding her true identity but someone has found her out; Samuel "Mustard" Maestro who has only been at Blackbrook for a month after getting booted out of military school mid-semester.
Though it took me quite awhile to get into this book, I have to admit that I*m looking forward to the other two books of this trilogy.

Four stars
This book came out October 8th

Followed by In the Study with the Wrench
ARC kindly provided by Amulet Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own