Book Review: Sins Out of School

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Sins Out of School     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Jeanne M. Dams
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Cozy   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Dorothy Martin # 8
Walker, Jan 2003, $23.95, 264 pp.

Expatriate American Dorothy Martin is approaching seventy but she acts like a woman at least two decades younger. She lives in the quaint little town of Sherebury with her husband, retired chief constable Alan Nesbitt. The couple prepares to host a Thanksgiving dinner for their friends. Three days before the big event she is asked to do a friend a favor by substituting at St. Stephen’s school. She reluctantly agrees and finds out that this is the first time the regular teacher Amanda Doyle took leave without calling.

The day of the Thanksgiving dinner, Dorothy is asked to baby-sit Amanda’s nine year old child because the teacher is in police custody as a suspect in the murder of her husband who was found dead in their flat with a knife in his back. Dorothy doesn’t believe for one moment that Amanda or Miriam could have killed John because they were so frightened and browbeat by the abusive man. She starts snooping again and finds other notable suspects and inadvertently puts Alan and her in danger from a killer who wants to see certain secrets stay buried.

Jean M Dams writes a lively, exciting and ample mystery staring a heroine that is impossible not to like. She sticks her nose into places where it doesn’t belong especially when people tell her to mind her own business. She remains steadfast seeking out the truth even if she is given the cold shoulder for asking impertinent questions. SINS OUT OF SCHOOL is an excellent mystery that deals with the issue of verbal abuse on a family.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner