Having enjoyed MacKenzie Common’s previous book, The Six Murders of Daphne St Clair, about a ninety-year-old woman looking back on her life as a serial killer, I was interested in trying her new one, another crime novel this time set at Oxford University.
The Scholars follows five students who are awarded Oxford’s coveted Shepherd Scholarship, an award given only to the most exceptional candidates each year, many of whom go on to become world leaders in their fields. This year’s Shepherd Scholars consist of Azelle, a social media influencer from South Africa; Mabel, a young Canadian woman who runs a charity providing clean water to remote villages in India; Hugo, the son of a prominent British politician; and two Americans, Hadley, a history academic who is researching pogroms and riots, and Finn, who is developing an AI grief counselling service.
The five students seem to have very little in common and tensions develop within the group almost immediately. When one of them is killed after falling from a roof, it’s unclear whether or not it was an accident, but rumours quickly begin to circulate that they were pushed – and that one of the other four Shepherd Scholars was responsible. Then it emerges that the dead student has left behind a proposal for a book they were planning to write, featuring four fictional characters with strong resemblances to the four remaining Scholars. If the book had been published, it would have revealed secrets the Scholars have been trying to keep hidden. All four have a strong motive for the murder, then, but which, if any, was the culprit?
The story unfolds from the perspectives of each of the four students, all of whom are unreliable narrators, hiding their pasts from each other and from the reader, until it becomes impossible to keep things secret any longer. Their secrets are terrible ones – the kind that can ruin reputations and careers – and this raises some interesting questions about the integrity of the scholarships, the vetting process and whether candidates should be judged on their current achievements or whether their personal histories should be taken into account. I didn’t like any of the four surviving students and we probably weren’t supposed to, but there were two that I eventually began to warm to slightly and two that I didn’t. I suspected one character of being the killer from early in the book and was correct to suspect them – although a twist right at the end turned everything on its head again!
Although there were things I liked about this book, there were also some things I had problems with. First, once the murder took place I would have expected more involvement from the police and the university, yet the four students just seem to be left to continue their studies as if nothing had happened and even after their secrets are exposed the police still don’t come to speak to them regarding motives etc. The only investigations we see being carried out are by the four students themselves and random people discussing the case on social media. I also felt that although there are some nice descriptions of the city of Oxford, the university setting never really comes to life.
After a slow start, I became drawn into the story, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if there had been even one character I could have liked or connected with in some way. I preferred MacKenzie Common’s previous book, but will still be looking out for her next one.
Thanks to Mountain Leopard Press for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.
I’m counting this towards RIPXXI hosted by @perilreaders
