1894, Wigan. Miss Dorothea Gadsworth is interviewed for a teaching vacancy at George Street Elementary, but is ultimately dismissed as a candidate. The following Monday morning, her body is discovered in a locked classroom with a note by her side. DS Michael Brennan is called in to investigate what appears to be a straightforward suicide, but his instincts tell him there is more to this case than meets the eye. With the door locked from the inside, staff members with plenty to hide and a student missing from the school, DS Brennan, aided by the scowling Constable Jaggery, wrestles with one of his most intricate investigations yet.



A. J. Wright has been shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger Award and won the Dundee International Fiction Prize for Act of Murder. Striking Murder has been longlisted for the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger. He lives in Croston in Lancashire.