Murder at prestigious school in latest Dorothy Koomson thriller

Kez, however, had other ideas, and she is back now for her third outing, The Quiet Girls by Brighton-based author Dorothy Koomson.

When MJ Hudson, an old work acquaintance, shows up at Kez Lanyon’s house in the middle of the night, Kez knows she has no choice but to help.

At the prestigious boarding school that MJ’s daughter attends, a teacher has been killed and a pupil is missing. And it seems that the same thing happens every few years. Only this time, the school hasn’t been able to cover things up and MJ’s daughter and her group of nice, quiet friends are right at the heart of the scandal.

Undercover as the new school therapist, Kez quickly realises there are some seriously powerful, well-connected forces at play. And by continuing to investigate the mystery, perhaps even stepping outside the law to do so, Kez risks putting her own family in serious danger.

Previously Kez featured in Every Smile You Fake and Give Him To Me.

“She is a profiler and a therapist and when we meet her in Every Smile You Fake that is all she does. Her profiling work is generally going into various businesses and companies and talking to people and profiling the culture of the business and helping the company to improve staff relations and also their image but during the course of Every Smile You Fake we discovered that she has a very interesting work past which was working for the intelligence services. She used to work for a government body that works on the psychological side of messaging, how people receive messages and how the public receive messages and how you can nudge people to do what you want them to do. It is very useful.

“She is also very good at winding people up! She's a bit of a wind-up merchant. She is very good at taking people down. She profiles people and finds out who they are with minimal information and then tells them about themselves in a very unflattering way! She only ever does it to people that deserve it. She tries to avoid doing it as much as possible. She is actually very, very caring and very principled.

“She has got an ex-work colleague called MJ that she doesn't like and he doesn't like her but they keep getting thrown together, and in this one MJ turns up in the middle of the night saying ‘You have to help me.’ His daughter is at this very prestigious boarding school but there has been a murder and one of the pupils has disappeared...”

Dorothy is based in Brighton and sets her books in Brighton. The school in the latest book is near Salisbury but the rest of the book is very much Brighton: “Brighton is such a crazy place but it's a great place. You've got the sea and the Downs and the people. It is just a great place to be. I've been here for 19 years and I just love being here. And it's a great place to write.”

Readers who buy The Quiet Girls (Headline Review) at Afrori Books or City Books will receive a token for one free coffee at Redroaster at The Brighton Dome. The offer runs until July 26 2026. The collaboration aims to “support local independent businesses while promoting reading for pleasure, inviting readers to take a quiet moment for themselves with a great book and a great cup of coffee.”