A new series from Victoria Gilbert and I am here for this one.

Jennifer is an author and a teacher at a university in Virginia. She has a few fellow educators in the English Dept. who are rather snobby about genre fiction and they aren't afraid to voice their opinions.

The trouble begins as a student of hers, Mia, has a nasty confrontation with one of those snobby profs. And then he is found dead. And Mia is missing.

Jennifer is going to use her fictional detective skills to find out the truth here and she has help! The lunch lady, the psychologist, and the librarian.
As a former teacher, I love this.

What fun this new series is! The characters are wonderful and the setting is perfect!


NetGalley/ Crooked Lane Books, December 10,2024

This was go good book overall. I’m giving it a 4.5 star review. Throughout the whole book, I was intrigued by Jenn but Zach suckkkkksss so bad.
This is a good read to keep you engaged and wanting more. I’m excited for the book to be released so that I can add it to my trophy case (bookcase)

This was a decent enough book, I was a little bored in a few spots, but otherwise it did hold my attention.

Jennifer Dalton works at Clarion University as well as being a published mystery writer. While she enjoys her job some of the academics in the English department look down on her, and some of the students, for their interest in writing genre fiction instead of great literature. Jenn finds it easy to overlook until one of her students, Mia, is suspected of murdering a snobbish professor who has given her a poor grade on her story. With the police not willing to suspect anyone but Mia, Jenn and two of her campus friends start to investigate to clear Mia’s name.
The characters are pleasant, we have a romance - reluctant at first - between Jenn and the campus psychologist, and there are enough suspects to make for a not straightforward, easy to solve mystery. All in all an enjoyable cozy and I will look forward to the next in the series. Recommended.

I was looking forward to Victoria Gilbert’s Schooled in Murder. It’s the first in the new Campus Sleuth Mystery series. And, it’s set in the same world as her Blue Ridge Library Mysteries. But, this one is definitely for readers who are looking for another mystery set in the world of academia with its politics and pettiness. And, even the main character, Jennifer Dalton, seems petty at times.

Jenn is a mystery writer and director of the campus writing center at Clarion University in Virginia. She’s doing a little research for her next book when she finds the body of Doug Barth, one of the English professors. She panics when she sees the light motion detectors, and runs to call 911. But, when rumors start to circulate immediately that a student, Mia Jackson, might have killed Barth, Jenn doesn’t believe it. She mentored Mia. Although the young woman has disappeared, Jenn is convinced she’s not a killer. She agrees to join forces with two other women, a reference librarian and the cafeteria manager, who also believe Mia is innocent. They’re determined to find some suspects the police might not have considered. Jenn even drags a psychologist, a reluctant ally, into their search.

I’m a fan of several of Gilbert’s series. But, I didn’t see anything fresh in Schooled in Murder. Jenn is threatened and attacked. There’s a car accident that isn’t an accident, and someone follows her on a country road. There’s the obligatory faculty party for a mystery set in the academic world. And, there’s a second death that may or may not be murder, leading Jenn into more danger.

For now, I think I’m going to stick with the Blue Ridge Library Mysteries and the Hunter and Clewe ones. Jenn Dalton takes a few too many chances for me.

The story has a lot of fascinating details. Like the research on the department's prejudices was thorough and suspense was also greatly increased by Jen's further scares. I enjoyed the cozy cutesy vibe of the plot but when it comes to the characters... WHY ARE THEY SO LIKE CARDBOARD? I really couldn't connect with any of them. Additionally, after the reveal of the real culprits, it weakened the narrative as we weren't so invested in those characters.

Overall, it's a good mystery book that keeps you on your toes, I did not see the culprit until the very end. Really a good start to a series, although I felt as if there were some holes in the story, like this isn't the first book. Nevertheless, I would still read the next one and thank you Victoria Gilbert for the ARC!

cozy-mystery, new-series, first-in-series, university, writers, murder, investigations, threats, suspense, friendship, campus-police, amateur-sleuth, sabotage, thriller, professor, psychologist, Virginia, romantic, unpleasant-co-worker, unpleasant-victims, attempted-murder, riveting*****

A dead professor, a missing student known to be at odds with him, and a professor/mystery writer/amateur sleuth are the bases of this twisty new offering from one of my favorite authors. There are threats, attempted murder, another murder, an interested but condescending psychologist, and a lot more interesting things going on. Excellent read for an afternoon and looking for the next installment next year!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
Avail January 2025 #CampusSleuthMysteriesBk1

Teaching at Clarion University. Jen finds herself by some of her fellow educators. Simply because she’s an author of what they don’t consider o be serious work.

It’s not just Jen. they look down on as one of the professors and a student get into an altercation. Once that Prof. is murdered, and the student goes missing, Jenn and several her colleagues step up to prove the gross innocence. Can they figure out what happened, or is there a Masters of murder among them?

A solid start to new cozy series from one of my must read cozy authors. The author has developed a strong and likable protagonist as well as several supporting characters that help move the story along. I’m looking forward to more in this series Victoria Gilbert always has a well written and planned out mystery in her books.

Jen Dalton has the dream job -- she's head of the creative writing program at a university in Virginia, and she is also a successful writer of mysteries. The snobs in the English department look down their noses at her genre fiction, however, so she doesn't always have the greatest relationship with them. When one of the more difficult English professors is found murdered, a student paper with a poor grade is found next to the body. The student is Mia, one of Jen's favorites. Mia is now a murder suspect, and Jen will do everything she can to keep Mia from being charged with murder. A great cozy mystery -- this looks like the first in a planned series (I hope) -- fun campus setting, and Jen is a great relatable character. I look forward to recommending this title.

It took me a little while to get into this book. But once I did, I enjoyed the development of the characters and the plot. I look forward to reading more of this series. I also enjoyed how Amy and Richard Muir showed up for a brief moment in this book, which makes sense since it is set on Clarion University. Jen also lives in the guest house of Emily Moore, who we met in the Blue Ridge Library series.

This is a new series by Victoria Gilbert titled Campus Sleuth Mystery. I love novels that involve the school setting. Her writing style is great and the characters are amazing..

Schooled In Murder by Victoria Gilbert is the first book in her new cozy mystery series, Campus Sleuth Mysteries.

With her usual attention to detail, Ms. Gilbert has executed a mystery with plenty of twists and turns, several suspects who had motives and a plot that moved quickly and smoothly from chapter to chapter. However, I didn't feel a connection to the main character, Jennifer Dalton. I would have appreciated more insight and development of her throughout the book. All in all, it was an entertaining mystery that kept me guessing until the end.

Jenn Dalton is an author and educator at Clarion University. When a professor is murdered after an argument with one of her students Jenn as well as a couple of co-workers decide to investigate on their own. Let me start by saying that I have read every book in the Blue Ridge Library Mysteries series and loved them. So when I found out that there was an offshoot of the series I was very excited. Unfortunately I was sadly mistaken that this book would be as wonderful as the others. First off this is not really an offshoot of another series. Some of the characters made minimal cameo appearances but are not actually involved in the story. I found the characters lacked depth and well ... character. I did not know much more about them by the last page than the first. I also found Jenn to be extremely unlikable. She came across at the very least as rude but mostly just mean. Also there was no real sense of mystery or investigation it was just kind of there. Needless to say I will not be reading this series in the future.

I have always loved Victoria's Blue Ridge mystery series and I was so exited to receive an e-galley of the first book in a new series. This was a fun, easy to read mystery. I loved how it still took place in the same are and at the same college from her other series. I will definitely continue on with this series.

Jennifer Dalton, a published author, is head of creative writing at Clarion University. When Professor Barth is killed,
one of Jen's students is suspected of his murder. However, there are a number of people who disliked Barth and
Jen feels they should all be looked into. With the help of friends, she seeks to clear her student of the murder.
How well does Jen actually know her fellow coworkers?
Likeable characters, first in a new series.
#SchooledinMurder #CrookedLaneBooks #NetGalley

This was a fun, cute cozy mystery! I love the theme throughout, and I will definitely be continuing with the series.

Well I'm not sure how I would review this one. I'm not sure if this is the first in this series or if there was another before. It starts out pretty good but then -- well I'm thinking it warps quickly into a romance type thing. I love this authors work so I'll read another before I decide if it's my style or not.

Jenn Dalton is a mystery writer who works in a writing lab at a local college. When she visits the library one day and stumbles upon the body of one of the English faculty members, she enlists the help of her friends to find out how the man ended up crumpled beneath the balcony. Will she find the killer before the killer finds her?

This book was kind of interesting because it ties in with the Blue Ridge Library Mystery series. jenn lives in Taylorsford, Virginia, and works at Clarion. She hasn't ever gone to the library so she doesn't know Amy Webber but she does know Richard Muir from campus. There are some hints in this book that Jenn will eventually meet Kurt and I have to say I was disappointed with that. I don't care for Kurt's character, he is unrealistic and I feel like he serves as an unfair crutch in the Blue Ridge Library series, allowing Amy to cut corners on her investigations. I'm hoping that if Kurt does appear in this series it will be peripheral only and that he won't become involved in the mysteries.

I like Jenn's character, but I can't stand Zach. He's condescending and doesn't feel like a good match for Jenn. Jenn's other inner-circle friends, Bri and Charlotte, are both sweet and they make a good investigative team. The mystery was good and the investigation was very natural and fun to read. I also liked how there were kind of two mysteries and you're not really sure when they're wrapped up. It worked in this book, though it's definitely something that can be easily overdone so I hope the author doesn't choose to follow that same formula in future books. Gilbert did that in the Blue Ridge series and it didn't work very well for me (though in those cases the second mystery to be solved was always something very small and inconsequential so it felt like it wasn't worthy of being included in the book at all, in this case it was something more serious so it worked.)

For fans of Gilbert, this is typical of her work and definitely something fans will enjoy. If Gilbert is a new author for you, I would recommend reading the Blue Ridge Library series first.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

This is a light mystery read though for me it was sort of anti-climactic.
Jen is a mystery author at Clarion University where she sees a dead body of a professor. This inspires Jen to solve the murder by looking into the colleagues and their relationship with the victim. She is assisted by Zach whom she also starts a romantic relationship.

There was a lot of interesting bits in the story. The biases within the department were well researched. The additional scares encountered by Jen also added quite a bit of suspense. I always love reading small town settings. It's kind of the dream.

I think that the unveiling of the actual culprits did a number on the book because you weren't so invested in those characters. Overall a decent read.

I thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this E-Arc and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A well written and very engaging read. If you enjoy JA Jance you would like this author. Good plot, well paced, and good character development. I read the book in one sitting.