Goodbye, Ms. Chips: An Ellie Haskell Mystery by Dorothy Cannell

Ellie is being called back to her old school.  She's married now and has children so it's not about her school days.  It's about the loss of a unique trophy.  They have lost it to another school and it's now missing.  She's willing to see what she can find.  She'll be sorry she got involved before it's over.

Alibi and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It's being published today, so you can grab a copy now.

I've been reading about Ellie for a number of years now.  She's a good person, tries to do the right thing, and manages to get caught up in other people's affairs.  But she never says no.

When she arrives at the school, she's amazed to see that teachers weren't as old as she thought they were in her earlier days.  She has a bully from the past at the same home she's staying in that doesn't enthuse her but she tries to ignore her, unsuccessfully.  

While Ellie is doing undercover work trying to locate the trophy, she notices some students are unhappy and ends up trying to improve that.  She also plays matchmaker.  She certainly never expected to find a retired teacher dying at the bottom of some steps.  Identifying the killer will be dangerous.  So will be stopping another death...

The story moves a bit slowly in the beginning while the stage is being set, but it picks up.  I didn't suspect the killer.  That was a nice touch.