Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey

A classic suspenseful read from my past. I vaguely remember reading this when I was in high school so really enjoyed reading this again.

Miss Lucy Pym is spending the weekend at an all girls school, Leys Physical Training College. She was pleased and flattered to be invited to give a psychology lecture there. She is quickly swept into the life of the young girls by being invited to parties and walks on the grounds. There is much anticipation as the girls wait for the various awards and scholarships to be announced. When a sullen, unpopular girl is awarded a valuable scholarship, instead of the candidate favored by their classmates and teachers no one is sure what to think. But when the former is found "accidentally" dead under suspicious circumstances, Miss Pym is drawn involuntarily into helping to solve the mystery. Her analysis of who could have done it -- psychologically as well as physically -- is fascinating and logical.

The conclusion is stunning: Miss Pym discovers that her own desire to do "the right thing" is not all that different from the murderer's motives, and the results were no less devastating. The basis of the mystery novel, as a genre, is moral -- find out and punish wrongdoing -- but this is much more morally complex and will leave you thinking.