A Lesson in Dying is the 1st Inspector Ramsay standalone mystery by Ann Cleeves. Originally released in 1990, this reformat and re-release 25th March 2025 by Macmillan is 240 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
The (loathed) headmaster at a local school is found hanged in the courtyard of the school, and Ramsay is drawn in by circumstances to investigate. There are a plethora of suspects; the victim was not an upstanding person. As with the other books in the series, there's a pervasive sadness and sordidness which makes for a melancholy read.
The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 5 hours 35 minutes and is capably read by series narrator Simon Mattacks. He has a beautifully modulated classically trained light baritone voice and does a great job of delineating a range of characters of both sexes and a number of regional accents, shifting quickly and flawlessly. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.
There's not a ton of continuity in this series, and it works very well as a standalone read. This book is also quite intricately plotted, but there aren't any major spoilers if they're read out of order. The denouement and resolution were satisfying, if melancholy.
This series is definitely not as polished as her later work, but there are glimpses of the style and development which later gave rise to Vera and Shetland. It has "good bones" and works very well, despite the pervasive sadness which threads throughout the entire series.
Four stars. Well worth seeking out for fans of moody atmospheric British crime.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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