Dastardly Deeds at St Bride's provides a school based lighthearted mystery and a fun read overall.
It's the first book in the Gemma Lamb Cozy Mystery series and follows Gemma starting her role as a teacher at St Bride's, a boarding school. If you loved St Claire's and Mallory Towers and throw in a little mix of St Trinian's you're sure to love this book!

3.5 stars rounded up
Everyone has a secret and Gemma may figure out everyone's. This book has quite the introduction. I kept wondering when they mystery would happen. It redeemed itself in the end.

It reminded me of Enid Blyton’s Malory Tower series. We first see St. Bride through the eyes of Gemma Lamb, however, we are slowly exposed to secrets that other residents of St. Bride have. The setting is clean, cozy, and left me nostalgic. I loved Debbie’s writing style, and found it to be well-paced. The book is not a traditional mystery where one comes across dead bodies, however, there are elements of mystery in the secrets of the residents.

The story pulls you in, and leaves you enthralled. Hold onto this book hard and don’t let it go. A perfect read for cozy mystery lovers who love funky book covers.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. I was able to find the audio version through my local library. I saw that this was listed as a cozy mystery and it really wasn't? I am confused by that genre listed.
I have a few problems with this novel. First off a very very elite private girls school decided to hire a male gym teacher and he dresses up like a women and they deceive the parents like that? I don't think so. That is very very stupid. They talk about how they don't have money and can't risk loosing anymore students when they went had hired a man and didn't tell the parents and he dresses up like a women all school year? No way that is a lawsuit. If I was a parent and found out that the elite girls boarding school I was sending my child had a man living under their roof and the school didn't tell me I would sue.
Then the main female character gets out of a horrible relationship and falls for the male gym teacher that dresses up like a women? Yeah right.
I think that it was a light heart read and I enjoyed the book besides that little back story.

Dastardly Deeds at St Bride's is the first in a new series from Debbie Young. It's a heart warming, funny and very satisfying lovely read about the shenanigans in a fictional boarding school, where the staff seem to cause far more drama then the students do.

Gemma needs a fresh start, away from her controlling boyfriend. A new job at St Bride’s is the perfect place. However, at this boarding school nothing is as it seems.

A great start to a new cozy mystery series.

Dastardly Deeds at St Bride's is the first Gemma Lamb cozy mystery by Debbie Young. This reformat and re-release 15th Sept 2022 from Boldwood Books is 246 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. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The other books in the series are also currently available on KU.

This is a fun, slyly humorous, character driven "school-time" cozy set in a girls' school at an undisclosed fictive locale somewhere in the Cotswolds. All the staff (even the school cat) are harboring secrets, and new teacher Gemma, who is on the run from a not-funny-at-all controlling ex-boyfriend finds herself trying to navigate a new job, new position, and new living arrangements.

Four stars. The language is clean and there's no questionable content. There's a sweetly nostalgic Enid Blyton vibe. With three books extant in the series (all available on kindle unlimited), it would be a good candidate for a long weekend binge or buddy read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Malory Towers meets Midsomer Murders in Dastardly Deeds at St Bride’s, the first title in Debbie Young’s addictive Gemma Lamb cozy mystery series.

When Gemma took a job at St. Bride’s, an exclusive girls’ boarding school in the English countryside, she thought that this was the fresh start she had been desperate for. This job enabled her to unshackle herself from her tyrannical boyfriend’s control and finally become the one in charge of her own fate. Gemma isn’t sure what to expect at St. Bride’s, however, even she is surprised by the fact that nothing is quite what it initially seems at this school! From the eccentric headmistress with a clear disdain for qualifications to a maths teacher who is a master of disguise – not to mention a geography teacher selling off library books and a very creepy night watchman. It seems like everyone’s got something to hide at St. Bride’s! Just what has Gemma got herself into by accepting this job?

With dangers round every corner, Gemma is not sure whom she can trust. Can she make a new life and a bright future for herself at St. Bride’s? Or will secrets from her past catch up with her and put paid to any hope she might have had of forging forward with her life? Gemma is determined to do her utmost and to give it her best, but will St, Bride’s ever be home for her? Or should she start looking for another job?

Dastardly Deeds at St. Bride’s is tremendous fun! Full of humour, charm, hi-jinks and red herrings that will keep readers guessing, fans of English cozy mysteries are going to fall upon Debbie Young’s enjoyable tale with glee. Packed with eccentric characters that cannot fail to raise a smile and lots of intrigue, tension and suspense, make sure Dastardly Deeds at St. Bride’s is at the very top of your must-buy list!

I really wanted to like this book as the blurb sounded really fun and cosy murder mystery is right down my alley however it just didn't click for me.

I thought some of the tropes were a bit outdated and I didnt gel with any of the characters.

Thank you for the arc.

With the nights drawing in, sometimes it's nice to take my love of crime fiction into a slightly more fuzzy direction, and so in the winter months, I do love a little cosy crime! Therefore, I was delighted to be invited on the blog tour for @debbieyoungauthor's St Bride's series. Inspired by the author's own experience in teaching, this is a heartwarming and entertaining cosy mystery that was a joy to read. Although I did find it odd that it wasn't until quite close to the end that the 'crime' happens – I was surprised I was so far through the novel when I realised! – but this didn't hamper my enjoyment of a very pleasurable read. In fact, I was disappointed when it ended!

This was a really enjoyable read, a mix between girls boarding school and cosy mystery. Gemma is a great protagonist, escaping to a job that will take her back to a job that she trained for at university and a rather unpleasant and controlling boyfriend. The characters feel real and varied, and the dialogue is great, moving the story along well. Gemma asks good questions, and finds herself feeling very much at home at this slightly unusual school where she’s ended up.

A gentle, well paced cosy mystery that will appeal to many.

Definitely will keep an eye out for the next in the series.

#DastardlyDeedsatStBrides #NetGalley Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

This is the gentlest of cozy mystery series, with a varied range of characters who all add both humour and poignancy to the story. They each have their own secrets and individual reasons for being at St Brides. When Gemma arrives at the school, she is anxious as to whether she will fit in and whether she will be accepted. She needed have worried as she finds a haven in the school and a world which seems to take people at face value, with little regard for their history. 

Set in the middle of the countryside, you can picture the school which has a nostalgic feel. It reminds me of the boarding school books I read as a child and is spot on for a cozy mystery. The pupils are also delightful and there seems to be an amusing relationship of mutual respect between staff and pupils who collude in accepting certain events. This is a promising first book in the series. It sets the scene and sets up the characters who you will meet, whilst showing the school to be a potential rich source for future stories.

In short: gentle cozy mystery with humour and a hint of romance
#blogtour

A fun, cozy mystery set in a school. I used to love school based books as a child and I haven't really grown out of them!
Gemma Lamb takes a job at a quirky English girls’ boarding school, amd meets a very quirky cast of characters in the teachers, including a very masculine PE mistress...!
What can I say,.it's silly, it's fun, an easy lighthearted read for those times when you just want to cozy up and find an escape.
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Gemma Lamb is thirty years old, she’s just split up with her long-term boyfriend Steven and has taken a job as a teacher at St Bride’s School for Girls – mainly because she’s now homeless and the job comes with accommodation. Set in a beautiful former stately home, it’s an idyllic setting and she is told all the staff and pupils are female, so Gemma feels it should be a good place to live and work.
We meet a variety of staff members at the private boarding school and many of the hundred pupils. I like the “not quite swearing” the girls do, that’s very clever. There are lots of funny bits and I loved the character of the P.E. teacher as well.
I also adored the Headmistress Miss Harnett, who has a fabulous black cat and is more concerned about appointing members of staff who show warmth and kindness, rather than considering their academic qualifications. I loved her attitude to the parents who expected special treatment, like wanting their daughter to be a prefect or Head Girl.
I adored the Malory Towers books as a child and hoped this series would be similar. While Malory Towers was wonderfully old-fashioned, the St Bride’s series is set in the present day along with all the trappings of modern life, like social media and e-books. However, it does have a charm and quirkiness of its own. The girls are certainly not of the St Trinian’s ilk, they seem very well-behaved and maybe the odd mischievous girl would have been a fun addition, but I did enjoy it.
This is the first of three books set at St Bride’s and I look forward to reading the other two. I enjoyed the setting, the characters and I would like to see what happens next.

In this cross between a cosy mystery and a classic girl’s boarding school book from the Enid Blyton era (think Malory Towers, St Clare’s or the Naughtiest Girl books). I honestly wasn’t sure it would work, but the blurb intrigued me enough to give it a go, and I am so glad I did because it really does!

Gemma Lamb is our main character and, as her name implies, the innocent eyes through which we enter the world of secrets at St Bride’s school. Everyone seems to be hiding something, but what is harmless personal history and what could threaten the safety of the staff and students?

There is plenty of mystery here (not of the traditional, murdery kind!), but no actual dead bodies (although it comes close), which makes it an ideal series starter for someone who wants to try mystery but is nervous about the violence. There is a bit of a potential trigger in mentions of a controlling, abusive domestic relationship, but as character backstory this occurs before the start of the story rather than within the pages. And there is a little – very light – romance. In fact, everything from tone to content remains pleasantly light throughout even the mild peril.

The main difference between this book and the traditional boarding school tales of adventure and mischief is that in this series the action focuses on the adults of the school, rather than the children. And I absolutely love the eccentric staff of St Bride’s!

By the finish of the story it was clear that, although the initial problem was solved successfully, there was plenty more potential in the secrets still left to be uncovered. Which makes me very glad that I already have Books 2 and 3 in this series ready to review for you soon!

Much like St Bride’s itself, this story is lovely and a little bit old-fashioned (in the best way), very high quality and good clean fun. It is different from any cosy mystery I have read before, and makes for a very enjoyable, easy read.

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

This is a series that begins with Dastardly Deeds at St Bride's and tells us that, if the reader enjoyed either St Trinians or Malory Towers, this series should be right for them. As someone who read every Malory Towers book I could and watched every St Trinity's film. I had to see what the Gemma Lamb series was about.

St Bride’s is a school set in its own private grounds. A boarding school for girls and it has a new teacher, Gemma Lamb. A woman who needs to get away from her abusive boyfriend. Making use of teaching qualifications she has never used she starts work at the all female school. One that is definitely ALL female, right down to the cross dressing PE Teacher and McPhee the male cat that is treated as female.

She arrives and finds this school is full of surprises. A Geography teacher who sells the library books is the tip of the iceberg. Gemma finds secrets everywhere with everyone seemingly hiding something or other. Will she be able to settle here or will her own secrets put a halt to her idea of a teaching career?

A brilliant read! It did take me back to my Malory Towers reading years. The difference being St Bride's is from the adults perspectives. The said adults being so quirky and different. It's jam packed full of fun, intrigue and mystery. Debbie Young has even brought suspense with red herrings too. Such a fun read and I'm looking forward to the next book so much!
Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources, Boldwood Books and NetGalley.

What a great start to a new series! Gemma Lamb has had enough of her violent controlling boyfriend Steven and has sought refuge in a new job living in and teaching English at St Bride’s Boarding School for Girls where there are no men, apart from the bursar and their on-site protection officer, Max Security. Even the PE teacher and the school cat are female impersonators! Gemma soon settles into school life amongst the quirky oddball collection of inhabitants with their secrets and odd little customs, and desperately hopes she will pass her probationary period. But then two awful things happen. Steven tracks her down to her new home and shows an unhealthy interest in one of her fellow teachers, and then Gemma faces a dilemma when she suspects another colleague of a little private enterprise. Will Gemma find a way to help the ailing school’s finances and have her faith in mankind restored at the same time?
Whilst some of the staff bring back happy memories of the St. Trinian films, my favourite character just has to be McPhee. Just like his namesake, he has this wonderful and mysterious ability to always show up when his comforting presence is required, although Max is also a real treasure, popping up from his tunnels like a combat ready meerkat. This is a real feel-good story with some smashing characters who are easy to envisage and immediately love. It’s the perfect way to relax for a few hours with a highly entertaining tale and I am moving straight onto books two and three to see what this mad-cap crazy gang get up to next. 5*

Dastardly Deeds At St Brides by Debbie Young is a highly entertaining contemporary cosy mystery that amused me from the start. It is the first book in the Gemma Lamb series.
All the action is set at St Brides, a girls boarding school. No men are officially allowed, so all the staff are called ‘Miss’ in order to satisfy the parents. Even the male cat has to be referred to as a she!
I loved the cat, McPhee, who liked a cosy seat or to drape himself round the Head’s shoulders! I kept picturing the cat in Harry Potter who goes everywhere with his master!
The school functioned as a family, looking out for each other and with shared experiences.
A hint of menace rumbled along in the background after the opening scenes showed what was to come.
This would make a fabulous early evening cosy mystery television series. I think it could be the next big thing, following on from the likes of Midsomer Murders.
Debbie Young has certainly whetted my appetite for more. I am moving onto book two now.
I received a free copy from Rachel’s Random Resources for a blog tour. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

Loved this one!! When Gemma Lamb takes a job at a quirky English girls’ boarding school, she believes she’s found the perfect escape route from her controlling boyfriend – until she discovers the rest of the staff are hiding sinister secrets:

Hairnet, the eccentric headmistress who doesn't hold with academic qualifications

Oriana Bliss, Head of Maths and master of disguise

Joscelyn Spryke, the suspiciously rugged Head of PE

Geography teacher Mavis Brook, surreptitiously selling off the library books

creepy night watchman Max Security, with his network of hidden tunnels



Even McPhee, the school cat, is leading a double life.

Tucked away in the school’s beautiful private estate in the Cotswolds, can Gemma stay safe and build a new independent future, or will past secrets catch up with her and the rest of the staff?

With a little help from her new friends, including some wise pupils, she's going to give it her best shot...