Lessons in Death: A thrilling new murder-mystery series

by Sophie McKenzie

Just who can you trust when secrets and lies are at the heart of everything. The first book in a new murder-mystery series from Sophie McKenzie, the bestselling author of million-copy-seller,  Girl Missing with a twist you won't see coming!

Georgia and Billy have always been the best of friends but when new girl, Wren, arrives at Maywood High, the balance of their friendship is tested. And, unbeknown to the new trio, Wren and Georgia have a secret history.
When auditions for the school play take place and Wren gets the main part, divisions become even wider. Then Georgia finds the drama teacher, dead, but his body vanished, and no one believes her.
Just where is the teacher? Is he really dead? When people start to receive sinister messages from his phone, the three new friends set out to get to the bottom of it all. 
Praise for Girl,
'Page-turning' The Independent
'Will have you gripped for hours' Sunday Express
'Please read this it is brilliant!; The Guardian
'Whenever I hear the phrase YA thriller I only ever think of one name - and that's Sophie Mckenzie. Why? Because noboody does it better' Phil Earle, award-winning author
'Sophie's thrillers are brilliant... you can't stop reading' Robert Muchamore, bestselling author
'Brilliantly described, scary and touching' The Daily Mirror

10 YEARS OF AWARDS FOR Girl, Missing
Manchester Children's Book Awards
Bolton Children's Book Award
Soilhill Book Award
Winner of the Sakura Medal
Red House Children's Book Award
Richard and Judy Best Kids' Book
Lewisham Children's Book Award

 

Genres: Thriller, Psychology, School, Crime, Science, Detective, Family

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 11, 2025

About the author

Hey there! Welcome to my Goodreads page where you can keep up with all my stories - both the ones that are already published and the works in progress!!

I write mostly teen thrillers - plus some teen romance, books for younger children and four adult psychological thrillers.

I'm really excited right now because of...

Boy, Missing, my £1 book for World Book Day and Truth or Dare, my new teen thriller. (UK)


For more info on these and my other books, check out my website: www.sophiemckenziebooks.com

Reviews

[Cyd’s Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for approving me to read this book, I’m rating it 3.25 stars.

This is a fun fast paced YA mystery with A Good Girls Guide to Murder vibes with a little Pretty Little Liars sprinkled in there. I like the plot and the characters, it was an easy engaging read. I will say I think at first I found Billy and Georgia a little irksome because they come across quite naive and the amount of finger pointing they did tipped me over the edge a bit. As a couple other characters join the duo and Georgia/billy’s guesses turn into a more concrete investigation, the story becomes much more enjoyable.

[Gabrielle (belle.bookcorner) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.5⭐

Lessons in Death wasn’t quite what I expected, but it turned out to be a surprisingly entertaining read—I finished it in just one day! There’s something about the story that kept me flipping pages, despite a few bumps I found along the way.

The mystery itself was pretty engaging. I liked watching the characters come up with wild theories about how the teacher died, who might’ve done it, and why. It had that classic whodunnit vibe.

Now, the fact that the main characters are in Year Nine did make things a bit frustrating at times. Their decisions had me yelling “Why would you do that?!” more than once. But hey, they’re still kids, and I get that—so I tried to be patient with their logic.

One of the highlights for me was the friendship that formed between Billy, Georgia, Wren, and Rome. Their dynamic added a lot of charm to the investigation. Honestly, without Wren and Rome, I don’t think Billy and Georgia would’ve cracked the case anytime soon 😂

I was pretty sure none of the suspects they pointed fingers at were the actual killer, but the reveal still managed to surprise me.
And the ending? It totally hints that the gang’s mystery-solving days aren’t over. I’m guessing the next one might take place at a summer camp—and I’m looking forward for it!

Overall, this is a fast-paced, fun YA mystery. I’d definitely recommend it to teens who are just dipping their toes into the mystery/thriller genre—it’s a great intro.
As for adults, you might find yourself a little frustrated with the characters’ choices, but if you’re in the mood for something quick, light, and entertaining, this one’s worth a shot.

I received a review copy through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the author and publisher!

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: murder, death

[Sifa Poulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

LESSONS IN DEATH is the start of a new thriller series from Sophie McKenzie.

Sophie McKenzie remains my go-to recommendation for lower YA thrillers (aka YA actually aimed at teens). She's been writing in this area since I was a tween and continues to put out excellent tales for this readership. I really appreciate her not aging up with her audience but deciding to keep writing for an oft-overlooked age group.

Being a lower YA/teen book, the relationship focus is on friendship not romance. Georgia takes an immediate dislike to Wren and slowly learns that she can have another close friend (or two) in her life. Secondary school is such a volatile age for friendships and this book looks honestly at our insecurities around our friendships at that age.

We also get a fast paced mystery as Georgia tries to work out why her teacher has been killed, but the killer is always one step ahead. It involves a lot of sneaking around school and breaking many, many school rules (which I think is always a fun element in teen books - let the characters live out the idle daydreams we all had in boring lessons!) I did enjoy how the school itself was utilised to be a dangerous place for the finale.

This is the first in a new series that promises a deadly school experience for Georgia and co. I will be picking up the next instalment.

[Roanreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick and enjoyable book to read. However, I wished it were longer and went more in-depth.

The overall plot was well done, but I found the investigation to be a bit rushed due to the length of the book. I found the ending to be particularly rushed, especially the last chapter, as we didn’t actually see what happened. However, I found the big reveal to be well done.

The two main characters, Billy and Georgia, were not great detectives and constantly jumped to conclusions that didn’t work. I was so glad when Wren joined the group and had some sense. I enjoyed her character and seeing her grow. I hoped we would get more Romeo for this exact reason.
At the start, I hated how Georgia acted with Wren. I get that she may not want to be friends due to her mum pushing it, and she was jealous, but it still annoyed me. I get her being jealous because she got the role Georgia wanted, but that doesn’t mean she can be downright bitchy.

I thought it was clever how they were wrong about the killer, which meant they fell into his trap. This caused the tension to rise. Overall, though, I did enjoy reading this book, and I liked how fast-paced it was.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an ARC from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

When I requested this book I thought it was going to be a teen/YA murder mystery as on NetGalley it’s labelled as children’s fiction AND teen and YA. Therefore, I acknowledge that this low rating is partly due to me not doing the research beforehand so bare that in mind if you are going to pick this book up. However, this book read extremely young even though the characters are supposedly in high/secondary school. Now I have enjoyed books like Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens and that is also labelled as 9-12 fiction on Waterstones. This leads me to think that I just didn’t gel with this author’s writing.

If you know someone who is younger (9-12) that would enjoy a murder mystery series then they may enjoy this first book. However, if not then I struggle to see myself recommending this book sadly.

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fast paced, entertaining read!

Georgia was a great main character, who was filled with determination and bravery as she courageously begins to try and solve the murder of one of her favourite teachers. Georgia had found him dead in the school library, but when she went to grab someone for their help - he was gone! And now on one will believe her, except her best friend Billy and her friend Romeo. There’s also this new girl, Wren, but Georgia can’t see past her jealousy as Billy and Wren become friends.

I liked how this book dealt with friendship issues! Georgia could sometimes be very mean and I liked how Billy never stood for it and how Georgia had to learn to apologise and deal with her feelings herself.

I thought the plot was interesting, with some very intense and high stake moments! I do sometimes win however there was a bit more to the mystery, like some more clues and investigating!

I think for younger readers - who this is aimed towards - this will be a fantastic entry point (or addition!!) to murder mystery stories, as the characters are interesting, the plot is intriguing, and the pace is good.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster UK Children's | Simon & Schuster Children's UK for this e-arc

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has set itself up to be an addicting and interesting series to come. I read this on the train in pretty much one sitting and it made the miles go past really quickly!

I got lost into the story of murder and intrigue and would also be suitable for younger readers as well as YA as it was simple yet engaging. It was also super fast paced and I swallowed up the pages in no time - I was surprised at how quick I read it!

I liked all the characters, especially the budding friendship between Wren and Georgia. It wasn’t complicated to get into and was one of those effortless reading, murder mystery type school dramas that are easy to enjoy.

Thank you to the author and publisher for this book on NetGalley in return for my honest thoughts and review.

[Nova]

While I knew this was a young adult book, I just wasn’t prepared for how young it reads, for the premise of the book I expected it to be at minimum 16 year olds not 13, and the youth was very evident. While the plot was good the characters just came across as immature and not actually responsible enough to take on the tasks that they were actually doing, lots of mistakes were made and things that’s were mentioned that were obvious to the plot but glossed over by every single character,

However if you or your young teens want a fast paced thriller then this is it,


E-Arc provided by Simon and Schuster UK via NetGalley

[Farah G · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's bad enough to find a dead teacher in the school library but it is far, far worse to return with help only to find that the aforementioned dead teacher has disappeared...

That is exactly the situation that Georgia finds herself in - and to make things even worse nobody believes there ever was a body in the library!

The first in a new series, Sophie Mackenzie delivers an entertaining read with likeable characters in the form of Georgia and Billy. It gets 3.5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not the target audience for this book, as it is more geared towards older children / young adult. Therefore I did work out the murderer very early on in the story, but even so I still found the read enjoyable particularly regarding the budding friendships.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

it’s giving meddling kids in a bad way

[slow reader]

no rating.

[Xuan · Rating 5 out of 5]

SUCH AN AMAZING BOOK I WAS INTRIGUED WHEN READING OT JS SIMPLY AMAZING

[Chyns Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was very good a bit funny also

[Ashley James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fast paced, fun read! I read this in less than 24 hours, whilst simple it was nice to be able to fully relax reading a book and just have some fun. Great characters, all very likeable and great plot with one twist that I genuinely didn’t see coming! Would definitely recommend if you just want a gentle thriller for some fun!