Maxwell's War — M.J. Trow

Peter Maxwell is delighted when an old college friend asks him to be the historical adviser on a film being made on the coast near Leighford. Dreams of becoming the next Spielberg soon founder when he discovers that the world of film is pretty much the same as the world of education â€" full of incompetents and backstabbers. Even so, it is out in the open air with no heavy lifting, so he sets to with his usual enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, shooting becomes all too literal when the director takes a musket ball to the head. With one of his students implicated, another off on a jealous rant, and almost everyone out to get everyone else, Maxwell finds telling the truth from fiction to be more difficult than even he could have imagined.

With characters that leap off the page, the Maxwell series has something for everyone. Anyone who went to school, teaches in one, or has happily escaped from the chalk face will love the series, with humour and sadness intermingled with a plot packed with twists and turns.

‘A lot of witty dialogue, especially wonderful for film buffs, accompanies an all-too-plausible plot with much adventure and more physical action than usual for the genre of mysteries.'

The Baldwin Ledger