Upperdown

Detective Chief Superintendent Crump knows he's out of his depth investigating the bombing of headmaster ""Killer'' Rhage's house on the grounds of Upperdown, a British public school. Crump's prime suspect is Charles Melfort, a star pupil who had earlier been involved in a pot-smoking session and, shortly after the bombing, is caught in flagrante with the Rhages' luscious au pair. Melfort is expelled, ``Killer'' gets a threatening note, the cricket pitch is defaced on the morning of an important match, Crump's unlikable assistant is accused of lewd advances by the au pair, and Crump develops chest pains. Then, a former pupil from a decade before, a youth who never ``fit in,'' confronts Rhage with another bomb. Journalist Cook's first novel is notable for its sharp-eyed, trenchant commentary on British public school mores. December