Review: The Teacher: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan

 

With DS Josie Ottey off as she moves her family to a new house, DS George Cross is stuck partnering with his boss, DCI Ben Carson, as The Teacher: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan begins. Those of us who have read the series to this point understand very well that this is not an optimal situation for DS George Cross.

 

In the coming days and weeks, it will get way worse for him as well as a couple of other members of the investigate team.

 

Carson and Cross have been called out to the scene of where an elderly man apparently went down a narrow staircase the hard way. The smear of blood, a long trail, shows the path Alistair Moreton’s head took in its final seconds. The neck is obviously broken. While DCI Carson sees a slip and fall, PC Trevor Bain saw the defensive puncture wounds to the hands of the deceased man and called for assistance.

 

As DS Cross notes, there are also bites to the victim’s legs as well as some sort of puncture wound to his chest. It is clearly not a simple slip and fall. In Cross’ opinion, the police constable was one hundred percent correct in alerting the Major Crime Unit of the Avon and Somerset Police.

 

What follows is a complicated case and a hunt for the killer or killers. Along the way, not only do we see Cross deal with a series of challenges, professionally and personally, we also follow as various members of the team deal with their own professional and personal challenges. In every case, those challenges would be spoilers if I revealed them here, so I won’t.

 

Instead, I will simply point out that The Teacher: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan is a very good police procedural. Part of the excellent series that began with The Dentist. This read, and the others, should be read in order as each one extensively builds on the previous books of the series.

 

 

Strongly recommended.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4rBurxe

 

 

I received a digital ARC from the publisher, Atlantic Crime, imprint of Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.

  

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026