Death on the Cherwell

Four high-spirited undergrads investigate the death of their school’s bursar. When Sally, Daphne, Gwyneth, and Nina gather on the roof of Persephone College’s boathouse to form the Lode League for the express purpose of cursing their bursar for blighting their life, the last thing they expect is for her to really die. But as they recite and prepare to exchange the rings that constitute their initiation rite, a canoe carrying the bursar’s body floats down the Cherwell below them. After pulling the late Myra Denning from the boat and notifying their principal, they retire to Daphne’s room to discuss a new purpose for their group: to unmask the bursar’s killer. Scorning the efforts of Inspector Wythe of the local police, they interview Draga Czernak, the excitable Yugoslavian student who was probably the last to see the victim alive, and tromp across the grounds of Ferry House, a nearby estate owned by misogynistic Ezekiel Lond and coveted by the bursar and the principal for possible expansion. Like so much else in their lives, the bursar’s death gives the girls the chance for a lark and an opportunity to show the world how clever they are.