I like the humour around Isabella not liking to travel in reverse, 'That would never do' and 'she was a forward-thinking woman'.

Many of the main characters are introduced in Chapter 1, thus giving the reader plenty of time to appreciate their personalities and qualities as the story progresses. The scenes following the thefts from Isabella and Victor enable the quick introduction of a number of characters. The physical abilities and feistiness of both Isabella and Katarina come through in their confrontations at the school.

Enjoyed reading Inspector Cooke's musings at the end of this chapter. It was good to learn something of his background. It seems sensible using this lull in activity to present some background to this character (an outsider to the area) although I might have expected this information to be given in one of the earlier chapters.