Book Extract: Hazard Night by Laura Vaughan

I’m pleased to be welcoming Laura Vaughan to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, Hazard Night.

Cleeve College is not for everyone…

When Eve’s husband is appointed housemaster at his old boarding school, Cleeve College, she gives up her life in London to join him. But the isolation and loss of autonomy threaten both her happiness and her marriage.

The arrival of Fen, an enigmatic artist and wife of the new Classics teacher, is a welcome distraction. Fen doesn’t play by the rules, and she and Eve enter into a game of escalating dares, disrupting the delicate balance of school life.

Then, the morning after Hazard Night, a tradition that allows the students to run wild and play pranks for one day, a body is found. Someone has been murdered. And it seems everyone has something to hide…

Laura has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy it. 

*****beginning of extract*****

ALICE

I think I knew from the start that the new beard at Wyatt’s was a hopeless case.

(Beards are what the boys call the campus wives. Gogs – as in pedagogues – are the teaching staff. God is the name for my father, the chaplain. Fishface is what they call me.)

I’d been roped in to help on the Winslows’ first Arrivals because the kitchen was short-staffed and so Pat B – head of catering – asked if I’d lend a hand at Wyatt’s welcome tea. These teas are always served in the housemasters’ gardens, and although the kitchen staff do most of the baking and serving, it’s a tradition that the housemaster’s wife makes her own contribution. When Mrs Winslow unveiled her Tupperware boxes of gingerbread men, she flushed defensively. ‘I’m not much of a cook,’ she said, attempting a laugh, ‘but icing covers a multitude of sins.’

The biscuits were lavishly smothered in pink and blue frosting, presumably an approximation of the school colours of claret and navy. It must have taken her hours, putting in the little currant eyes and those tiny little silver balls for buttons. Anyway, the gingerbread gave her away. Not because the biscuits were blackened and misshapen and tasted like burnt sawdust, or because they were more appropriate for a kid’s birthday party than a public school induction. It was because she was already resenting having had to make them. It was obvious from the stiffness with which she got them out of the box. Later, I watched her mingle with the parents and boys, making self-deprecating remarks over her tray of mangled little men, and I thought:

I give it a year.

I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t think this at all. It could just be hindsight. After all, who could have possibly predicted the Winslows’ tenure would end with two dead bodies and a tabloid sex scandal? And even that was only the half of it.

*****end of extract*****

About Laura Vaughan –

Laura Vaughan grew up in rural Wales. She got her first book deal aged twenty-two and spent several years working in publishing, followed by a behind-the-scenes role at English National Ballet.

She lives in South London with her husband and two children. Hazard Night is her third novel for adults.

Say hello to Laura via X (Twitter.) You can also follow Corvus Books on X.

Hazard Night was released in February 2024 by Corvus. Click here to buy on Amazon UK and Waterstones. 

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.