Uncle Paul
£9.99
Fifteen years ago Uncle Paul was exposed as a murderer by his wife Mildred, and sent to prison. Now a seaside holiday for Mildred’s half-sister Isabel and her family seems to be the venue for Uncle Paul’s revenge. Mildred arrives at a lonely cottage near to Isabel’s caravan site, and Isabel’s urgent summons to her sister Meg brings the three women together to play out a drama of fear and suspicion, betrayal and revenge.
WATERSTONES THRILLER OF THE MONTH
BBC RADIO 4’S OPEN BOOK
One family’s skeletons emerge on a 1950s seaside summer holiday in this classic mystery from ‘Britain’s Patricia Highsmith’ and the ‘grandmother of psycho-domestic noir’ (Sunday Times)
‘Makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up .. Take it on holiday with you.’ Times
‘Brilliant … Such clever, witty writing.’ Elly Griffiths
‘Fremlin packs a punch.’ Ian Rankin
‘Splendid … Got me hooked.’ Ruth Rendell
‘A slow-burning chill of a read by a master of suspense.’ Janice Hallett
‘A dark delight. Witty, unsettling domestic noir. Imagine Barbara Pym with arsenic.’ Clare Chambers
The holidays have begun. In a seaside caravan resort, Isabel and her sister Meg build sandcastles with the children, navigate deckchair politics, explore the pier’s delights, gorge ice cream in the sun. But their half-sister Mildred has returned to a nearby coastal cottage where her husband – the mysterious Uncle Paul – was arrested for his first wife’s attempted murder: and family skeletons emerge.
Now, on his release from prison, is he returning for revenge, seeking who betrayed him? Or are all three women letting their nerves get the better of them? Though who really is Meg’s new lover? And whose are those footsteps …?
‘Sinister, witty and utterly compelling. A genius.’ Nicola Upson
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