The Reading Warehouse

Susan Hill-the Man Booker Prize nominee and winner of the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham, and John Llewellyn Rhys awards-returns with a gripping mystery eagerly awaited by all aficionados (P. D. James).

The particularly unpleasant murder of a very old woman in a housing project rocks the town of Lafferton. The murderer has left a distinctive sign on the body and at the scene of the crime. A couple of weeks later, a similar murder occurs, and a month or so later, so does another.

Initial investigations reveal that the mysterious sign was the calling card of a suspect who was charged with several murders in the northwest of the country, tried but acquitted on the grounds of insufficient evidence. All indications suggest that this person has simply vanished-or is he right under their noses? Simon Serrailler is obliged to delve deeper and scratch out answers in this addictive mystery of surpassing darkness by the bestselling Susan Hill.

Susan Hill, a full-time writer since 1963, has written over forty novels, numerous nonfiction books, novellas, short stories, and several books for children. In addition to her writing, she edits short-story compilations, writes a monthly column for the Daily Telegraph, and runs a literary magazine, Books and Company. She has also formed a publishing company, Long Barn Books, inspired by her lifelong admiration for Virginia Woolf and the Hogarth Press. She was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and has won the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham, and John Llewellyn Rhys awards for her adult novels, as well as the Smarties Prize for a children's book.

Steven Pacey is an actor and Earphones Award-winning narrator. He is a highly decorated stage actor, performing often at the West End Theatre. He has appeared in numerous television roles, including Tarrant in Blake's 7, and has made over three hundred radio broadcasts.