Uncle Paul

In this Waterstones Thriller of the Month, as recommended on 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
‘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