Strange Children [Paperback]

Tessa has but one dream in life: to be a homemaker. So, when Tessa's adored boyfriend, Ian, betrays her and marries Amanda, it's little wonder that vulnerable Tessa falls straight into the arms of Rob, who used to belong to Amanda.

While the warning bells might be ringing loudly for the reader by the end of the first chapter, Tessa is not a woman who dwells on the negative. She comes from a cold and motherless background and, as a result, is desperate for love and naïve to the realities of marriage.

In fact, Tessa has stumbled into a veritable mire of deception. Her attempts to make contact with her mother-in-law, Linda Nicholls, are thwarted when she is found murdered. Curiously, Rob is unable to grieve. It's only when Tessa probes Linda's history that she begins to realise the extraordinary nature of Rob's childhood. Aptly named, Strange Children is a gently-paced thriller, where a bizarre psychological condition challenges set, old-fashioned values.-- Elizabeth McGregor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'A bloodstained version of the world of Barbara Pym.' GUARDIAN 'The writing is elegant...to match the apparently normal little English town beneath which lurks the kind of emotion that stirred murder throughout the works of Agatha Christie.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'The leisurely unravelling of the dark secrets of people passionately committed to keeping up appearances produces an intelligent and convincing story.' Val McDermid Tessa has but one dream in life: to be a homemaker. So, when Tessa's adored boyfriend, Ian, betrays her and marries Amanda, it's little wonder that vulnerable Tessa falls straight into the arms of Rob, who used to belong to Amanda. While the warning bells might be ringing loudly for the reader by the end of the first chapter, Tessa is not a woman who dwells on the negative. She comes from a cold and motherless background and, as a result, is desperate for love and naive to the realities of marriage. In fact, Tessa has stumbled into a veritable mire of deception. Her attempts to make contact with her mother-in-law, Linda Nicholls, are thwarted when she is found murdered. Curiously, Rob is unable to grieve. It's only when Tessa probes Linda's history that she begins to realise the extraordinary nature of Rob's childhood. Aptly named, Strange Children is a gently-paced thriller, where a bizarre psychological condition challenges set, old-fashioned values.' - Elizabeth McGregor, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW

Friendless and virtually an orphan, Tessa craves a husband and a baby: above all she wants to be loved. When her on-and-off lover, Ian, leaves her for the last time, Tessa embarks on a whirlwind romance with Rob Nicholls, and at last her dreams seem set to come true. Now married to the perfect man, and with a baby on the way, motherless Tessa looks forward to getting to know her new mother-in-law. But before that can happen, Linda Nicholls is murdered and Tessa desperately needs to know why. Her quest for answers plunges her into a nightmare world of secrets, where nothing is as it seems, and her own life - and the life of her unborn child - are in danger.

Kate Charles lives in an overly large Victorian house with her husband and their Jack Russell terrier. Her favourite hobby is visiting churches. She has been chairman of the Crime Writers' Association.