Review
‘He plots a mystery as well as any writer alive’
Time Magazine
‘Barnard never disappoints. The psychological suspense is chilling’
The Times
‘Robert Barnard retails this finely suspenseful tale, incorporating the Hitchockian awkwardness of disposing of a body, with spellbinding step-by-step matter-of-factness’
Sunday Times
Product Description
‘Robert Barnard is always original, never repeats himself and has a delectable wit’ Jessica Mann, Daily Telegraph
Cosmo Horrocks was over the moon. This was the juiciest story he’d had in years. In his job as an investigative journalist he spent his working days grubbing through the garbage bins of other people’s lives (undeterred by the fact that his own wouldn’t bear too much investigation), but this one seemed to have everything: religion – the man was a Catholic priest; sex – he was accused of impropriety with a teenage unmarried mother; money – he was thought to have channelled parish funds in her direction. All the story lacked was mystery, but when it acquired that too Cosmo soon found himself out of his depth.
The parish of St. Catherine’s in Shipley is torn apart by the scandal, and by the secretive processes of its investigation which reveal dysfunctional families, shady doings in high places, and the brittle shell that respectability hides itself behind. When the truth is finally learned about Pardoe’s supposed sins, and about the murder which they have brought in their wake, both parish and town have the wraps whipped away from their apparently happy and respectable existence.
From the Back Cover
"Barnard never disappoints."
MARCEL BERLINS, THE TIMES
Investigative journalist Cosmo Horrocks is over the moon. This was the juiciest story he's had in years. It seems to have everything: religion – the man was a Catholic priest; sex – he's accused of impropriety with a teenage unmarried mother; money – he's thought to have channelled parish funds in her direction. All the story lacks is mystery – that is until events take a deadly turn leaving Cosmo completely out of his depth.
The parish of St. Catherine's in Shipley is torn apart by the scandal, and by the secretive processes of its investigation which reveal dysfunctional families, shady doings in high places, and the brittle shell that respectability hides itself behind. When the truth is finally learned about Pardoe's supposed sins, and about the murder which they have brought in their wake, both parish and town have the wraps whipped away from their apparently happy and respectable existence.
"The style of writing is smooth – the characters interesting"
SUSIE MAGUIRE, SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
About the Author
Robert Barnard was born and brought up in Essex. After leaving Oxford he worked as a university lecturer in New South Wales, and then taught in Norwegian universities for seventeen years, returning to England in 1983 to write full time. He and his wife now live in Leeds.
