The comforts of home - Susan Hill

DC Simon Serrailler's last, devastating case was nearly the death of him and left him confronting a new reality


Recovering on a remote Scottish island, his peace doesn't last long. He is pulled in to a murder inquiry by the overstretched local police. A newcomer, popular with the islanders, has died in perplexing circumstances. The community's reactions are complicated and fragile.

It's good to be back on the job. And when Simon returns to Lafferton, an arsonist is on the rampage and a woman whose daughter disappeared some years before is haunting the police station seeking closure. She will not let it rest, and Simon is called in to do a cold-case review.

At home, Simon is starting to get used to having a new brother-in-law - in the form of his Chief Constable Kieron Bright. His sister Cat has embarked on a new way of practising medicine, and his nephew Sam is trying to work out what to do with his life. And then their tricky father, Richard, turns up again like a bad penny.

In this gripping new Serrailler thriller, Simon's personal and professional lives intertwine in more complex and demanding ways than ever before.

Susan Hill has been a professional writer for over fifty years. Her books have won awards and prizes including the Whitbread, the John Llewellyn Rhys and a Somerset Maugham, and have been shortlisted for the Booker. She was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Honours. Her novels include Strange Meeting, I'm the King of the Castle, In the Springtime of the Year and A Kind Man. She has also published autobiographical works and collections of short stories as well as the Simon Serrailler series of crime novels. The play of her ghost story The Woman in Black has been running in London's West End since 1988. She has two adult daughters and lives in North Norfolk.

www.susanhill.org.uk

"Opens with a shock for fans... Serrailler's struggle to come to terms with the recent past is thoughtfully done"
Sunday Times - Joan Smith

"Susan Hill offers something different... fans cherish Hill's work for its judicious mix of the professional and personal... one of the most richly drawn coppers in the field"
Guardian - Barry Forshaw

"Hill paints a powerful picture of a proud but damaged man trying to remake his role in the world"
Mail on Sunday