First published 1991
Dr. Arthur Calgary knocks on the Argyle family door carrying devastating news. Two years have passed since Jacko Argyle died for murdering his adoptive mother Rachel. Now Calgary can prove Jacko's innocence. A brain injury had erased Calgary's memory of providing Jacko an alibi on the night Rachel died. The family greets this revelation with horror rather than relief. If Jacko didn't kill Rachel in their home, then someone else did. The real murderer walks among them still. Family members begin viewing each other through lenses of suspicion. Past resentments resurface as everyone present that deadly evening becomes a potential killer. Calgary realizes his attempt at justice has unleashed something terrible. The Argyles had constructed their fragile peace around believing in Jacko's guilt. With that certainty destroyed, their world collapses. The actual murderer remains concealed within their intimate circle, and Calgary's truth may cost more lives than Rachel's death ever did.
Genres: classic-literature, mystery, crime, thriller, detective, agatha-christie
Vibes: dark, psychological, suspenseful, tension-filled, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-suspicion, hidden-killer, justice-gone-wrong, unreliable-truth
Setting: England
Period: 20th Century
212 pages · Hardcover · Bantam Books
Content warnings: death, murder