Murder Room
6 total works
A beautiful Cornish coastal village is the setting for a highly sinister conspiracy involving a kidnapped baby, mysterious monks and an almost irresistible new perfume...
'Joan Aiken's triumph with this genre is that she does it so much better than others' New York Times Book Review
Martha works for an advertising agency, filming a TV commercial on location on the stunning Cornish coast. The client is the eccentric owner of a chemicals company that has invented a new, almost irresistible perfume, and Martha is in charge of shooting the romantic ads - unfortunately starring his beautiful but highly manipulative daughter-in-law.
Before long, Martha finds herself embroiled in the conspiracy over the perfume's true origin - to say nothing of a kidnapped baby, sinister monks, her own long-since vanished ex-husband and a series of exploding soup cans. And what of her own floundering love life...?
'Witty and acute ... a nice romantic thriller' Punch
When Charles is given just twelve months to live, his doctor sister takes him to a small Cornish village to end his days. They are joined by other friends including Tuesday, the young author of an unexpectedly sensational novel that brings her nothing but trouble.
Combining doomed love, a beautifully groomed and immaculately behaved psychopath, an escaped circus leopard and a fortune hidden in the pages of a library of books Joan Aiken once again serves up all the ingredients for an explosive finale.
'Unusual, enthralling, full of wry fun' Sunday Times
A child in danger, an isolated house - and a killer on the loose...
'Joan Aiken's triumph with this genre is that she does it so much better than others' New York Times Book Review
Snow-covered fields and moors stretch away on all sides of Herondale House. Despite rumours of an escaped killer on the run, Deborah Lindsay knows that she must control her terror - she has a young charge, 13-year-old prodigy Carreen, to care for.
But the isolated Yorkshire farmhouse already holds the terrible secret of one death - and an increasing number of sinister 'accidents' lead Deborah to wonder how long it would be before evil strikes again ...
'A splendidly romantic first thriller' Times Literary Supplement
'Waiting for her, he was on edge with expectation. He had never planned a murder before ... Only sheer necessity was making him do it now ...'
Coincidence couldn't explain the three accidental deaths. It had to be something more - something sinister? One old lady had fallen and broken her neck; the others had died in hit-and-run accidents. And now beautiful young Caroline Conroy, who has returned to her poisonous family after a mysterious tragedy abroad, must face the enemy: a smiling stranger who is calmly and ruthlessly planning her destruction.
'Terrifyingly enclosed spine-chiller' Sunday Telegraph
An inheritance comes with its own sinister dangers...
'Joan Aiken's triumph with this genre is that she does it so much better than others' New York Times Book Review
Annette, an increasingly amnesiac magazine editor who has inherited an unexpected fortune, leaves London for a new life in a cottage in the country, but falls prey to a series of strange characters who threaten to deprive her of not just her money, but her sanity too. There's a world-famous artist with a dark secret; a New Zealander on an archaeological dig; and a strange neighbour wheeling an invalid 'child' on a lonely road...
Set in the picturesque Sussex town where the author was born and spent her early years in a haunted house, this gothic thriller builds to a terrifying climax as the heroine pits her wits against the sinister forces that surround her.