THE WOMAN IN THE DARK

former title (THE MURDER HOUSE)

A page-turning psychological thriller about a family who move to a house which was the site of a famous murder.

Sarah and Patrick are happy. But when Sarah’s mother dies it sends her into a spiral, which results in her taking an overdose. She says it was an accident but her family aren’t so sure, and Patrick decides they need a fresh start. He knows just the place – the idyllic family home he grew up in on the coast. There’s only one catch, whilst for him it carries only positive memories, for everyone else it’s known as The Murder House, after a man slaughtered his entire family there.

Uprooted from everything she knows, Sarah has to try and make a fresh start. But with her children convinced that the house is haunted, the news that the murderer has been paroled, and odd ‘gifts’ arriving on the doorstep, Sarah is not so sure. And then there’s Patrick… Handsome, loving, Patrick, desperate to make The Murder House as warm and inviting as it once was. Or was it? Because something about living there seems to be changing him, and Sarah starts to wonder if The Murder House holds its own secrets, secrets which Patrick has been hiding his whole life.

Vanessa’s next novel will be REUNION, a psychological thriller about a family reunited at a funeral.
Vanessa Savageis a graphic designer and illustrator. She has twice been awarded a Writers’ Bursary by Literature Wales, most recently forThe Murder House. She won the Myriad EditionsFirst Crimescompetition in 2016 and her work has been highly commended in the Yeovil International Fiction Prize, short listed for the Harry Bowling Prize, and the Caledonia Fiction Prize. She is on the current longlist for the Bath Novel Award.