Cause For Concern

Margaret Yorke delivers incredibly tense and chilling novels of suspense, delving into the darker recesses of the human psyche, as extraordinary events collide with everyday lives. Winner of the 1999 Cartier Diamond Dagger for her outstanding contribution to the crime fiction genre.

What secret could be so terrible that a mother would endure years of abuse to keep it concealed?

Susan Trent is in her sixties, living in a house she loves, in a prosperous village. She has a nice job in the local estate agents which keeps her active, and she very much enjoys her garden: she ought to be well-satisfied with her lot. Instead she lives in constant terror of her semi-employed, abusive, middle-aged son. Her friends suspects that the cuts and bruises she explains away as her own clumsiness are really caused by his fists, but no-one steps in, unsure of why she puts up with it.

Then a stranger comes to lodge in the village, triggering a series of events which will eventually bring to light why Susan has really been so protective of her son. But not until much more of her blood has been spilled.