Deceit - Hardcover

Francis, Clare

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569472394 ISBN 13: 9781569472392

Publisher: Soho Press, 2001

Synopsis

After her husband Harry is presumed dead after his yacht sinks while at sea, Ellen Richmond must deal with her suspicions regarding his death as well as her husband's controlling sister, his suave business partner, and a stranger who claims to have known her husband, forcing her to enter a world of dark secrets and lies where she must discover what really happened. 12,500 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Clare Francis is the author of the bestselling novels Night Sky, Red Crystal, and Wolf Winter as well as the nonfiction bestsellers Come Hell or High Water, Come Wind or Weather, and The Commanding Sea. A Dark Devotion is the third Clare Francis novel to be published by Soho, after Deceit and Betrayal. She lives in London.

Reviews

A mother's desire to protect her children from the truth of their father's death lies at the center of this intense psychological thriller by British author Francis (Night Sky), which opens with the funeral service of former parliament member Harry Richmond. Ellen, whose husband, Harry, has been missing at sea for months and is presumed dead, assumes the role of grieving widow in her upper-class London social and political set. At the funeral Ellen meets mysterious and handsome Richard Moreland, a military colleague of Harry's from their days of service in the Falkland Islands, who takes a special interest in Ellen and is intent on uncovering the truth about the lost yacht and Harry's death. Though Ellen insists Harry committed suicide because of his political setbacks and his escalating debt, a murder investigation ensues. In addition to the criminal case, which threatens to blot her husband's image and harm the children's future, Ellen also learns of Harry's dubious financial dealings with a Romanian orphanage charity. Plagued by scandal, pressured by the police for details and concerned about her 15-year-old daughter, Katie, who acts out violently in school, and her son, Josh, a somber nine year old, Ellen treads uneasy waters yet remains brave and stoic throughout. As the details of Harry's death are slowly revealed, the reader moves from sympathy for Ellen to suspicion that she might not be entirely innocent; the author delivers the final revelation with great energy and seamless fluidity. Francis's evocative prose and sinuous suspense will make American readers thrilled she's crossed the Atlantic. (June)Forecast: Deceit was a #1 bestseller in England and has been adapted by the BBC for television. It may get off to a slower start here, but word of mouth and an author tour should help it make a strong showing.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

British suspense mistress (Night Sky, Wolf Winter, Requiem), Francis has constructed a nigthmarish series of funhouse mirrors in which the reader must constantly guess what is really being reflected in the troubled narrator's account. The narrator, Ellen Richmond, is upper class, refined, and tortured by her husband's death in a boating accident. Everything about Ellen--her worries over her kids, her problems with picking up the pieces--seems utterly upper-crust normal, except for one thing: Ellen fears that her husband and his boat, swept away in a storm, will be found. There are indications that the marriage was unhappy, that the husband faced financial ruin, the possibility that he was fleeing his problems, or committed suicide, but the real mystery remains that of Ellen's conflict over the secret she harbors--and may have to reveal--that could convict her of murder. Deceit, first published in the UK in 1993, was the number-one bestseller in England. Expect it to draw a crowd here as well. Connie Fletcher
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Edition details

• Publisher: Soho Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1569472394
• ISBN 13: 9781569472392
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400